Building a Knowledge Base in ClickUp
Are you able to remember all the interesting content that you have once read, listened and watched? Also, how much of the content can you remember?
Every day we are learning something, no matter how small. So, for most of us, these bits and pieces of information that we read, listen and watch every day are somehow currently stored in our brains. Among the media that we consume on a daily basis, some are things which we found interesting and would like to keep for future references. However, are you able to remember everything that you have once read, listened and watched? Also, how much of the content can you remember?
You learn something every day if you pay attention. — Ray LeBlond
Earlier this year, my boyfriend introduced me to Zettelkasten. This is a German term that translates to a slip box. Zettelkasten is a system of note-taking and personal knowledge management used in research and study. Curious, we began to read the “How to Take Smart Notes” e-book by Sönke Ahrens on Libby.
Research in the book states that we can only hold up to a maximum of 4 things in our minds at the same time. These “open tasks” on our mind clog up the mind’s short-term memory, thus making you distracted as you cannot stop thinking about your unfinished tasks. This is like opening too many tabs on the browser, causing your laptop to slow due to the limited RAM space. Our brains are meant for thinking, not storing.
So, to build my own personal knowledge base, I decided to implement Zettelkasten in ClickUp and I invite you to do the same. You may download my template here.
DISCLAIMER: As of 1 November 2022, I am under the ClickUp Affiliate Program. My intention for this article still stays the same, which is to share how I use ClickUp as an individual user. If you want to save a day every week, sign up here. Cheers!☺
If you prefer something more visual, watch my video on YouTube! 😊 (Premiere on 15 Jan 2022, 9pm)
Introducing my Knowledge Base/Zettelkasten in ClickUp
I have built the Knowledge Base at the Space level in ClickUp, with 2 lists — Zettelkasten and References. Let me explain the 2 lists in detail. If you were to use a physical Knowledge Base/Zettelkasten, there should also be 2 boxes representing Zettelkasten and References.
References List
This References list contains all the notes that you take from a particular book, podcast, and video, etc. The notes that you take should be brief and in your own words as much as possible. Eventually, these notes would contain notes which interest you only. To give you an example of what I meant, both my boyfriend and I read the “How to Take Smart Notes” e-book and discussed the learning points and notes of each chapter. However, while discussing, we realized that we picked up some similar and some completely different learning points from the book. Hence, these references or literature notes are personal to you because due to our different experiences, we find different parts of the original content interesting.
Zettelkasten List
This Zettelkasten list contains shorter and briefer notes. It should fit a page (in the case of physical Zettelkasten) and/or no scrolling is allowed (for the case of digital Zettelkasten). Instead of the usual way of grouping notes by topics, in Zettelkasten, we group the notes by context. In other words, when sorting the notes, we should think in terms of where and how we want to stumble upon the same note again. In ClickUp, we shall use the Tags ClickApps to indicate the context.
In my above screen capture, I have a note titled “Zettelkasten” because it explains the entire concept of Zettelkasten. Underneath it, I have an “Applying Zettelkasten/Smart Notes in ClickUp” note. The latter note specifically relates Zettelkasten with ClickUp features. Yet, both notes are tagged as “note-taking”. So, if I would like to create content relating to taking notes, I can pull up these 2 notes and refresh my memory. At the same time, under the “Source” column, it links to the references/literature notes in the “References” list. If I require more information, I can pull up more literature notes to aid in my content creation.
Sometimes, the notes in the Zettelkasten list comes from a particular chapter in a book, hence, the “Source Metadata” column provides these details. Note: “Index” column is mentioned in the below sections.
How to add notes
So, after all the talking on applying Zettelkasten in ClickUp, how do we actually add notes to it?
Step 1. Make fleeting notes. The sole purpose of fleeting notes is to help your capture ideas quickly while you are busy doing something else. In the case of ClickUp, I would suggest adding these fleeting notes as Reminders. If you have time, write proper notes instead. Always remember to write in YOUR OWN WORDS. By writing in your own words, it means that you understand the material perfectly.
✨PRO-TIP✨ Click on “R” on your keyboard to quickly bring up the window to add in reminders.
Step 2. Process the new proper notes or fleeting notes by putting the notes into the “Reference” list and think about how the new notes relate to the existing notes. It is important to make it a habit to turn the fleeting notes into proper notes within a day or two else, there is a high chance that you will forget what the note means and thus, rendering the fleeting note ineffective.
Step 3. Add new notes, if any, arising from Step 2 into permanent notes and add them into the “Zettelkasten” list. The goal is to have your own permanent notes after you processed what you have learned from the notes in the “Reference” list. When adding permanent notes, take note of the following.
- Add a note to the slip-box/“Zettelkasten” list either behind the note you directly refer to or; if you do not follow up on a specific note, just behind the last note in the slip-box/“Zettelkasten” list. Number it consecutively. In ClickUp, we have an “Index” column to give each note a number.
- Add links to other notes to your new notes. In ClickUp, we use the Relationship feature. Make sure that the “Relationship” ClickApp is enabled. We can either: link notes in the “References” list with notes in the “Zettelkasten” list OR link notes amongst themselves in the “References” list or the “Zettelkasten” list respectively.
- Make sure the permanent note (in the “Zettelkasten” list) can be found from the index; add an entry in the index if necessary or refer to it from a note that is connected to the index.
As you repeat this process often with more materials, you start to develop topics, questions, and research projects from the bottom up. With this “second brain”, you can easily see what is missing and do more research. After having some ideas, copy the notes to a writing editor (or you can use ClickUp Docs😉) and bring them in order. If there are still missing gaps, go back to reading and taking notes. All in all, you have to be daring to write a rough draft! You can always proofread afterward. Take the first step RIGHT NOW! 😊
❓ I am curious! Currently, how do you keep the things which interest you? Physical notebooks? Word Document on your laptop? Let me know in the comments below.
Thank you for making it this far! Does this sound like something that you will use or sound like someone you know will need this? What are you waiting for? Share it with them! Follow me on Medium and my YouTube channel to see how I use ClickUp for other aspects of my life. Alternatively, never miss out on any updates by signing up here when I release further new articles.
