Atomicity

Tags: #Term #Zettelkasten #Notetaking #🪴Sapling
Related: Zettelkasten

Atomicity simply means, in this usage, that each note in a Zettelkasten (or Digital Garden) should contain just a single idea. A note that captures the whole of that idea. This principle is in fact a governing idea of such a system.

This results in more and perhaps smaller notes than we may be traditionally used to. But the benefits are clear: you can more easily move ideas around and connect them in more interesting and surprising ways, thus boosting comprehension and creativity.

A good analogy for this is if you imagine each note as a physical index card (as they were in Luhmann's zettelkasten). You likely keep them in some premeditated order, but they are easily taken out and put on a desk when you are focusing on them. This then allows you to arrange them however you see fit, making new and unique connections possible.