Digital Note-making
This short e-book explains why taking notes the right way does more than help you remember things. It helps you think clearly, learn faster, and come up with more ideas. The content comes from a real course on digital note-taking, rewritten in a simple, easy way.
Notes are for thinking, not just remembering
When asked why his notebook was so carefully written, physicist Richard Feynman said: "This is not a record of my thinking. This is my thinking."
Many people think notes are just for remembering things, like a phone number on paper. But when you write an idea down, that act helps your brain organize its thoughts. A note is not "old storage" — it is a "workshop" where ideas get built.
What is a note? A note is a short piece of writing, usually written for yourself, that supports and extends what your brain can do — not a finished essay written for someone else to read.
Nine reasons we take notes
Notes serve many different purposes, not just remembering:
- To remember — like quickly writing down a code during a phone call
- To copy down — writing while you listen helps you focus better
- To keep records — a lab journal needs exact, careful notes
- To learn — linking ideas together helps you truly understand a subject
- To research — gathering key facts to reach a conclusion
- To spark new ideas — writing helps you see a problem more clearly and keep thinking
- To plan — a to-do list before an exam
- To communicate — a short note left for someone else
- To keep your hands busy — doodling also helps your mind stay focused
How can you take notes? Comparing tools
Two kinds of notes: throwaway and lasting
This is the most important idea in the whole book. Learn to tell these two kinds of notes apart:
Throwaway notes
Example: "Chemistry homework due tomorrow." Once it is done, you can throw it away.
Lasting notes
Example: a note that explains a physics formula. You will come back to read and add to it for years.
Lasting notes need more careful writing, because the person who reads them later is your "future self" — someone who has forgotten most of today's context. So write clearly enough that you can understand it right away three months from now, without guessing.
One note, one idea
Do not put everything on one long page. If you have three different ideas about a topic, split them into three separate notes. This makes them easier to find again and easier to connect with other ideas later.
The basic note formula A good note, even a short one, should have: a clear title, the date it was made, its source (where it came from), one tag, and a short sentence that explains why this note matters.
You just read a great article online called "The Psychology of Color" and pasted the whole paragraph into a note before going to sleep. Based on this chapter, what is this note missing most?
Summarized from the course Digital Note-making for Creative Thinking on Coursera.
