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I’ve worked with a few very successful business people. What was common among them was they wrote things down (frequently, but a little, not a lot) and had exce

I’ve worked with a few very successful business people. What was common among them was they wrote things down (frequently, but a little, not a lot) and had excellent recall. They wrote on anything handy, and discarded when done. Their systems were mostly disposable. They didn’t create libraries of notes. I’m technical, self-employed, with an academic background. I’m very tempted by systems (I often think of the book “Lila” and his 12K index cards... it’s like thought/note porn). But my need to “ship” keeps my tendencies lightweight. My partner has crates of notes, spends time culling lists and to-dos and plans project work times on her calendar. She struggles to ship and is often frustrated by her own sense of progress. It’s just a couple of anecdotal data points. I do like to deep dive into research jags and makes lists and record notes, but those usually happen at the beginning of projects or brainstorming sessions... I find old (digital) notes and have a very ephemeral relationship to them. I care more about digressive and convergent mental habits. When I govern those effectively, I feel creative and productive. My systems tend to stay light.

mumblemumble 6y ago
Two random thoughts: First, one of my high schools had a workshop on how to study. One of the things they encouraged us to do is to take notes, but only a moderate amount of them. Some amount of note-taking can have a huge positive impact on memory and retention. But overdoing it is actually harmful. It's overwhelming. The other is that, if there's one thing I really like from name-brand Scrum, it's the idea that you should strive to make each decision no more than once. Lots of deep deep planning ahead tends to maximize the amount of effort you burn on re-making decisions. And the decisions that are most vulnerable to this effect are the ones that you made the furthest ahead of time.
- jasonv 6y ago
  Ha. That reminds me.. in college, I was employed by a "Class Notes" service to write the notes that other people in class bought so they didn't have to take notes. I got great market for my notes, and when the class was over, students were encouraged to report back to the Class Notes company what score they got in the class. Again, by correlation, my notes were well regarded. I scored very poorly in the class. I spent a lot of time taking notes in class, and then refining the notes to be turned in. Surely, I did less additional homework/studying than I should have. But I also had very little recall of the material. I definitely wasn't optimizing my own effort along with my class notes effort -- but I stopped doing that as I was already pretty busy and the money was mostly a lift. I did better attending and being the kind of student I already know how to be.
Kagerjay 6y ago
Pretty much the same realization I came across too. I used to love taking down notes for the sake of notes... now I don't. Likewise pictures too, my idea was to capture everything Notes for me now is just a temporarily placeholder to help process a lot of information in one go. I don't ever store notes long terms until I find myself reaching for it the 2nd time
quickthrower2 6y ago
I never looked into it, but I always wondered what police write down in their note books and how they balance writing enough and listening enough, making sure they don't forget but don't get distracted by the writing process. Maybe it takes practice.

mumblemumble 6y ago

Two random thoughts: First, one of my high schools had a workshop on how to study. One of the things they encouraged us to do is to take notes, but only a moderate amount of them. Some amount of note-taking can have a huge positive impact on memory and retention. But overdoing it is actually harmful. It's overwhelming. The other is that, if there's one thing I really like from name-brand Scrum, it's the idea that you should strive to make each decision no more than once. Lots of deep deep planning ahead tends to maximize the amount of effort you burn on re-making decisions. And the decisions that are most vulnerable to this effect are the ones that you made the furthest ahead of time.

jasonv 6y ago
Ha. That reminds me.. in college, I was employed by a "Class Notes" service to write the notes that other people in class bought so they didn't have to take notes. I got great market for my notes, and when the class was over, students were encouraged to report back to the Class Notes company what score they got in the class. Again, by correlation, my notes were well regarded. I scored very poorly in the class. I spent a lot of time taking notes in class, and then refining the notes to be turned in. Surely, I did less additional homework/studying than I should have. But I also had very little recall of the material. I definitely wasn't optimizing my own effort along with my class notes effort -- but I stopped doing that as I was already pretty busy and the money was mostly a lift. I did better attending and being the kind of student I already know how to be.

Kagerjay 6y ago

Pretty much the same realization I came across too. I used to love taking down notes for the sake of notes... now I don't. Likewise pictures too, my idea was to capture everything Notes for me now is just a temporarily placeholder to help process a lot of information in one go. I don't ever store notes long terms until I find myself reaching for it the 2nd time

quickthrower2 6y ago

I never looked into it, but I always wondered what police write down in their note books and how they balance writing enough and listening enough, making sure they don't forget but don't get distracted by the writing process. Maybe it takes practice.