Notemaking in a zettelkasten starts with fleeting notes

Fleeting notes^[1] are the kind of notes we make every day. They aren't limited to a particular topic or length.

It's as simple as having a thought and writing it down. Fleeting notes can include:

• random thoughts
• notes from a meeting
• quotes from a book you read
• shopping lists
• reminders of notable dates
• to do lists
• etc.

Fleeting notes are intended to be transient, not stored long term. Depending on the nature of the note, it should either be processed into a main note or deleted. Any note that contains a task should not become a main note, though tasks can spark thoughts that do become main notes.

Bob Doto recommends processing your fleeting notes once a week.

Source: Doto, B (2024) A System for Writing

See: Keep a sleeping folder for hard to process fleeting notes for what to do with fleeting notes that resist processing but might still be useful

Next: Main notes are where your thinking is stored long term for how to turn fleeting notes into main notes

Planted: Friday 22 November 2024
Last tended: Tuesday 1 July 2025