Building a Lasting Knowledge Base Using Evergreen Notes

Writing evergreen articles is one of the most effective ways to establish a successful blog.

Evergreen articles remain relevant and generate traffic for a long time. They are helpful over long periods, making them a valuable investment for any writer. By writing evergreen pieces, you’ll attract loyal and intelligent readers who can trust that your writing won’t lose value.

Evergreen articles start from evergreen notes.

Evergreen notes should be atomic in size and have densely linked link structures. This makes it easy to stop and resume work, helping us close open loops. These small, self-contained notes represent regular checkpoints. Each note takes only a few minutes to write. Because they’re evergreen notes, each note is solid ground to stand on and is reasonably complete relative to its concept. By contrast, when working on a sizable work-in-progress manuscript. We’re juggling many ideas in various states of completion.

Different parts of the document are at varying levels of fidelity. Good ideas come to me when I see the same information in a few other places.

When I want to note these ideas, I’ll identify the topic, give it a name, and gather relevant information from various sources, such as articles, books, papers, conversations, and videos.

I rewrite these notes into original ideas rather than repeating what I’ve read or seen. This way, I can create “evergreen notes” that tie together my original ideas and the reference materials I’ve gathered. Doing this helps me understand things better and makes it easier to find the information again when needed.

I sometimes use these notes to create publishable content, although it can be challenging.

Taking notes is a common practice, but most people take only short-term transient notes.

Evergreen notes are written and organized to evolve over time across projects. They are a unique way of thinking about note-taking.

Evergreen notes aim not to write them down but to develop insights and promote better thinking. These notes are precious and are a fundamental unit of knowledge work.

One of the fascinating aspects of these notes is that they are interconnected, meaning you can always get insight from your past thoughts. These notes are highly granular and can be reused in different contexts, leading to new and innovative ideas with each iteration. This note-taking method challenges our past thoughts against our current thoughts. Going back and forth allows us to make better predictions based on our past understanding.

[¹]: The PARA Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life