Note-Taking Simplified
How To Break the Note-Taking Barrier: 5 Steps for Absolute Beginners
The Art of Organized Note-Taking
Ever heard of Niklas Luhmann?
He was a prisoner of war during WWII. But he is known for extensive use of a note-taking system called Zettelkasten.
In a 40-year career, he built up 90,000 notes for his research.
Thanks to this note-taking system, he went on to publish 70 books and more than 400 scholarly articles on subjects like law, economy, politics, art, religion, ecology, mass media, and love.
Since developing my note-taking system, I’ve published an article a day for 11 months straight.
It wasn’t a simple process for me and if you struggle to break the note-taking barrier, here’s my 5-step framework to help you develop your process.
Step 1 — No Rules
Your note-taking system needs to be simple. Your mind needs to understand it easily and not be overwhelmed with it.
During the early days, I remember complicating this process. Making rules hoping it’d serve me.
Instead, it kept me confused and stopped me from returning to my notes.
It is a system designed by you and for you. It only needs to serve one purpose — to help you store information and access it whenever you need it.
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” — Confucius
Step 2 — Your Top 2 Spots
There was a time when I’d take notes only to never find them.
This frustrated me no end.
Why?
Because I captured notes everywhere. I never knew which book had which note from which day.
This resulted in chaos.
My mind didn’t know where to look for the information it had stored.
My system came into existence only after I limited the number of places I was storing my information.
While I knew this, practising it was challenging.
I now take notes on the Note app for digital notes because my phone is at hand with me at all times or in a notebook for written notes.
Your note-taking software should be easily accessible, it doesn’t have to be fancy.
Step 3 — Make a Bank
For every article I write, I go through 4–5 notes.
When you make a bank, you trust your notes, and you come looking for new ideas repeatedly.
A note bank also you confidence in your note-taking system.
The more confident you become, the better your ideas become.
So, don’t judge the idea. Just write it down.
Don’t be miserly with your process of noting things down.
Step 4 — Feedback
You will most likely fail in the first few attempts.
Make sure you do not give in. The best way to approach this is to have a contract with yourself.
Give yourself at least 3 weeks of trial and error on your first iteration.
Observe yourself. Tweak. Observe. Tweak. For an additional 3 weeks.
This will help you get close to the result you want.
Learn to be happy with a process that satisfies you 80%.
If you aim for 100%, you most likely won’t be able to get in your groove because you’ll be shackled by the chains of perfection.
Step 5 — Resources
Learn and evolve.
Be on the lookout for improving your system.
The better and more robust your system becomes, the better your ability to think and come up with ideas.
Articles like this, videos like this, note-taking methods like this, books like this, etc. will up your game and help you become more productive and effective in whatever you do.
Before you leave, I’d like to end this article by sharing a couple of pitfalls.
In step 4, I shared why perfectionism is your enemy.
Similarly, remember to not give too much importance to the software.
It doesn’t lead to taking better notes. It will only keep you juggling between the apps rather than doing real work.
Do you have a note-taking system? Do you know what’s ailing you and stopping you from developing one?
