The Collector’s Fallacy. The term was coined and consisely described by Christian Tietze as: ‘to know about something’ isn’t the same as ‘knowing something’ (source). According to Tietze, the way to make sure the first turns into the second is by processing information rather than collecting it. To stick with the roommate-rant example for a bit longer: When I now read back what I wrote about that situation, it helps me know about what happened and how I felt, but it doesn’t help me know, understand. Why was that moment important enough to write down? Did I feel the same way at other points in my life? How do those moments relate? What can I learn from them? How can I use the lessons learnt to grow and become a better person? That is what a Zettelkasten is all about: connecting all the dots into a meaningful whole.
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- note-taking, sensemaking, knowledge management, collector's fallacy, favorite,

The Collector’s Fallacy. The term was coined and consisely described by Christian Tietze as: ‘to know about something’ isn’t the same as ‘knowing something’ (source). According to Tietze, the way to make sure the first turns into the second is by processing information rather than collecting it. To stick with the roommate-rant example for a bit longer: When I now read back what I wrote about that situation, it helps me know about what happened and how I felt, but it doesn’t help me know, understand. Why was that moment important enough to write down? Did I feel the same way at other points in my life? How do those moments relate? What can I learn from them? How can I use the lessons learnt to grow and become a better person? That is what a Zettelkasten is all about: connecting all the dots into a meaningful whole.
- No location available
- note-taking, sensemaking, knowledge management, collector's fallacy, favorite,