Top Highlights

• Principle 1: note-making is not an outcome, but a process   Don’t take notes to record what you have already thought about, but to assist you in expanding your thinking. There’s a reason your old schoolteachers always wanted you to paraphrase texts in your own words—in writing these notes, we are in effect seeing them for the first time, from the i...
• Principle 2: write as though you had an audience   It doesn’t matter if your notes or ideas are ever published or read by another human being. What matters is that you practice discernment in what you note and how. Don’t waste time on things you know are trivial; be rigorous, focused and demand quality from yourself. Picture these notes being read ...
• Principle 3: creativity doesn’t happen in a void   You can’t form opinions unless you understand the topic, and you can’t create something completely new from scratch. You can’t find any interesting answers until you’ve taken the time to research interesting questions. In other words, learning/studying is not so very different from creating.   When...
• Allow fresh patterns to emerge. It’s a non-linear process—there’s no reason you can’t return to old notes and elaborate. Extract key information, shake it up or try putting it in a different format. When notes are done well, you’ll be able to use them as milestones on your way to learning, or as a scaffold that helps you inch closer and closer to u...
• Principle 4: have a standardized workflow   While the note-taking part of the process is flowing and open-ended, you still need a structured protocol for how and when to take notes. If you’re committing to reading an hour a day, add on ten minutes so you can jot down notes, questions and reactions. Try cut down on distractions and clutter and focus...