Atomic notes

An atomic note makes a single claim that can be understood on its own. “Atomic” is about the claim, not the length: two linked ideas in one note are still two notes.

The practical test: can this note be linked from an unrelated context without dragging along a paragraph that has nothing to do with it? If not, split it.

Writing them in your own words does the real work. Highlighting someone else’s sentence stores their phrasing; restating it forces the argument through your own vocabulary, and that friction is where understanding is formed. See Zettelkasten method.

The pay-off is recombination. A note written for one context stays addressable in every later one, which is why the vault grows faster than any single project that seeded it.