I'd describe my method in three steps: Step one: Collect as much as possible. Don't worry about what's important or not, you don't know enough to make that jud

I'd describe my method in three steps: Step one: Collect as much as possible. Don't worry about what's important or not, you don't know enough to make that judgement yet. Step two: Make it shorter. Paraphrase a direct quote, remove unnecessary info, make it more useful to your future self, anticipate what you'd be looking for in the future, you're your target audience. The thing that works the best for me is limiting myself to a very short bullet point list (3-5 items) right at the top of the note. That way, if I need to remind myself of more than that, all I have to do is just scroll down. Step three: Never open a note without making some changes to it, even if it's just fixing punctuation or re-ordering things. That way, the most important notes are always significantly better, more complete than the ones I don't particularly care about. But, I don't feel obliged to chase that perfection from the start, if it happens, it happens organically.