Notes for Success: 4 Note-taking habits to supercharge efficiency
I vividly remember learning how to take notes.
It was during my 7th grade U.S. Government class to be exact.
We were introduced to the concept of taking notes. The idea was to focus on capturing the relevant information the teacher was giving as he went through his lesson each day. The note-taking technique we were taught was to create a beautiful outline (using Roman numerals, of course) that would be an easy reference for future study efforts.
As a newbie note-taker, it felt strange and awkward.
The information seemed to fly at me a million miles a minute. I struggled to listen and capture just the main points instead of falling into stenographer mode trying to capture word for word.
And, as expected, I wanted to make sure I was doing the outline perfectly just in case there was a note-taking 101 pop quiz on the horizon (#RecoveringPerfectionsist).
As I stumbled through this new note-taking concept, I thought for sure it would land in the category of useless skill that won’t be needed once you enter the real world (um, calculus, anyone?) As soon as I successfully graduated 7th grade U.S. Government, I’d be free. Note-taking would be stricken from any future curriculum.
Little did I know how useful the skill of note-taking would actually turn out to be…
Note-taking… Boring! Who cares?
A few weeks ago I inadvertently stumbled across a book recommendation during a mindless Instagram scroll (don’t worry, it was pre-schedule mindless leisure time. I promise!)
The book was ‘How to Build a Second Brain’ written by Tiago Forte.
Within the first 10 minutes of listening (because audiobooks are my not-so-secret time management hack), I was hooked.
The book dives into the what, the why, and the how of note-taking. And just how valuable the process can be.
What is note-taking…
So what exactly is note-taking?
According to ‘How to Build a Second Brain’, a note is a knowledge-building block. It’s a piece of information interpreted through your unique perspective and stored outside of your head.
Notes can come from meetings or concepts from a book you read that stuck with you, or just random thoughts and ideas that pop into your head throughout the day.
Why take notes…
And why do you need to take notes? What’s the point?
Notes help you to make ideas concrete.
Notes give you the ability to access any idea you’ve ever had. Not just in the moment you had them.
Notes are your inspiration. They are pieces of knowledge that only you have. Knowledge that you won’t be able to get from a Google search or even the most sophisticated GenAI prompt.
How do you take notes…
Okay, but how do you take notes to start building this knowledge base?
That is exactly what we’re going to dive into!
As I read through ‘How to Build a Second Brain’, a lot of the concepts I already used. I realized I had a little bit of a secret weapon I’d been deploying for years (despite my initial 7th-grade struggles). I also found a few habits I’m excited to add to my own second brain-building practice (and you better believe I was ferociously taking notes from the book to pass along!)
Capturing Your Thoughts
Good note-taking skills can make you more efficient, more effective, and more productive.
Good notes also become a resource for your brain. This resource allows your brain to be more creative vs. acting like an unruly database with a broken search function.
Here are a few techniques to help you down your path of building your own second brain.
#1. Keep it digital
I do believe that writing things down on pen and paper can be helpful.
Journaling is an excellent example of this. The physical act of writing down your thoughts opens your brain up in a way that lets you access and interpret what’s going on up there. I think this is more available to us with physical writing vs. maintaining a digital journal.
However, note-taking doesn’t fall into this category.
The initial step in good note-taking is just to focus on capturing the notes. In this first step, you don’t need to interpret or make connections about what you’re hearing or reading. That comes later. For now, just capture.
So keeping these initial note-taking activities in a digital space means you are giving yourself a huge time-saving boost by opening up the capability to search your notes later. Whether you’re capturing notes in tools like OneNote, a Notes app, Google Drive, or a million other applications you can choose from, it doesn’t matter. You can search for any of them in this digital world. So you can find any note you ever took, no matter when it was.
You just can’t do that from a handwritten notebook. So keep the pen and paper for your journaling!
(Now, I do understand the allure of pen and paper. And I, admittedly, still take some hand-written on certain occasions. If this is you, just pick and choose these moments and be mindful that this format may take a little extra effort to make those notes accessible at a moment's notice. There are apps available that will scan your handwritten notes and convert them to digital text. This is certainly an option, it will just take more time.)
#2. When interest strikes, take a note!
When going throughout your day, you likely often have brief, but brilliant, moments of thought.
The perfect idea for an addition to the client pitch you have next week. Or you hear about a new restaurant on the radio that would be the perfect spot for your next date night.
In this case, I’m going to give a little advice that’s opposite from my norm: Don’t trust yourself.
While the idea may feel so obvious in the moment you may think it will be ingrained in your brain forever…don’t trust yourself to remember it.
Write it down. Now!
That way, when it comes time to dive back into preparing the client presentation or planning for date night, you don’t waste any time racking your brain on what you were going to do next or forgetting completely you even had a brilliant idea.
The quick note capture will leave inspiration at your fingertips whenever you’re ready to act on it.
#3. Keep a “panic” note location
One of the things that can often derail good note-taking habits is not knowing where to file the note.
You’re listening to a podcast and a concept is really resonating. Or while in a meeting you want to remember some key takeaways. But…where do you put the information?
With relevant documentation stored all over various digital junk drawers, finding “the right” location can seem overwhelming in the moment. So you skip it. Maybe you’re sure you’ll remember it on your own or you may decide that bit of knowledge wasn’t worth retaining anyway.
To get ahead of these moments, designate a “panic” notes location. This will be your default, go-to place to jot down any note or thought at a moment’s notice.
I like to use the Notes app on my phone. Because, like it or not, my phone is always right by my side. I’m also in the Apple club so I sync my notes to the cloud so they’re available across any device whenever I’m ready to organize them.
With a go-to location, any idea is safely captured. Be sure to include any key pieces of the source of the idea in case you want to deep dive later, such as the date or URL or book/podcast name. And don’t worry about organizing or filing just yet (we’ll dive into that in more detail in a future article.) Once again, we are in capture mode only.
#4. Meeting note best practices
One of the areas we likely take the most notes…or at least should take the most notes…is during meetings.
Taking notes in this forum is so valuable to ensure you get the most out of that time.
Nothing is worse than an hour wasted in a meeting that resulted in zero tangible action items and zero knowledge built. Why? Because no notes were taken. The discussion points will be slowly forgotten in the coming days and will likely require a follow-up meeting, or two, to rehash the same information on repeat.
So start getting in the habit of taking notes whenever you step into a meeting.
I recommend taking the 60 seconds before a meeting starts to open the most logical place to capture the details in your note-taking location of choice. Do this before you hit the ‘Join’ button for the call. You may be 60 seconds late, but you’ll be ready to go to ensure the meeting isn’t a waste of a perfectly good hour.
To make sure your meeting note-capturing is at its best, here are a few these tips:
Create a section in your notes to write down any questions you have as the content is being presented. There may not be many opportunities to interrupt and address your questions in the moment. But you’ll easily know what to ask when there is a pause or even as a follow-up action. (Bonus points: capture questions you have before joining the meeting so you know what to listen for.)
Create a section in your notes to capture any action items as you hear them. This can be a great reference at the end of the meeting to align on clear next steps. This is also an easy-to-find reference point when diving back into the project later to remember where to pick back up.
Create a section in your notes for key takeaways. If you hear something that is an ‘ah-ha’ moment, take note! This will come in handy as you reference your bits of knowledge for future use, saving you time from reading through the entire document.
Conclusion
The first step in good note-taking is just to capture your thoughts as they come up, even if you don’t quite know what to do with them yet. The small nuggets of knowledge will be puzzle pieces for later as you start to bring all of your notes together in various and unique ways.
One lesson that has changed from my original 7th-grade perfectionist attempts: let your notes be messy. This messy knowledge capture is still valuable. Just having these notes ensures you don’t have to start from scratch on any future project. Which is exactly what we’re diving into next week! Stay tuned.
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About Me
Hi, I’m Kara. I’m a former workaholic turned time-management expert. I help women stressed out in their 9-5 get more done, in less time, so they can get back in the driver’s seat and start living a life they love.
