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Discussion on: Techpeople, do you ever take notes?

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murrayvarey profile image
MurrayVarey

I think no matter at what point, you MUST take notes or write your own outline or w/e.

I know what you mean. Whenever there's someone in a meeting without a notepad (or laptop), my subconscious brain wonders: "Who are they trying to impress?" Then I look down at my own notes ... and realise that it's just doodles. But, hey, doodles are important.

I find note-taking is great for capturing ideas. Until I started jotting things down, I didn't realise how many ideas -- good, bad, and ugly -- I was having. I strongly suspect that's true for everyone. Ideas are like fish, swimming downstream; note-taking is like the fishing rod.

I'm a huge fan of pen and paper. There's an immediate connection and a freedom there that I haven't yet been able to recreate on a computer. I use my notepad every day -- I couldn't work without one.

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helleworld_ profile image
DesirΓ© πŸ‘©β€πŸŽ“πŸ‘©β€πŸ«

Thank you for your response, Murray.

I think your metaphor is exactly how I see the concept of 'taking notes'. Otherwise, my ideas/concepts would disappear the next second or minute. Even just a little sketch could really help me not to forget that I was inspired in that moment.

I think most people really don't know how to take real notes, important for them, and maybe that's why they don't do it or find it useless.

After 3 years of programming I still check my own noobie-guides, we can't remember everything, we must leave some space in our heads for our daily-life important things: family, friends, birthdays, gifts, our own interests...

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murrayvarey profile image
MurrayVarey

If I'm being honest, I'm probably no good at real note taking myself. Even those ideas I do capture ... most of them go nowhere. Perhaps some kind of review stage is just as crucial for long-term notes. Or a Zettelkasten, as Thomas De Moore talks about here.

So true, we can't know it all. We'd go mad trying.