How to Start Taking Notes

Taking notes is like many other tasks: it isn’t always fun, and it requires motivation to get started.

The first step is understanding why you want to take notes. Clarify how this practice aligns with your goals and what benefits it will bring. I’ve already written about why taking notes is important, but here I want to focus on something different: how to organize and structure ideas.

Once you begin, the inevitable questions arise: what to write, when to write, and how to do it. Let’s explore these dimensions.

What and When

There are different situations where note-taking makes sense. Here are some practical examples:

Quick notes (reminders): Capture fleeting thoughts so you don’t lose them. These are temporary, unstructured, and disposable, like digital post-its. Don’t overthink them.
Quotations: When saving something you read or heard, add context and your own comments. Without this, quotes risk being misused or forgotten. These notes take more time but are far more valuable later.
Meeting notes: Take notes during meetings, but focus on what matters to you. If you’re responsible for official minutes, decide whether to capture everything or just the essentials. If not, keep personal notes and later attach the official record as reference.
Complex ideas and development: This is where note-taking becomes transformative. It requires time and focus, but it’s also where the biggest benefits emerge. Here, you’ll refine methods, experiment with structures, and build lasting knowledge.

How

The best tools give you freedom to adapt your structure as your thinking evolves. Over the years, a few principles have guided me:

Design from outcomes: Start with the result you want. Ask yourself: What information will I need? How will I query it later? How should it be organized?
Preserve metadata: Keep essential details (date, source, tags, properties) inside the note itself. Think of metadata as a library card: it classifies, organizes, and ensures you can find and reuse the note later.
Write, don’t just copy: Use your own words. Don’t rely on clipping or pasting. Writing forces you to process information and make it yours.
Observe yourself: When writing about your own work, use the second person, as if you were documenting your actions from the outside. This helps you stay objective and avoid self-judgment.
Create templates: Once patterns emerge, design templates to standardize your notes. Like Word templates, they save time and ensure consistency (e.g., always capturing creation date, source, or context).
Separate content from presentation: Focus on the information first. Keep layouts simple so your notes remain portable across tools. Appearance can come later.
Use the right toolset: No single app does everything well. Combine specialized tools — note-taking apps, diagramming tools, calendars — and integrate their outputs.

Evolving Your System

Your note-taking process will change over time. Templates, tools, and structures will evolve. That’s not a flaw: it’s a sign of growth.

The key is ownership: your notes should reflect your thinking, not someone else’s system. When tailored to your needs, they become a powerful asset, helping you learn, create, and make better decisions.

Other references

In previous posts, I’ve shared different approaches to note-taking in digital tools. Most of these examples focus on Obsidian, but the principles can be applied to many platforms. They originated as answers to Reddit questions or standalone posts, and may provide you with additional insights:

Exploring these resources will give you a broader view of different strategies and patterns you can adapt to your own workflow.