Note Taking Principles

Minimalism

Have a minimalist, low-friction note-taking system to capture and organize important information.
Why Simplicity in Note-Taking?

• Friction in Work: Extra effort, time, or complexity that surrounds tasks.
• Friction can be beneficial in deep thinking but detrimental in capturing information quickly.
• Problem with Elaborate Systems: High friction can prevent action and lead to lost information.
• Simple systems allow the brain to filter and prioritize information, rather than outsourcing everything to an external system.
• Avoid complex software systems and then even more complex methods built on top of those systems. You will avoid a book or taking notes on that book when you see that friction is too much.
• Friction leads you to eventually give up the system altogether, and to decision fatigue.
• Always make sure to not depend on digital workflows and systems, so that we can switch tools or switch to being offline anytime as needed, and because tech has inherent negative effects as documented in Technology Cons

Analog vs Digital Note Taking