Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1209IR // #c1209Synthesis

"By restricting ourselves to one format, we also restrict ourselves to just one idea per note and force ourselves to be as precise and brief as possible." "A good rule of thumb for working digitally is: Each note should fit onto the screen and there should be no need of scrolling."

— In our words · Source: How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens)

[Use when]

You're building a library of ideas, research or reusable material and want the pieces to combine later.

[Why it matters]

Luhmann used A6 slips. The size limit made every note a single unit that could be moved and recombined with others later. A note holding three ideas can only ever sit in one place.

Filed under situations:When you’re building the thing, not just planning it

More from How to Take Smart Notes

#c1208"The trick is that he did not organise his notes by topic, but in the rather abstract way of giving them fixed numbers. The numbers bore no…Your files or notes are sorted into categories that no longer match how you actually think about the work. #c1210"Write exactly one note for each idea and write as if you were writing for someone else: Use full sentences, disclose your sources, make…You're capturing anything you expect to use in writing, a pitch or a decision months from now. #c1211"If you use other tools, make sure everything ends up in one place, a central inbox or something like that, where you can process it soon,…Your ideas are scattered across apps, notebooks and voice memos and you can't find any of them.

Same situation, different book

#c1561The Canon: Sensory Infallibility, Preconceptions, and "Waiting"Use when diagnosing why a high-stakes analysis, intelligence assessment, or debugging effort went wrong…From Lives of Eminent Philosophers #c1551The Tripartite Organism: Logic as Bone, Physics as Flesh, Ethics as SoulDesigning a curriculum, worldbuilding a belief system, or diagnosing why a team's rigorous process (Logic) is…From Lives of Eminent Philosophers #c1545The Cosmic Vortex and the Planetary MembraneUse when designing self-organizing markets, talent incubators, or creative communities where high-collision…From Lives of Eminent Philosophers #c1536Thales's Ensouled Matter and Cosmological SuperlativesUse when scoping a complex strategy or world-building architecture and you need to separate negotiable design…From Lives of Eminent Philosophers