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I’m not a consistent note-taker, in the sense that some people are very good about jotting down insights and quotes as they read or go about their day.
For the way I learn, personally, I find that unloading new knowledge onto a page as soon as I’m exposed to it keeps me from ruminating on and parsing it, so it doesn’t stick as well. I know other people operate differently, though, and at times with great success.
I do, however, tend to keep notes on internal learnings and lived experiences—especially when my attention is occupied and there are things happening beyond my current focus that I want to revisit and reflect upon later.
When I was on tour in 2018 and 2019, most of my attention was reserved for planning and implementing the tour, setting up events and giving talks, engaging with the folks who came out to the events, and in between making sure I could safely make it from place to place on time.
There was seldom a moment when I wasn’t exhausted or near-exhausted during that tour, which lasted about a year.
Fortunately, I realized this would be the case early on, and habitualized jotting down bits of information about things that happened along the way: data I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about overmuch in the moment, but which seemed worthy of reassessment at some point.
The notes from that period are wild, and I can see patterns in my own thinking, actions, and priorities that I wouldn’t have noticed viewing them in the moment or individually.
I’ve enjoyed discovering, over the years, that note-taking—or journaling, as it’s probably more properly called, in some cases—can serve purposes beyond the mere documentation of things that happened.
I can sit down and write about my day, and along the way discover that something small led to something notable, or that I’m actually okay with something I thought I wasn’t okay with.
Part of what makes this work, I think, is the knowledge that these notes are for me, not for anyone else to read. That frees me up to get painfully honest with myself, in a way that goes beyond other sorts of also-honest-but-in-a-different-way writing I might produce for publication.
This habit provides a distinct perspective from which I can observe my own behaviors, and at times that of others, and it allows me to concretely render thoughts that might otherwise remain fuzzy with greater clarity, as ink on a page or pixels on a screen.
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If you found some value in this essay, and if you’re in the financial position to do so, consider buying me a coffee.
The post Taking Notes first appeared on Exile Lifestyle.
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For the way I learn, personally, I find that unloading new knowledge onto a page as soon as I’m exposed to it keeps me from ruminating on and parsing it, so it doesn’t stick as well. I know other people operate differently, though, and at times with great success.
I do, however, tend to keep notes on internal learnings and lived experiences—especially when my attention is occupied and there are things happening beyond my current focus that I want to revisit and reflect upon later.
When I was on tour in 2018 and 2019, most of my attention was reserved for planning and implementing the tour, setting up events and giving talks, engaging with the folks who came out to the events, and in between making sure I could safely make it from place to place on time.
There was seldom a moment when I wasn’t exhausted or near-exhausted during that tour, which lasted about a year.
Fortunately, I realized this would be the case early on, and habitualized jotting down bits of information about things that happened along the way: data I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about overmuch in the moment, but which seemed worthy of reassessment at some point.
The notes from that period are wild, and I can see patterns in my own thinking, actions, and priorities that I wouldn’t have noticed viewing them in the moment or individually.
I’ve enjoyed discovering, over the years, that note-taking—or journaling, as it’s probably more properly called, in some cases—can serve purposes beyond the mere documentation of things that happened.
I can sit down and write about my day, and along the way discover that something small led to something notable, or that I’m actually okay with something I thought I wasn’t okay with.
Part of what makes this work, I think, is the knowledge that these notes are for me, not for anyone else to read. That frees me up to get painfully honest with myself, in a way that goes beyond other sorts of also-honest-but-in-a-different-way writing I might produce for publication.
This habit provides a distinct perspective from which I can observe my own behaviors, and at times that of others, and it allows me to concretely render thoughts that might otherwise remain fuzzy with greater clarity, as ink on a page or pixels on a screen.
—
If you found some value in this essay, and if you’re in the financial position to do so, consider buying me a coffee.
The post Taking Notes first appeared on Exile Lifestyle.
More...