The Power Of Taking Notes (Newsletter 10)

There was a lot of information to cover in engineering school. The lectures were dense and fast-paced. Courses named Thermo-Fluid (fluid mechanics + thermal dynamics), Statics, and Differential Equations filled my schedule.

Admittedly, I was a terrible student who rarely attended class (I was a stubborn teenager who “knew how to read the textbook and take tests”—enough to pass the courses).

However, on the odd days I did show up to class, taking notes was nearly impossible.

Before I could capture what the professor said about one idea, he’d be onto the next. Worse yet, when something wouldn’t make immediate sense, no one would have the time to think it through before we were onto the next thing.

Information in one ear and out the other.

I could have benefitted from a better note taking system.

At the time, my solution was to stay in my dorm room during class time and read the textbook.

Everything my professors were teaching was written more concisely on the pages of the textbooks. The problem exercises we did in class were either taken from, or heavily based upon, the exercises in the textbooks.

Alone in my dorm room, I could concentrate on short sections of material at a time until I understood them. I wouldn’tbe rushed or distracted by the happening of the lectures.

I took exhaustive notes, trying my best to rewrite the information in my own words.

I showed up to class every once in a while, spoke with my classmates quite a bit outside of class to ensure I was keeping up, and ended up around the middle of the pack in most courses.

I remember being at a house party (engineering students couldn’t party that much). And, as nerdy engineers do, a classmate of mine was talking about school. More specifically, he was asking how I could get by without ever showing up to class. My response was “Read the textbook and take notes”.

By the way, I am NOT suggesting you do this. I can only share what worked for ME. Do whatever works for YOU.

I got my diploma in civil engineering and ended my university career there—it’s likely there were many more reasons for my skipping class. That's for another letter.

Fast-forward to today, 12 years out of university and 9 years out of college (I went back to school for audio engineering). It's been a while since I joined my peers in a lecture hall or classroom to listen to an instructor speak for an hour or more.

And yet, I'm taking more notes than ever (and learning more than ever).

I've switched real-time lectures on topics I had to learn for online videos and courses on topics I want to learn. Even without taking notes, studying your interests will automatically help you learn.

Combining genuine curiosity, the ability to pause at will to think, and taking notes yields a great way to learn, in my opinion.

We lose the real-time ability to ask direct questions (but honestly, the information is likely only an Internet search away, anyway).

Note taking is as important in live learning sessions (school lectures, work meetings, etc.) as it is in creative brainstorming/daydreaming. Let's discuss why.

The Power Of Note Taking On Learning

If almost all the information we need is already online and readily accessible, then why take notes?

It's simple. Having the information and knowing the information are two different things.

If you've ever felt you knew something well, only to fail to explain it or practice it in the real world, you will benefit from note taking.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect: a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence overestimate their abilities.

It's natural for us to believe we understand concepts as we're reading, seeing diagrams, watching videos, listening to audio, practicing problems, etc.

In all of these cases, however, the information is right in front of us.

But just because the information is accessible (especially with the ubiquity of the Internet), doesn't mean we know the information.

“True wisdom is knowing what you don’t know”—Confucius

Consuming information and learning are two different things. Taking notes helps the former lead to the latter.

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curves show transience (the process of forgetting that occurs with the passage of time).

The graph loosely shows that humans tend to halve their memory of new knowledge in only a few days unless they consciously review the material.

In other words, taking notes and reviewing those notes is important for committing what we're learning to memory.

Even better, we can actively practice what we're learning by building a project. See my letter on project-based learning.

Our brains aren't great at remembering information that isn't critical to our survival. With so much information out there (noise), it's difficult to remember that important stuff (signal).

Taking notes and revisiting those notes helps us to filter signal from noise. This is an invaluable practice for academic and professional development as well as lifelong self-improvement.

The Power Of Note Taking On Organization

I fancy myself a creative person. In fact, I firmly believe we are all creative. To be human is to be creative.

Psychic entropy is the tendency of the mind (like all other things in the universe) toward disorder. Not medical disorder, but rather the build-up and disorganization of ideas, beliefs and goals.

To maintain order and mental clarity, we need to have a system for reversing entropy.

Note taking, and writing more generally, is the best system I've come across for reversing psychic entropy.

As creative people, we have a lot of ideas and make tons of connections between ideas. 

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” — David Allen

I'd be lying if I wrote that taking notes hasn't improved my memory capabilities.

My old philosophy was to never write down my ideas and allow the best ones to naturally resurface or remain at top-of-mind. I can only imagine how many great ideas I've forgotten over the years.

Now, instead of remembering ideas, facts or stories, I only need to remember the source and where I stored my notes.

With digital note taking software like Notion, I can quickly search for the source or even the keyword of what I want to recall.

Notion has been a game changer for me, and I'll continue writing about it for as long as I use it (likely for a lifetime).

The Power Of Note Taking On Creativity

It's my goal to live a creative and autonomous life. 

Creativity without limits is one of the core tenets of my life philosophy. The fun paradox here is that creativity comes from limitations.

We need direction to create something meaningful. To create something means we aren't creating what that something isn't. Perhaps this goes without saying, but we need constraints to focus our creative efforts.

Furthermore, keeping physical or digital notes allows us to jot down fleeting ideas, inspirations, and observations throughout the day. We can then use these notes to fuel our creative endeavours.

Steal like an artist. Note down things you love and want to incorporate into your own work.

I'm never too far from my physical notepads, phone or computer, largely for the ability to note down ideas as they come to me.

The Power Of Note Taking On Goal Setting & Productivity

Note taking goes hand in hand with goal setting.

This doesn't have to be a grand 10-year vision or anti-vision. It can be a simple to-do list for your day.

Noting down what to do and when to do it is a great way to stay on track and track progress as you reach your goals (no matter how big or small).

The Power Of Note Taking On Communication

Whenever I have an important conversation, I jot down notes and either review them or take them with me.

I'll often do this beforehand, sometimes during, and almost always immediately after (if I can find the time).

I want to ensure I have the information I want to get across and the questions I want answered. I also want to ensure I mark down what was important about the conversation.

The same goes for my video content—I'll always write out my notes as a loose script to follow. This helps me stay on topic and concise in my videos.

At the same time, taking notes allows us to capture the nuance of subjects, helping us dive deeper into the meaning of anything.

My Note Taking System

Discussing theory is great but having practical knowledge is best.

I’ve experimented with different note-taking systems over the years. Through trial, error and personal preference, I'velanded on a slight variation from the Cornell Note Taking System.

The Cornell Note Taking System splits a page into 3 sections:

1. Notes section: This is where we write ideas and facts we find interesting and important about the content. Our notes here are largely centred around the content itself.
2. Cue section: This is where we write the questions, inferences and calls to action for ourselves. We can also go off on our own tangents here—get creative and let your own ideas flow if you have the time!
3. Summarize section: This is where we briefly summarize the main points of what we learned from the content.

In addition to these sections, I also include a “Connect the Dots” section. Here’s where I make insights and connect the dots with other notes and ideas in my second brain software (Notion).

Learning = connecting the dots = creativity.

Making connections between things I'm learning and things I already know has been incredibly rewarding. It's a good hit of dopamine. I make sure to note down these connections when taking notes.

In my case, I'll also embed the video I'm studying at the top, including the channel/course and a checkbox to note whether I've watched the entire video or not.

I organize each video in a database for easier retrieval at any point in the future.

Here’s a Notion template for my note taking system if you’d like to try it out for yourself.

How I Practice Note Taking

For technical learning, like software tutorials, I’ll open my Notion notes at my desk and mark down why I’m learning (including the step-by-step instructions) as I practice the steps alongside the tutorial.

By the way, I pause the videos regularly to think, write and practice. A 30-minute video might take me an hour and a half to get through (which makes me choose the videos I watch more wisely).

For the more conceptual stuff, I’ll go on a 30-45 minute walk and listen to either a YouTube video or an audiobook.

I’ll have Notion open on my phone and I'll pause the audio regularly to take notes and expand on any ideas with my own tangents.

I've found regular walks, combined with note taking, to be an excellent way to gain knowledge while building out my own ideas.

Side note: I live in the woods, so it's easy to walk about without much traffic (vehicles or pedestrians). I probably wouldn't take this approach in a major city. But you do whatever you want to do!

Furthermore, I always have physical notebooks (with graph paper) with me. One on my desk at home, one on my deskat work, 3 or more in my backpack at all times.

Any time I have an idea or a task to complete, I jot it down so I can clear my mental “cache” and continue focusing on my work. The note is out of mind and saved for revisiting.

One thing I'm actively getting better at is actually revisiting my notes. It's one thing to take notes, and another to actually use them to your benefit.

This is where writing and content production come into play. These activities give me a strong reason to revisit my notes (and direction on what to take notes on) throughout my days, weeks and months.

For example, I come up with a topic for my weekly newsletter every weekend. I then have the week to immerse myself in studying and brainstorming around that topic, take notes, reference them, and write out the letter.

For my video content, ideas regularly pop into my head, and I'll note them down for further expansion in the future. It's in the reference that I'll choose the best ideas to actually produce.

As a third example, when producing music, I'll bounce out the mix from a session I've been working on and go for a walk. I'll make notes about what could be improved about the production and then address those notes in the next session.

When it comes time to mix, I'll do my first pass in my studio and then bounce it down. I'll then listen to the mix in a variety of different environments and take notes about the mix in each environment. I then address the common notes as I refine the mix. I'll repeat this process a few times until I call it “finished”.

By the way, if you want to learn more about mixing, be sure to check out my mixing course or my mixing ebooks!

I hope that helps and inspires you to start taking notes yourself.

Again, if you're interested in taking notes digitally, I highly recommend Notion (it's free to use). Otherwise, “analog notes” (pen and paper) can be your best friend.

Cheers,

-Art