Discover the importance of note-taking and how it can help you retain, recall, and pass on information for later use. Did you know that we forget 33% of what we don't review within 24 hours? Learn how taking notes can help you avoid this and reinforce key points. Plus, discover how note-taking can help you cite sources, share information with others, and remember who said what.
In this episode we talk about:
- Why Note taking is important
- How it can help you gain more clarify
- Information organizing
- Cornell Note Taking Method
- Chart Note Taking
- Outlining Method
- Lists Method
- Mapping/Mind Mapping/Concept Maps
- Box and Bullet
- SQ4R
- Shorthand
- Flow writing (brain dup) & highlight method
The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger. For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
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Review the Transcript:
Hello friends, and welcome to another episode of organized and productive. I am so excited for today's episode, this is one of my most favorite topics of all time. And that is learning to take good notes. But more than that, it's not just learning how to take the notes. But knowing that you have options of note taking, and then figuring out which one calls out to you which ones you prefer, which ones are the best depending on the project and the outcome you're looking for. Because once you figure out how many different notetaking strategies are out there, and which one works for you, in which one gravitates with your own system, the result of that is that your brain starts to adjust when it's acquiring information. And it makes it so much easier to process and do something with the information you're receiving. And in today's age, where information is so easily accessible through social media, and the internet, and television and podcast, eat and et cetera, and the list goes on, we are being introduced to new information every second of the day. And that can be very overwhelming.
So when you learn about note taking, your brain then starts to weed out what you really truly need from the information you're receiving all the time, and let go of information that is not useful to you and your goals. And that way you're not overwhelming your brain and just yourself with everything that's coming in all at once. So I love notetaking conversations, and figuring out which style would work best for you, because it makes you a more organized and productive person in the long run. So let's get right into it. And let's talk about why Note taking is important. And then I will list out some of the most common strategies and note taking methods for you to look more into and see which one works best for you. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with me organized Flamingo I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well then let's go. So what is note taking. So Note taking is a process of recording information with a purpose of retaining, recalling or passing on that information for later use. Note Taking involves listening or reading. So we're talking about both and it's listening or reading the information. So basically acquiring information, identifying the key points and main ideas of the information acquired, and then recording them in a structured and organized manner.
Now, notice how I said organized manner. Yes, good note taking requires you to have the organizing skill, which is why I'm talking about it. And this organizing skill can be learned, you know, if you're not organized by nature, or you just don't feel like that's your zone of genius. That's okay, you can learn it. And that's why I'm outlining different strategies so that you can study them and see which one works for you. Now let's talk about why taking notes is important. So it's almost impossible to remember everything you read or listen to right. So the fun fact here is we forget about 33% of what we don't review within the 24 hours that we acquired. So you are forgetting a lot. And that's okay, some of the stuff you don't even need. But there comes a point where you start feeling guilty over the things you're not remembering. And it may be the case that you didn't even need that information. But that guilt is something you're carrying. And so I want you to have a method of acquiring the information so that you know, you have captured what you needed and letting go of some of this information you're acquiring is okay, and it's actually very productive in the long run. Now, remembering isn't the only reason why we take notes, we take notes to pass the information on over to others and so that they can easily read what it is that you're trying to perceive and to give them right.
We also take notes to cite what was being said especially for you scholars out there, or when we want to reinforce a point by noting who said it and where it was from So note taking allows us to remote remember and recall all of that information and then pass it on. And Note taking is not just for lectures at school or work meetings. Note Taking takes place in our everyday life. I mean you you probably right now many of you are taking notes, I bet you there is at least one or two of you who is taking notes right now with the purpose of retaining information for later use.
Note Taking also comes in the form of you doing your grocery list. That's a list that's you taking note when you walk around and take notes over what it is that you need to go buy at the store. Or maybe you're taking notes. When you're preparing for your meal planning or preparing for a special location type of meal. You're taking notes right when you're walking around your kitchen, you're Taking notes when you are at the doctor's office and you're giving, and they're giving you their you know your information that you need to retain or instructions on what to do for a procedure. That's note taking. You take notes when someone is giving you directions, and the list goes on, no pun intended with lists, but you are taking notes, whether you think you're a note taker or not, or whether you think that Note taking is important or not, you are actually doing it on an everyday basis. So if you're going to be doing it that much, let's learn some good ways to retain the information as we continue with this conversation. So like I mentioned earlier, the action of taking notes can be done in various techniques, which we will talk about today, I'll give you a list of a few. I'll give you some tools that have proven to be useful and work well. But most importantly, my hope with this episode is that you can be mindful of how you mentally take notes and physically take notes. And make sure that you're using the technique that you like and works well with your way of living and acquire information naturally. This way, it can help you stay organized and productive.
And in a way that is easy to do and functional for your lifestyle. Before I get to the fun part where I name all the different types of note taking styles and methods, let me say that I would recommend that you explore the different methods, a few of them that I'm about to talk about and experiment before making the decision to go with one or the other. Each of these methods serves a purpose and learning what they are and what they are best for and used for will help. But ultimately, you have to actually use the method or else it's just another skill that you have learned that is in very beneficial to you. So learning about them isn't enough like you actually have to go and do it and try it out and see which one works for you. So before you go spending hours learning one of these methods and changing your entire note taking system, buying the journal and going all in, learn about him, try a few of them before you commit. And then second important note I want to mention is considered what is your natural way of capturing information.
So are you a digital planner, person or paper planner or note taking person or maybe a hybrid of both now, that will help you pick something that is all that that you're already doing. And that way you aren't changing what is already working entirely, you're just enhancing it. Now that I've given you my warnings, let's get right into it. So first, let's start off with the Cornell note taking method. This one is very widely known, especially if you went to a university or something like that, because it's very common to be used there. It was popularized by Cornell University Professor Walter puck. And this method is meant to take fast notes by planning out where each of the information you're about to receive goes on the page. So ahead of time, you actually will divide the piece of paper into the two columns. And the way it works, you can look it up and you can see the visual of what it looks like. But basically, there's two columns on a page. The left column though, it's not like an even 5050, the left column is about a third of the page with the other column, the one on the right takes the majority of the space about two thirds of the page. And then the bottom is for the summary of the notes that you just took. And the thought process here is the left is like the quick thought and or the piece of information that you were given. And then on the right you give your explanation, or your notes that is related to the information that you that was just given. Let's talk about chart note taking. So chart notetaking is meant to be for comparing things.
This is like the pros and cons, you ahead of time will determine how you want to divide the information that is about to be given to you. So divide the page into two or more columns. And then each column has the comparison title. So let's say you do want to do pros and cons, maybe you are going into trying to figure out which tile works best for you when you're redoing your bathroom. So you will then put the pros and the cons of the white tile and then or the black tile or the green tile and then the left column. And you know, you start writing down the pros and the cons. I mean, this is a really overly simplified example. But that's what the chart note taking type of note taking is. This is helpful for when multiple subjects are being discussed at once. And you need to group the ideas. So you can then put it into like one column. And another like I said, especially for projects, when you're doing renovating or big projects like that. You're talking to different contractors and you just need to get all those thoughts organized. A chart note taking method works great. The next one on our list is outlining and outlining is another very common way of note taking, especially in schools. This is the one that has the Roman numerals. You know if you're familiar with it, this is one of the most common ways of note taking. It's right Being down the thoughts in a hierarchy, and in the order in which it was talked about. So with the main point at the very top with the sub points at the bottom, you probably did this in school in some way, shape or form.
And so this is a very popular type of note taking, and your brain probably works this way to, you know, with the big heading. And then the subheadings, right under it closely related to outlining is lists. And a list is a sequential listing of ideas as they are presented. So this is like a list that you make maybe in your to do list, right, that's what it is. And so when you're presented with ideas, or maybe you are at a conference, or you read something, you're listening to a podcast right now you're just like listing all the different ideas that are coming to you, as they're being presented with no sub headings with no sub conversation at the bottom, it's just lining them up in the list. Now different than outlining, the outline has a hierarchy, like I mentioned. And so here with lists, it's just going to be a run on list. And it's one idea after another without the hierarchy. So this is great when you're trying to take very quick note taking. But with list, you do have to definitely come back and make sure that you categorize or you clump the ideas together at some point or else, it's just going to be a run on list that may or may not make sense to the person you're giving it to. Or if you come back to that list later on, it may not make sense because all of the ideas are all over the place.
The next type of note taking method is called mapping or some some of you may know it by mind mapping and or a concept map. And this is more for visual thinkers. This one is basically a spider of thoughts, where the big circle in the middle of each spider, you know, the big body is the primary thought, and then it branches from there. And so you then start to link each thought visually with a line or a branch to follow its lineage. This is a really helpful way of taking notes when you're trying to tie thoughts together. And some of you very visual thinkers already think this way, and you note take this way. So sometimes, especially when you're on social media, maybe or online platforms, you read an article or you read a post, and then you scroll down and you're reading a couple others. And now they're all starting to kind of link together, especially if you follow very similar people. And then you as a visual thinker, you start acquiring information by linking it together in this way. So if you're naturally that that type of note taker anyway and a visual thinker, then this method is great for you. Because you're you're making the correlations very quickly in your mind as you're reading it.
The next one on our list is box and bullet. And the box and bullet method is a newer type of note taking strategy. And it's more for a digitized or digital type of note taking. And I'll tell you why in just a second. But the box and bullet is basically like mind mapping and outlining but a very simple way of looking at those two. So basically, the main thought process, or the main thought that comes up goes at the very top, and then the sub thoughts or notes go right underneath it. And then you outline it with the big box to clump the idea together. So it clusters concepts together. The reason it's more of a modern way of Note taking is because if you're more of a pen and pencil type of person, this method is going to have a lot of Whiteout, or a lot of weight scratching like scratching, because the thought process is that you're taking these concepts or thoughts. And then you're moving them around to the box that it pertains to. So the box and bullet method was primarily made for iPad users or tablet users. So if you have a tablet, and you're able to lasso around a thought, and you can move it around than the box and bullet type of note taking is perfect for you.
The next one on our list is S key for AR I never know if I'm saying it right, but it's S Q, the number for AR and this one's mainly used for taking notes when you're reading. So this includes social media internet, like more just reading and not so much when you're listening to somebody talking. And it stands for survey questions read recite related review. That's the four R's. In the paper, you'll divide it into the six sections. And basically, it starts off with you asking, you know, you survey the information that you just read, and then you write questions you have about what you just read. Then you read your questions, and then you recite it to make sure you're understanding what you just read and then you relate it and then you review it. And so this method is more for when you're acquiring information that you aren't having made sense of it yet. So the SQ for our method is very good for that, especially if you're a big reader, they ask you for our method might work really well for you. And then for the last two, the first is a shorthand method. Now, the Oxford Dictionary defines shorthand as a method of rapid writing by means of abbreviations and symbols. Now, there are different systems of shorthand, and some maybe you have heard of from relatives or teachers, when technology wasn't as advanced, sometimes we call it like old school note taking.
And it is kind of an old school way of taking notes. But it can still apply now, especially with the tablets. But basically, when you're writing things down, you are abbreviating it into a code. And there are so if you look up shorthand codes, there are some that are have become popularized, or have, you know, been around for a very long time. But you can also create your own if you really want to. But of course, the trick here is that you have to remember what those abbreviations and symbols stand for. And if you're listening, this is great. Like, if you go to a lot of conferences, and they're talking very fast, or you, you're getting tired of writing down all the notes, then shorthand might be for you. This can apply if you're taking the digital version, like I said, if you have a tablet, a tablet, and a tablet, or if you have paper if you prefer paper and pen. So shorthand can work really well, for both types of methods if you just learn and remember what the abbreviations and symbols will stand for. And the last type of note taking method is the flow writing, which is a brain dump, essentially, that's what we call a brain dump, and the highlight method. So flow writing is where you just basically take everything, you just acquired all the information you just acquired, and you dump it in a piece of paper, or you type it out very quickly.
This type of note taking strategy is the kind that you probably will use when you don't have a writing utensil or a way of taking notes. In the moment, a lot of presentations, or maybe you were in a place where you didn't even know you were going to acquire great information, you didn't have a way of capturing the information in the moment. So now you have to Brain Dump it as soon as you get to a place where you can do all that writing. And so the flow writing is going to work great for that, just to get it all out of your head and into into a platform. And then the highlight method goes with the flow writing, because what you will do is then after your brain dump, you will come back and make sure you highlight or underline or make sure that you clump and cluster the thoughts together. So that they make sense, if you don't which and then you can start throwing away what you don't need, what information you gathered, but isn't really useful. And that way you can start prioritizing what information you actually need from that moment in time that you did not have a way to capture the information.
So those are some of the most popular systems. If over on the show notes page of our of our podcast, we will have them outlined. And so that way, if you would like to learn more about each and every single one of them, you know how to where to look, look, look it up and do your own research, I would highly like I said at the beginning, I would highly recommend that you pick a couple that speak out to you learn more about them, try them out, and then decide if it's for you. Because ultimately you do have to actually put them into practice before you make the decision over whether it works for you. Because you may think that the visual, you're a visual thinker, and that that mind mapping is beautiful and cool and fun. But in practice, it may not make any sense for you, it may actually backfire and overwhelm you. So definitely test these out a few of third tips that I would recommend you try regardless of what method you end up going with is learning about abbreviation symbols and shortcuts that just learning how to shorten words or ways of saying things even if you don't go all in into the shorthand method can be very beneficial using a notetaking application where you can view it wherever you go.
So if you are a paper and pencil, just make sure that you have your notebook available to you when you need it. Because in nowadays, especially if you're on the go all the time, and you forget your notebook, then you know, then you you won't have access to it in the moment. So just have a way to always have access to a note taking method. I personally like Apple notes because I use apple. But I also use Google Keep and OneNote and all three of them play very nice with my Mac with my apple all have my Apple ecosystem. So I really like those three. And each of those note taking systems works for very different things for me, but pick the ones that you can take with you wherever you Go. And once you take notes have a dedicated way to go over the notes. So taking the notes, retaining the information, organizing the information is all great. But what are you going to do with it?
I'm a highlight method person. So I kind of I'm a color coded person. So I highlight, and then I ended up, I have five different subject matters. And then I have action items associated with each color. So that's how I do it. But basically, it's a way for you to come back to those notes, there is no use of you putting the information somewhere, if you're not going to do something with it. So have a way to come back to it, maybe have a dedicated day, every month, where you go back to your notes, and revisit them and make sure that they're still serving a purpose in your ecosystem. So that is our episode for today. What do you think? Is there a particular note taking system that you prefer that is calling out to you, we'd love to hear it. Share with us over on social media, I'd love to see if there was a particular one that really resonated with you or that you really want to try or your success stories like, is there something that you tried, and that worked really well. We'd love to hear it as well and cheer you on a good note taking skills can help you in both your personal and professional life. And it increases your memory retention, it improves your focus, it increases your productivity.
You can have better communication when you can organize that information that you're acquiring, and it enhances your learning and it helps you with achieving your goal. So definitely good Note taking is a skill that will serve you in the long run. I promise you your future self will thank you for it. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast Happy organizing.
