Most People Suck at Note-Taking Because of These 3 Mistakes

I’ve made them for 10 years. Don’t be like me.

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I’m a note-taking grandpa.

I’ve been taking notes for over a decade. Yet, 90% of those notes ended up in a digital black hole.

I came to the painful realization that I was just wasting my time and had given myself the illusion of being productive.

The reason for that is simple when you understand what I’m going to share with you today. Yet, stubborn and blind-minded humans (like me) sometimes take years to realize their mistakes.

So let me save you some time and give you the opportunity to learn from my mistakes.

The Information on bulimia

Does your note-taking workflow look similar to this?

1. You stumble across an idea that seems interesting
2. You dump it into your note-taking app
3. You classify it with a tag (or by putting it in a folder).
4. You go on with your lovely day.

Did you see a missing step here?

I do.

It’s all about re-engaging in a meaningful way with your notes.

Merely saving information will not move the needle. In fact, most people will spend 80% of their time chasing new information rather than engaging with it.

I’d encourage you to flip the script. Instead of spending more time gathering information, spend more time re-engaging with it.

Don’t simply save notes. Start re-engaging with them.

Categorizing your notes is the devil

Folders and tags are the two popular ways of classifying your notes.

While they give you a good sense of order, they create invisible barriers between your notes.

How can this be an issue? Simple, when you understand this.

Our brains are powerful machines. And they come up with new ideas mainly when we focus on something other than the problem we want to solve.

How often did a great idea spark while driving or taking a shower? Here is your passive genius in action.

Our brain does not process information simply by tagging it or placing it in a folder. Nope. Our brain uses synapses to connect our neurons.

This is how you come up with new ideas.

So if you want to truly mimic how your brain works and create a note-taking system that empowers your thinking, it’s not about using more folders or tags… it’s all about using backlinks.

Think of your note-taking app as a replica of your brain.

And if you want to truly mimic how your brain works, it’s not about using more folders or tags… it’s all about using more connections.

And the great news is that these connection abilities exist. They’re called backlinks.

There are a myriad of Modern note-taking tools that allow you to leverage the power of backlinks.

Backlinks allow you to break the invisible barriers to your creativity.

They allow you to make interesting connections between unrelated fields. Using backlinks in note-taking gives you an unfair advantage.

Think inside the box

Most people don’t have note-taking standards.

Some of their notes may contain one word. Other, a thousand. Some are tagged. Some are put into folders.
We all agree that creativity and knowledge work are messy. Because you never know when you’ll have an insight that may change your career.

But truth is, unleashing your creativity still needs a process.

Not having a standardized procedure is the best way to fail. Why? Because you’re constantly in a mental brain fog to categorize and retrieve your notes.

The mental bandwidth that you’re wasting day in and day out has diminishing returns for your creativity.

Think of your notes as an idea factory. Every factory has production standards.

So should you.

In fact, if you’re a knowledge worker and use your notes to run a business or want to propel your career, then you need a process.

Make note-taking great again

Information is everywhere.

Suppose you don’t have a clear process to manage information and take meaningful notes. In that case, you’re definitely missing out on huge career and business improvements.

Floating anxiety, mental brain fog, and the feeling of being constantly overwhelmed are what most people experience without implementing the right note-taking workflow.

But this doesn’t have to be your case.

✍️ Want to improve your note-taking? Check out my free email course here (safe link to my website)