Per my note-writing rules, I try to avoid writing new evergreen notes as much as possible to avoid maintenance burden.

Criteria

However, some conditions could convince me to write one:

• when it involves articulating my processes
• when it involves articulating elements of my talahardin and my larger life management system (LMS)
• when it is a large subject or insight I want to pursue further, meriting the creation of an tala/outline note

Process

When it is necessary for me to write an evergreen note, I simply review my literature notes, particularly the clusters I've created. I then ask myself the following questions:

• How does this cluster connect or relate to an existing evergreen note about this subject?
• How does this cluster influence how I use the talahardin or my LMS?
• How does this cluster connect or relate to a learning project or a line of thought I'm currently exploring?

Sometimes, while writing literature notes, answers to these questions naturally emerge. When this occurs, I could two either of two things. I could create a separate evergreen note out of what I've written. Sometimes, a cluster is already well-written that I could simply pluck it off. But this only happens if the insight is significant or large enough to merit writing an tala/outline, for example, or if it relates to articulating my processes or elements in my talahardin or LMS. When the insight doesn't fulfill any of these, I simply highlight it then index it to an index of insights.

It is important to remember that when writing evergreen notes from literature notes, one should always aspire to articulate one's own thinking about the subject and should always try to get out of the thinking of the author of a material, which is what literature notes capture. Therefore, when I write evergreen notes, I try to move away from the material's structure and concepts. I create my own concepts and structures based on my individual mental models. Given the limits of my context of use for my talahardin and LMS, this doesn't often happen.

Other tips on writing evergreen notes I learned from Andy Matuschak:

• Write a good title for the note (How to write good note titles).
• fill permanent notes with links to other notes.
• Connect the note to a relevant outline note in the index of speculative outlines.
• At the end of a permanent note, include the references you used to write them.
• Also include the exact passages that prompted the note under each reference. Do not delete the original aggregation of texts.

I should also note that literature notes don't always trigger evergreens. Sometimes, literature notes could sufficiently serve as prompts for more free writing, such as journaling.

To do

• Questions to pursue to develop this note further: Is responding to what others have written enough? How do I identify original thought? Is mashing up different notes into a new one considered original already?

References

Matuschak, A. (n.d.). How to process reading annotations into evergreen notes. Andyʼs Working Notes. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from https://notes.andymatuschak.org/How_to_process_reading_annotations_into_evergreen_notes

Tietze, C. (200 C.E., 46:00). Create Zettel from Reading Notes According to the Principle of Atomicity. Zettelkasten. https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/create-zettel-from-reading-notes/