Are Your a Productive Note-Taker? 3 Questions to Assess Yourself

Prolific note-taker answer “yes” to all 3 of them

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Many people take notes. But only a minority is world-class at it.

I’ve been helping hundreds of people around the world create a hybrid notetaking system.

And recently, someone asked me how to measure if a notetaking system is prolific or not.

It’s easy to asses yourself once you discover those 3 simple questions I’ll share with you today.

Let’s get started.

Ditch the chips

Consuming is easier than creating.

So the first question to ask yourself is this one: What do you create out of your notes?

Look at your output. If you’re only copying and pasting random information into your notetaking system and never creating something meaningful out of it, you’re caught in the collector’s fallacy.

Collector’s fallacy is the fact that you’re collecting information motivated by the fear of missing out. Truth is, you can retrieve most information with a Google search within 10 seconds.

Your first motivation should not be saving for the sake of saving. But saving for the sake of creating.

Ditch fast content consumption and focus on content creation.

Be the machinist, not the engineer

Machinists work with the machine. Engineers on the machine.

When it comes to high-level thinking in your business, you want to be the engineer. You want to work on high-level tasks.

But when it comes to notetaking you want to be the machinist. You want to be using your notes as much as possible to create something out of them. If you’re spending your time organizing your notes rather than using them, you’re the engineer.

So the second question you should answer with “yes” is this one:
Are you working IN your system more than ON your system?

Be the machinist and not the engineer.

Passion trumps brute-force attacks

Stoics say that the obstacle is the way.

The best system in the world is useless if you don’t enjoy the ride. When you enjoy doing something, you can ditch cheap productivity talks and motivational clap-in-your-hands videos.

One of the most important questions is this one: Do you enjoy working within your notes?

When you have the right notetaking system, the answer should be “yes”.

I enjoy solidifying my knowledge by rediscovering old ideas that I’ve forgotten. I also love the fact that I can find new idea combinations that make me stand out in my industry.

And what’s better than having the feeling of growing every time you open your notetaking app?

Your results

Prolific note-takers are those who:

1. Create something out of their notes
2. Work with their notes, not just on their notetaking system
3. Enjoy the process

Want to set up a prolific notetaking system? Sign up for my free 7-day notetaking course here. (safe link to my website)