Notes should be atomic

September 08, 2026 • 1 min read • Updated: September 08, 2026

note-taking core

One idea per note, because linking is only useful at the resolution of ideas.

One note, one idea. Not one note per source, per session, or per topic.

The reason is mechanical rather than aesthetic. Links connect notes, so the note is your unit of connection. If a note holds three ideas, anything linking to it links to all three, and the link stops meaning something specific. The graph fills with edges that say “these are vaguely related”, which is the same as saying nothing.

The test is whether you can title the note as a claim. “Reading notes — March” is a container. “Backlinks change what you write” is a claim, and other notes can agree or disagree with it.

Splitting is cheap and merging is expensive, so split early. See [[Evergreen notes]] for why revision matters, and [[Backlinks change what you write]] for what you get back.

Linked mentions 3

• Backlinks change what you write notes
  When a note shows what points at it, you start writing for the incoming links.
• Evergreen notes notes
  Notes written to be revised forever, rather than published once and left.
• Six months of gardening in public posts
  What changed after moving from a blog to a set of interlinked notes: fewer posts, more revisiting, and one surprise.