@PsychrolutesMarcidus It’s definitely something that you have to practice, so don’t feel overwhelmed!

I personally don’t write a summary immediately, instead taking little notes of specific thoughts in the text I want to remember. Those little notes are in my own words. Then, I scan the notes to see how many talk about the same idea, and use my short notes as a framework to build a zettel.

It’s important that you understand the idea. If you lack understanding, it’s hard to write a zettel that encapsulates the idea well enough to sensibly use it years down the line.

There are no such things as wrong words. Just write things.

When you come here to post something in Lemmy, do you start shitting in your pants worrying about using the wrong words to write your comment? Probably not.

So why are you doing that when writing simple personal notes? You should worry about it even less than a Lemmy comment, since no one else will see your notes (probably).

I had a similar problem, in my experience is a skill that can be acquired rather quickly. I had nice results with SQR3 reading method, roughly like this:

1. Skim the material, get the basic idea
2. Think of several questions you have for this material, given it's basic idea
3. Read it again, slowly and thoroughly
4. Go back to your questions and write down answers for them

Gradually this can get your more comfortable expressing things in your own language.