We all grew up doing it.
You’re sitting in class writing notes like there’s no tomorrow, attempting to get everything down on paper before your brain loses it. All those hand cramps and pages used to find that suddenly you can’t recall anything that you’ve just learnt.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: should we really be taking notes and more precisely do we really need to? In this week’s post, I try to answer that question.
Focus on what’s important
As Elon Musk puts it, “Focus on signal over noise”. The idea behind it is that we tend to do things because we see other people doing it but don’t always questions whether it helps us or makes a difference in any way. Making notes is one of those things, our minds are so fixed on the ‘need’ to take notes that we find it difficult to pull ourselves away from it even if it’s not helping.
Sometimes, it’s good to just take a step back and think about whether making notes is driving a result or just for the sake of making you look like you’re working to other people or feel like you’re working. It’s a sort of mental trap that once we move away from, we realise we’re better without.
This whole concept of doing work revolves around rigorous note-taking for many people and this puts people into the mindset that things are meant to be harder than they actually are. The truth is, working isn’t meant to feel that way and it isn’t productive if you’re not having fun. Now, many of us can admit that note-taking is physically and mentally tiring. If you’re the kind that enjoys making aesthetic notes from a textbook you might disagree, but is it that effective? Don’t get me wrong, you can still make aesthetic notes but turn it into something that gets you that result you need. Blurting is a technique I love to use that can involve aesthetic note-taking but is more of an active form of recall that tests how much you really know.
In short, the two things that pull this concept of ‘doing what’s important’ together are doing what gets you the result and doing what you enjoy.
Putting things into memory
I’ve been trying this thing of writing stuff down to help me remember them and although it has helped me visualise things more clearly, it hasn’t helped much with memorising information. I came across this Lifehacker article that shares a study looking at the effects of note-taking on memory and it was summarised really well:
A recent study from Michelle Eskritt and Sierra Ma at Mount St. Vincent University—published in the journal Memory & Cognition—suggests that when you take notes, your brain can intentionally forget because it knows that you’ve written the information down and stored it elsewhere. During the study, participants were asked to play the memory game Concentration over and over. The catch was that one group was allowed to take notes during the game. Halfway through the game, however, that same group got their notes taken away. When it was all done, the group that was not allowed to use notes performed significantly better.
Rather than being spoon-fed information and writing it down as it’s being delivered, it’s better to use that time actively engaging with the information. That can mean discussing the topic or asking and answering questions. As long as you’re doing more to immerse yourself in what you’re learning. That ultimately makes it more memorable and you don’t have to waste time making notes. On top of that, it makes the process of learning more fun and the process of recalling much easier!
Conclusion
Learning effectively is all about doing more with the information you’re given, creating connections between topics or quizzing yourself on key concepts. If this post wasn’t convincing enough for you to cut down on note-taking, change the way you do it so you’re consolidating your understanding of the information. That’s just one of the many ways you can develop your study habits.
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