Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process.
– Richard Feynman
The primary purpose of note-taking should not be for storing ideas, but for developing them.
When we take notes, we should ask: In what context do I want to see this note again?
Fleeting Notes: Fleeting notes are ideas that pop into your mind as you go through your day. They can be really short, just like one word. You don’t need to organize them. tags.fleeting
Literature Notes: You capture literature notes from the content you consume. It’s your bullet-point summary from other people’s ideas. I create these notes for all books, podcasts, articles, or videos I find valuable.
Permanent Notes: When you create permanent notes, you think for yourself. In contrast to literature notes, you don’t summarize somebody else’s thoughts. You don’t just copy ideas but develop, remix, and contradict them. You create arguments and discussions. By writing your idea down, you put pressure on your thinking and transform vague thoughts into clear points.
If you come across useful information, save excerpts from it. This is layer 1. The benefit: next time you revisit the notes, you can just go over your excerpts instead the entire text.
bold passages
If you happen to need the text again, bold specific passages that stand out as you're reviewing. This is layer 2 and serves to make future skimming easier.
==highlighted passage==
If you require the text again, ==highlight from the bolded parts== insights that are especially poignant. This is layer 3 and it represents the highest quality insights that you've derived from the specific text.
mini-summary
If you still have need of the text, make a summary of it in your own words. This is layer 4 and represents the start of reframing the text in your own words.
remix
If you then find the text relevant in some current project, the final step is to remix it into your own material. This is layer 5 and represents the culmination of all the prior layers.