Refining My Note-Taking Process: From Pen and Paper to Blog
In this post, I share my journey of refining my note-taking process. From handwritten notes to a private Hugo site, I’m simplifying my approach to better capture and refine my thoughts. Eventually, everything I learn will make its way to this blog and my social media profiles.
I love taking notes. Whether I’m in a work meeting or sitting in church listening to a sermon, taking notes is my way of absorbing information. Even if I don’t explicitly review the notes later, I know that the act of writing them down will help me recall and store useful information.
This all sounds rather straightforward, but I’ve yet to create a consistent system for note-taking. It may sound like I’m overthinking it, but there are so many factors to consider. A few of these include:
- Should I take handwritten notes or digital ones?
- What note-taking software should I use?
- Should I follow a specific method (like PARA), or not?
I know there’s no “right” or “wrong” answer, but it can still feel like a minefield to navigate. I’ve tried all the apps, read all the books (including Tiago Forte’s excellent Building A Second Brain), but nothing really clicked or felt sustainable. As useful as these books are, it kind of feels like you're being forced to use a process, which works for the majority, but not for a few.
So what am I going to do about note-taking?
Part of the problem in my note-taking process is that I'm far too easily distracted. Having my phone nearby properly doesn’t help. By taking this out of the equation, that should make things easier. And so, for this reason, I’ve decided to keep things simple by going back to basics.
I’m going to switch to using “analogue” technology in the form of pen and paper — and this includes in church as well, where I’ve got into the habit of taking notes on my phone.
After that, I’ll transcribe my thoughts into short-form blog posts on a separate Hugo website I’ve set up. Let’s call this my “notes page,” where I store various thoughts, ideas, and musings that don’t quite fit the “flow” of this blog. For now, I’d prefer to keep this site private, allowing people to stumble upon it via Google without realising it’s mine.
Think of this as my process for refining my thinking. It looks something like this:
To borrow a concept from academia, think of this as a mini peer-review process for myself. Eventually, everything I learn and deem worth sharing will end up on my social media profiles and this blog. After several iterations through my system, I’ll develop a deeper understanding of particular topics and refine my thinking in the process.
