1. Having an "inbox" notes to capture ideas in form of napkin, receipt, voice recorder
2. Literature notes: When you consume content, take notes of what you don’t want to forget or what you want to use in your own writing. It is recommended to make them atomic. Make sure to include the bibliographic details, author & source at the very least, so you know where you got the idea from.
3. Permanent notes: every day, you should go through the inbox and seek to refine the fleeting & literature notes. Making connections and turning them into permanent notes.

One idea = One note
One note = One idea

4. Navigation: an index allows you to navigate in the zettelkasten; keyword notes can also be used as link.