I abandoned my Zettelkasten for 4 months
Hi everyone, it's been a while since I last posted in this community. To be honest, I completely set my Zettelkasten aside for about four months because my new job didn't leave me with any free time. When I finally returned, I realized a few blind spots about how I had been using my slipbox that are worth discussing.
1.Getting addicted to collecting information and losing sight of the big picture. When we first start using Zettelkasten, almost all of us get hooked on connecting ideas—so much so that we lose sight of our core objective. Looking back at some topics from a bird's-eye view, I realized certain subjects were over-researched with endless repetitive ideas. This was the direct result of neglecting higher-level notes like structure notes. If I had maintained a structure note, I would have easily spotted the gaps in my knowledge.
For instance, I wasted time creating 50 main notes just introducing the benefits of learning vocabulary with Anki. Meanwhile, I left crucial angles completely unexplored—like practical application, Anki's drawbacks, or real-world experience. Consequently, the topic dragged on endlessly until it died out. From my experience, setting deadlines, updating structure notes daily, and actively reflecting on your next steps while creating new main notes will keep your projects moving forward.
Literature notes turned out to be mostly useless clutter. I used to spend way too much time organizing literature notes and polishing every single sentence. In reality, I almost never went back to review them. I had assumed every excerpt would be referenced back to the source text or serve 'this or that project' down the line, but in practice, those literature notes just sat there collecting digital dust.
Over-crafting main notes. I reviewed hundreds of my main notes recently. Some were written with immense care, but reading them now, I can barely understand my own train of thought. In some cases, the author stated something simply, but my rephrasing made it twice as complicated. I’ve come to realize that if you clearly grasp what the author means on first read, verbatim quotes work just fine. You should only rewrite ideas in your own words when the author’s original explanation is genuinely confusing or hard to digest.
Connections are useless if you don't re-read both linked notes. I checked a few pairs of directly linked notes and realized they read like two idiots having a completely nonsensical conversation. To fix this habit, I now split my Obsidian screen into two or three panes when writing a new main note: one pane for the new note and the rest for existing notes. This allows me to keep the original context fresh in mind and write new ideas that actually remain coherent with the old ones.
I don't have time for formal writing, but I do have time to write guides for myself. Starting a new job made me realize that taking time to research and learn something new is far more critical than working blindly. I could watch two dozen tutorials for work, but I’d forget I had a Zettelkasten to capture that knowledge. I wasted time re-searching 5–10 text snippets scattered across 20 Chrome tabs, totally forgetting I could just turn those damn snippets into main notes under a structure note for quick reference whenever I forgot something.
A Zettelkasten only works well when your mind is clear. By clear, I mean forgetting what already exists in your slipbox. During my year or so of using ZK, my brain was constantly trying to memorize the contents of my existing notes. Ideas kept looping in my head, paralyzing my writing. Whenever I sat down to write, conflicting points would pop up and force me into endless editing.
Taking a four-month break changed everything. Having forgotten most of what I wrote, rediscovering my old notes became enjoyable. I follow the links, process the ideas, and drop them into my drafts. Now I can draft mini-essays without feeling overwhelmed at all.
In short, if you're suffering from information hoarding in your Zettelkasten, step away for a while. Let your future self evaluate the system with fresh eyes—you'll find that many of the rigid habits you built are much easier to fix than you think.
Stepping away for four months gave me the mental clarity I needed. Exploring new domains beyond pure writing helped me realize three things upon returning: my slipbox had plenty of junk worth discarding, a few genuine gems worth keeping, and whole new ways to actually make the system work for me.