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How to Take Smart Notes

  • Two-Slip boxes in one markdown file: note and reference - notes extend and relate to other notes, not in isolation (one note can exist in different contexts - basically, we can understand how different ideas1)

  • Read, Think, Understand - then write your note (woops) - we have to write to externalize our ideas

  • Life requires context switching, and notes with an index can help me pick up where I left off in the thought process. This is important for my work, as I am a knowledge worker
  • Strip the workflow of everything that can be considered unimportant (I should probably stop using Notion for note taking - only as content management)
  • The author advises that we always have the tools at hand - pen & paper (anything to capture with)

  • A journal is a "graveyard for thoughts", the slip box should be for notes2

  • Asking yourself what you should learn is a useless question - it's easier to do things with a clear view of the destination

    • Deliberate practice helps us become better at making this journey3

Quote

Nothing counts other than writing.

  • The main goal4 of notes is to convey the truth (publishable insight)
  • Note types: Fleeting, Permanent, Project (-specific)
  • In order to find a topic, you need to have studied a subject
    • This makes me think of an old interview of Alexisonfire, where George says to make music, you have to listen to music.

Quote

By focusing on what is interesting and keeping written track of your own intellectual development, topics, questions and arguments will emerge from the material without force.

  • Rewarding work starts the positive feedback loop
    • Writing provides the feedback portion (we're forced to assess if we're understanding the material)
  • Mere Exposure Effect: If we do something a lot, we think we're good at it, even if we're not
  • Focused attention is not very long. New technology damages our ability to practice sustained attention (where we work on one thing at a time)
  • Creativity requires keeping an open mind and being able to switch to a narrow, analytical approach
  • Memo-ize memories - group in to bundles, rather than discrete facts
  • "Mind Like Water" - get knowledge out of our short term memory

Question

Who said the above quote?

  • Willpower is like muscles - requires rest and gets exhausted quickly but can be strengthened
  • Hand writing facilitates understanding because it is slow - college students have to understand what they hear rather than copy it down
  • Shorter, in your own words allows us to focus on patterns, frames, and categories of an excerpt
  • Re-reading breeds familiarity, writing forces us to confront misunderstanding
  • Cramming is for short term retention, not for learning

  • The brain prioritizes comfort and its own happiness (like ego in The Power of Now)

    • Writing was Richard Feynman's thinking process (think outside your brain)

  • Forgetting can sometimes be done by our minds as a filter so we don't get flooded with memories and associations (think join models in SQL)

  • Memory can be measured by storage and retrieval strength

    • Storage strength can't be improved

  • Linking is key!

    • Keep an eye towards other notes and contexts such that you can build the matrix around things you're interested in

  • Contradictions, paradoxes and problems help us reassess pre-existing knowledge stored in the slip-box (corrects for the feature-positive effect)

  • Remember that the slip-box is just a tool5

  • Worldly Wisdom: hanging life experiences on mental models

  • Spaced repitition and active recall are important for information retention.

  • One idea per permanent note - place limits so that they stay concise.

    • Structure (experiment) and restrictions (assess what is important) are necessary for creativity

  • The brain prioritizes information that is recently acquired and with emotions attached to it

  • Evolution works by trial & error, not planning6

  • Motivation is relational (students must identify with and see the purpose of their work)

  • Athletes are more motivated when they imagine the training it takes to win.7 How can I implement this?

  • Build new habits to replace old ones, don't force old habits away

My Routine/Takeaways

  • Keep a pen & paper handy at all times (if anything, just to avoid opening your phone when in the middle of a book)
  • Abandon the notion of making perfect notes. Do you think the multicolored shit people made in college is something that would have helped you? Why not just make art instead?
  • When processing notes, open up the source with anything you've highlighted
    • ex. the Kindle notes & highlights for this book
  • Many of my attitudes towards learning are not conducive to learning, but to accomplishing a very specific task.
  • Turn the writing everything and thinking about process in to a hobby.

  1. Page 20 ↩

  2. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3397642 ↩

  3. Ericsson, K. Anders, and Kyle W. Harwell. “Deliberate Practice and Proposed Limits on the Effects of Practice on the Acquisition of Expert Performance: Why the Original Definition Matters and Recommendations for Future Research.” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (2019). https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02396. ↩

  4. Ahrens, Sönke. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking: For Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2017. ↩

  5. https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/ots96r/on_a_failed_zettelkasten/ ↩

  6. Page 135 ↩

  7. Singer, Robert N., Heather A. Hausenblas, and Christopher Janelle, eds. Handbook of Sport Psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 2001. ↩