We spoke about how to take notes at information events like workshops, lectures, conferences, etc.
When you need to take in information and summarize it, the Cornell method works great.
Sometimes though, you just need to jot a quick reminder, or take some notes while you’re talking with someone.
I use a different technique for that, that comes from bullet journaling. It’s called “rapid logging”.
Here’s how it works.
Every “note” you want to take is made up, as a rule, by three elements: a signifier, a bullet, and a short sentence that is the actual note content.
That’s it. Let’s look at each of them.
Let’s start from the end, because why not.
The short sentence content
This is the bulk of the note. Here’s the twist though: you should only write a short sentence or two to summarize the point.
If you need more words, you should take it “offline”, and write it down later.
Obviously, exceptions will apply, but overall I encourage you to keep it short and to the point: generally speaking, shorter notes are harder to write but easier to consume later, and the idea is that you will “write-once-read-many”.
The bullet
The bullet is what gives “bullet journaling” its name. We’ll talk more in detail about bullet journaling in a couple of days, but for now, bear with me.
Your short sentence content is preceded by a bullet, to make a bulleted list of “notes”.
However, we use different bullets to identify different “types” of notes. This way, you can quickly identify what type of action your note requires.
You can make up your arbitrarily complex set of bullets, but my strong advice is to keep it as simple as you can.
Here’s what I use on my paper notebook:
- An interpunct (or middle dot) for tasks. For example:
· send report to Jackie. These notes will end up in my todo list. - An open bullet for things I need to attend or organize, like events. For example:
⚬ set up doc review for project. These will end up eventually in my calendar. - A dash for notes. These will end up in your note files. For example,
- Hannah completed the tests - A little cross for things someone else needs to do and I will need to follow up on. For example:
+ Robert will provide updates by Thursday EOD.
The signifier
In front of the bullet, optionally, you can add another symbol, called a signifier.
A signifier helps you identify specific “features” of the note when you scan through your book. As with bullets, I’d keep it simple. Here’s what I use.
- A star for important things. For example,
*· file tax return by 31 Jan - An exclamation mark for insightful things. For example,
!- think about method invocation more as sending a message to an object than requesting a function to be executed - A question mark for things I want to research, explore, or expand on. For example,
-? Rust changes a number of paradigms around programming - A “B” in a circle for things I might want to blog about. For example,
Ⓑ -DISC profiling can be done without tests
You get the gist.
Putting it all together
Now that you know the syntax, let’s make it work as a thing.
I typically have a text file on my laptop that is a place where I can take notes about today.
I also get a blank page on my notebook and put today’s date on top.
As I need to take notes, I go to what’s most convenient in that moment.
For reference, when I’m writing notes on a text file, I use a dash for notes, a square box ([ ]) for tasks, a pair of parenthesis for events (( )), and a plus sign for delegated items.
Whenever I have some time, I reconcile my book with my file, and move stuff around as appropriate (or cross it off), either to my todo list, to my calendar, or as notes and reminders in my digital notes.
And that’s it. It’s simple and it works for me.
Let me know your thoughts!
[…] We spoke about quick notes. […]