Dear Future Self, I Wrote this Note for You
Be kind to your future self — future-proof your notes to be of service to you.
When I take notes, I always tell myself that I am writing to myself in the future.
I never really know when a note I am writing today will be used in the future or why, but it will be used, and I can be kind to myself by providing my future self with information that will be helpful in that future encounter.
Why is this approach to note-taking useful? I try to avoid the blind “capture” only mindset. As if capturing, the act of writing something down is what makes a helpful note. Really, a note can take on extra value when we think about how it will be used in the future.
Of course, note-taking has value in the present. In the short term, they help us reinforce in our minds what we are writing about and can even keep our minds focused on the present. This can be especially helpful in meetings or the classroom. However, we ideally also take notes for their long-term value, to be used once or even many times again in the future.
It is as if we can say to ourselves subconsciously, “I just need to capture the facts in my notes now, and I will remember the context and details of why I made these notes later.” But often, this is not true. I sometimes open a note I took a week or two ago and ask myself, “Why did I write this? What is it that I thought was valuable here?” This usually indicates to me that I didn’t do a good job in my note-taking.
When taking notes, we need to take ourselves out of the moment and ask ourselves, “In a few weeks, or a few months, or even a year or more, when I come back to this note, what do I know now that will be useful then?” It is a mindset of understanding how a little extra work while writing in the present can significantly benefit my future.
This step helps me to center my mind on the purpose of writing a note. It is not simply to capture information for this day but to record ideas that will hopefully be useful or actionable in the future.
Let me share two examples that demonstrate how I do this.
Example 1: Meeting Notes
Like most humans on this planet, I spend a lot of time in meetings. When in a meeting, I often tell myself to capture ideas from the conversation that (1) I may easily forget later and (2) what decisions we made along with essential details: who will do what and when they will do it.
I also have another goal: write down as little as possible, but not too little. In other words, I don’t want to be caught in just “capturing” for the sake of capturing notes. What I write should have a purpose for my future self.
A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting with another department, and we made some agreements about a multi-department project. They committed to completing a few critical steps in the next 10 working days so that my department could do our work and finish the project by the end of the month.
Well, this department did not finish its tasks. When I learned of this, I thought, "What was our agreement? What was the time frame we were committed to?” Thankfully my notes, which were just a few lines of text, captured these key points. Time had passed, and even I forgot some of the details, but my notes written in the past were like a letter written to me for this very day.
With that information, I could return to the other department to gently remind them of our agreement. Of course, I didn’t want to attack them and say something like, “You said you would do this and that, and you failed!” My goal is not to be Mr. Perfect Memory just because I take good notes but instead to kindly bring them back in time to our agreement and to find a way to move forward and achieve our results.
My meeting notes are not a weapon I use against people, but they help me to stick to my commitments. I can’t control what others do, but I take responsibility for my commitments. Let your yes mean yes, and your no, no.
The fact is the other department, due to a busy schedule, forgot about their commitment which is not a crime, but since the objectives were so clear based on the notes from my past self, which so thoroughly explained the situation, they felt compelled to prioritize the work I was waiting on.
It is interesting that people who don’t deliver often will say, “Since you wrote it down, it must be right.” It is interesting how notes have some psychological authority that we sometimes don’t have as humans. I could tell them what I remembered, but the fact that I wrote it down is what gave my words credibility.
In summary: I captured a few lines from that meeting in my notes: Who, What, When, and How, and when the time came, I pulled that note up, and it was as if the past self was talking to the present self. My present self felt gratitude for the kindness of my past self, which invested a e to be sure I would have the information that might be needed.
Example 2: Research Notes
Like many of you good people, I have many interests, and I make many research notes on these interests, such as history, science, math, user productivity, and of course, Tools for Thought.
It’s very important to me that my notes are of high quality. I’m not saying they must be perfect; otherwise, I would never finish them. However, I want them to be beneficial to my future self. Therefore, I put forth a great deal of effort to ensure that my notes will be of value to me when I return to them later.
There are several ways I accomplish this by asking myself simple questions like :
- What will interest me in the future?
- What information do I know now that I probably won’t remember later but that would still be useful when I review this note?
- How will I use this note with other notes? How can I link this note or tag it for that purpose?
Again, it’s all a part of an effort to ensure my notes are helpful. My notes are like a personal Wikipedia. As I go through life, I document interesting things that I will return to.
So thinking about future use is very important. It takes a little extra effort, but it always pays off.
Write notes with intention, and write with the future in mind.
Here is an example of one of my research notes in my Obsidian vault that I wrote up months ago.
My research notes are generally based on Evergreen-style notes and the Cornell Notes style.
For such notes, I often have an introductory section to remind myself of the essence of the topic at hand. I keep this description as succinct as possible.
I have been doing a lot of research this last year on Diabetes, so I have, with intention, included in notes on health information related to Diabetes. I often want to see that as the first thing when I return.
This note layout helps me quickly identify where that section is in the note.
How does this help? Later when I return to the note, I will immediately be drawn to the area discussing diabetes. While I can’t guarantee it is the thing I hope to find, there is likely a good chance it will be of interest.
As I make these research notes, I constantly think: Why will you return to this note? Make sure to capture what will be helpful to you in the future!
To my future self
There was only one point I wanted to make in this article:
When you take notes, be kind to your future self and remember that your future self will forget many details you know today. Therefore, write your note to be of use to your future self.
You can do a better job today preparing your notes to be useful tomorrow.
With time, this practice becomes second nature and will take even less time to do, thus making you more efficient in your note-taking and increasing the long-term value of your notes.
