I am similar. I have a very good memory, and am ability to hold a lot of detail in mind, but my recall is horrible. It can take me hours to get my head back int

I am similar. I have a very good memory, and am ability to hold a lot of detail in mind, but my recall is horrible. It can take me hours to get my head back into a subject, but once I'm there I can easily go deep. As you can imagine, context-switching can completely destroy my ability to engage meaningfully on any pursuit. What I've found useful is creating index files that have just the highlights for the major "blocks" of thought. Then it's like skimming my thoughts. I just need the triggers to prompt recall. If I can get the pump started with the main ideas, or key information, the details will flow. I also tend to take copious notes about everything, but I don't pressure myself to actually use them. They serve a different purpose. Because it takes conscious effort, the act of note-taking convinces my subconscious that the information of important, and improves my recall, at least for a little while. Not the same process as above. The index files are optimized for reading and to promote recall. The detailed notes are optimized for writing and to promote retention in long-term memory I guess, to the article's points, I feel like note-taking is a personal endeavor. If you're doing it because you think you "should," it's probably not useful. But as you are trying to know your own mind and develop your own productivity, it's a tool that can address some specific challenges. What it ends up looking like should be very tailored to your mental processes.