Although my tenacious habit of searching everything on the web when I can’t remember something has been helpful so far, I recognize the need to focus more on creating content for my Zettelkasten.
When I forget something, I tend not to write a Zettel for it, either because I consider it too trivial to merit one or because I assume I could easily find the information again. However, a Zettelkasten is not just an archive of notes but also a tool to generate new knowledge. Taking the time to write a note, even for seemingly mundane information – such as my Zettel#38 about switching the case of characters in Vim – can be an effective method for retaining information in long-term memory – as long as the process doesn’t focus only on encoding the information but also involves regular information retrieval practice afterward.
This is what I wrote in my draft article, “How to learn”, really. It’s crucial to practice what you preach; and I realize that I need to apply this approach more often myself.