How do I take excellent notes?

[Cody_Atzori]

I take notes on all books, and videos I watch and compile this knowledge in my commonplace book. However, at this point it seems too complicated and wordy and I sometimes learn more just by listening to a teaching with full consciousness and presence. Is taking notes even useful? If so, how can I more optimally take notes to improve my life? For example, how do you take notes? Maybe I'm overcomplicating it. Maybe it's best to just read a book consciously rather than taking notes on everything it says. I'm 16 btw so I got a lot to learn.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Cody_Atzori

[Knock]

Its not about the words on the page or scribbles on paper. 
Its about self-understanding. You need to apply those words and meanings to your life. That is, take what you have learnt, and ask yourself 'how can I use this knowledge? How does it apply to me? What changes can I make in my life?'

Otherwise, if all you are doing is cultivating information then you are no different to a transcription bot. Ultimately, valuable information should influence your emotions, change your thinking and invoke action taking. 

Personally I read a short 10-15 minutes blog post and contemplate it for the remaining 30-35 minutes of my lunch break every weekday. Then I put down any insights I learnt into my phone. Its not optimal, but nothing truly is optimal. It doesn't matter if it is optimal or not, it only matters if its beneficial.  

[GrowthPilgrim]

I would say an excellent note is one, which increases your understanding. It is not about extracting all information from a resource; not even about everything that is interesting to you. Rather, you should consume information with a problem to be solved in mind. Ask yourself, how you can incorporate new information with your current conception of the world/reality. Sometimes this means taking no notes, other times a few, and sometimes you contemplate the read a lot. Your system should not pressure you to make extensive notes. Also, see my recommended resources here. 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by GrowthPilgrim