How to Take Smart Notes - Sönke Ahrens

Personal-Productivity  · 

Chapters

  1. Everything You Need to Know
  2. Everything You Need to Do
  3. Everything You Need to Have

  4. A Few Things to Keep in Mind

    The Four Underlying Principles

  5. Writing Is the Only Thing That Matters
  6. Simplicity Is Paramount
  7. Nobody Ever Starts From Scratch

  8. Let the Work Carry You Forward

    The Six Steps to Successful Writing

  9. Separate and Interlocking Tasks
  10. Read for Understanding
  11. Take Smart Notes
  12. Develop Ideas
  13. Share Your Insight
  14. Make It a Habit

Raw Notes

Introduction

This book mainly concerns itself with academic writing and is particularly aimed at students at university - therefore there’s a good deal related to writing papers. But really it applies to anyone doing “knowledge work” - especially those folks who’d like to get better at writing.

If you’re looking to write, then the value in a successful note taking strategy is that it frees you from the the tyranny of the blank page. By being smart about how you take notes and turn those notes into accessible knowledge and insight, by building out your second brain over weeks and months you never have to face the terror of a blank page again.

There is a nice bit in the intro about how your IQ, once you are in university/academia will not protect you from failure. It’s your system, how you use your IQ and the environment you create for yourself that will determine your success. This idea feels like it relates itself to how to build a team and the role of a company to try and bring out the best in everyone.

It’s well understood that willpower is a limited resource, and that those who appear to have the most willpower are more likely to have built their systems and environments to require as little as possible. It should be encouraging to everyone that, given so much of self-control and self-discipline depend on our environments, we broadly have complete control of our environments. Since the goal is to write - therefore if we are smart we set up our note taking system to require as little willpower as possible the, writing becomes easier. Well defined, meaningful tasks beats willpower every time - and the strategy in this book lays out those steps.

There is a strong link between the central ideas in Atomic Habits and in this book.

Chapter 1 - the overview

The main aim of the book is to introduce an overarching structure to your workflow when it comes to note taking and writing in general. The structure frees you up for remembering and keeping track of your progress and works with your own brain rather than against it (such as the sense of satisfaction upon competing a task as a motivation boost).

It also enables flow by allowing you to focus on the one task in hand rather than flitting between multiple different stages of the writing process. When the work becomes well defined and effortless it requires even less willpower.

The well defined structure to work within is different from making a plan about something. Detailed planning imposes a structure sure, but it is a different type of structure. Making a plan is like a dot-to-dot picture - the step by step processes makes you inflexible and rigid. To keep going with it requires effort and willpower. Having a structure to work within is freeing since it gives clarity. This is the same idea as in Atomic Habits - having a positive arsenal of productive habits frees you up to focus your energies on bigger pursuits.

It is a mistake to think that without planning the only alternative is aimless messing around. The idea presented in this book (i.e. reading with pen in hand, structuring notes and then ideas bottom up in the slip box) are the other alternative - the structure that drives your workflow. There is a nice analogy here to how folks not familiar with agile ways of working think the only alternative to a detailed project plan is chaos - quite the opposite, understanding that the future is broadly unknowable and change is inevitable allows us to build a system that is optimised to deal with change.

Dunning-Kruger effect - poor students lack the insight to understand their own limitations. Therefore they tend to be overly confident. Better students understand that they have limitations and seek a structure to help them.

The slip box (i.e. a physical box with slips)

1960s, Niklas Luhmann. Very prolific social scientist - he regularly mentions that the slip box is the main reason fo his productivity. He also made a lot of the fact that he only worked on stuff that was fun, and generally stopped worked when things got hard. His output & quality however was still way in advance of other academics.

Hard work can be fun when aligned with our intrinsic goals. Problems arise when one does not stay in control - and the best way to maintain the feeling of being in control is to be in control.

Luhmann maintained two slip-boxes - one bibliographical one (i.e. literary notes and references) and one for his permanent notes where he generated his ideas.

The first stage was to take notes on what he read, noting the references. The second stage was, shortly afterwards, to consider the literary notes and the relevance for his field of interest. He would think about how what he had just read would fit into his wider understanding, and would then write his ideas, thoughts, comments on new slips (using one slip per idea and being very strict on sticking to one side - mainly to make it easier to read later). The last element was an index - this would serve as an entry point into the main slip box so that lines of thought could be pursued.

The style of writing in the slip box would be such that his future self could easily understand and grasp the idea - therefore it would be complete, contained and fully in his own words.

Ultimately the slip box is a reliable, external structure that compensates for the limitations of our brains.

Chapter 2 - the method

You can’t understand something unless you can explain it to someone else. You don’t understand something unless you can write it in your own words.

For those folks who have to write (academics, students) the advantage of this structure is that writing is part of the workflow, and therefore as the slip box builds you often have a great deal of what will end up in your future writing anyway. Often a paper consists of following a line of thought through the slip box. The idea still holds for anyone who wants to write.

The method

  1. Make fleeting notes. These are meant to be scrappy so you don’t need to worry about their organisation. They are simply to capture the ideas and you should be using them within a day for so and then discarding. (If you don’t use them in a day or so then there probably wasn’t much point writing them in the first place)
  2. Make literature notes. This is the reference system. Capture the bibliographic details and the context. Capture whatever resonates. Use your own words when you makes these notes. Be very selective. Be wary of using too many quotes - copying without understanding is pointless. Similar to just reading a book and highlighting - it is essentially a pointless activity.
  3. Make permanent notes. This is where you have taken what resonates with what you read and you have translated it into the your own context. The idea is not to collect, but to help you develop ideas, lines of thought, arguments, discussions, highlight gaps in your knowledge that cold lead to future reading etc. Each note captures one idea, and is written in full sentences as if writing for someone else and it is referenced.
  4. Add the permanent notes to the slip box. Add it such that it is linked to the most relevant note. If is is new then it can simply go at the back. If it relates to several notes then put behind the most relevant and add links to the others. Obviously this describes a manual/paper setup, but modern apps will allow similar ideas - the trick will be to develop your own method here.
  5. Use the slip box to generate ideas. The whole point is that now you can go bottom up from the external system to generate new ideas, develop questions, come up with things to write about. When you read the slip box what new ideas does it generate? What are the gaps? Is the line of thought and ideas well supported? Are there contradictions? Keep reading and adding to the slip box.
  6. Generate a topic to write about. After a while following connected notes will give you enough material for an article/blog post etc.
  7. Write a rough draft. Are there holes in the argument? Do you need to read more?
  8. Edit and proof read the document. Get is published!

The point of the clear steps is that it means that any one of these tasks can be worked on with complete focus. Given that we tend to have lots of projects on the go it means that many can be worked on at once, since the external system is keeping track of the details.

Each note you add to the slip box improves it. Every idea helps it turn from a collection of notes into an idea generator.

Chapter 3 - things you need

The idea of the slip box isn’t simply a technique - it’s really the overarching workflow of which the slip box is a part. It is simply the “external scaffold” that you can think within and frees up your brain from having to remember stuff - which it isn’t great at. The brain is however great at coming up with ideas.

Essentially you don’t need much to get going.

Chapter 4 - to keep in mind

Understand why it works, then tweak for your own needs.

Chapter 5 - write!

The argument Ahrens makes is that the conventional learn-first-then-examine-via-writing-as-a-preparation-for-independent-study is wrong. His argument that studying, done well, is independent research.

There is no such thing as private knowledge in academia. An idea kept private is as good as one you never had. And a fact no one can reproduce is no fact at all. (Location 705)

The point of making writing the focus is that it gives you a focus. When you read, you read with the intention of writing about it. It is not just consumption.

It is about being deliberate. Deliberate practice is the only way to get better at what we do.

Chapter 6 - k.i.s.s

In the “old” system of note taking one would make a note, highlight a passage, underline, take a photo. All the notes would be everywhere. You’d rely on your brain to keep track of everything. Idea generation then comes from something like brainstorming.

You would tend to make a decision like “under which topic should I file this note” - assuming your note taking went beyond highlighting!

In the new system - you change the question to be “in which context would I want to stumble across this idea again?”

The slip box allows everything to be stored in the same place in the same format. The biggest advantage is that it becomes more and more valuable as it grows.

If you store by topic you’re faced with the problem of adding more and more things into a topic, making it large and therefore difficult to search in. It necessitates hierarchy and sub-categories, which simply distributes the problems to lower levels. Essentially it is fine if you know what it is you’re searching for - i.e. you’re deliberately searching for something. And if you knew it all anyway, why would you be looking back at it?

The slip box flips this idea - by following connections it presents you with ideas that you’d already forgotten allowing you to focus on thinking. Freeing yourself for thinking means you don’t have to spend your time remembering - which allows a deeper level of learning.

Being clear on the purpose of each type of note is important

A typical mistake is to keep everything - students often will use a lab book with everything inside. The advantages seem simple - not idea is lost, everything is available. However everything is chronological - there is no extra step to turn into accessible insight. Sure you end up with a shelf full of notebooks, but there is nothing that can be easily drawn from it.

Interesting to compare this to the Agenda app note taking app - where the approach is chronological.

A second mistake is to treat everything as a project note - this makes sense at the start, however it breaks down when each new idea becomes its own project and quickly linking ideas across projects becomes hard.

The third mistake is to treat everything as fleeting. Either this is immediately wasteful (e.g. highlighting in a book and doing nothing with it) or they build up until you have the impulse to “clean the house” which requires effort and will power. Again there is a strong link here to the ideas in Atomic Habits - given that willpower is short term and you tend to fall to the level of your systems, this kind of boom/bust approach won’t work.

The more you learn and collect, the more beneficial your notes should become, the more ideas can mingle and give birth to new ones – and the easier it should be to write an intelligent text with less effort. (Location 835)

Fleeting notes are only useful if they are used within a day or so to turn into proper notes to use later. Permanent notes should be written in such a way that they can still be used when the original context is long forgotten - something that you should bear in mind when making fleeting notes, within a day or two all the context will have been forgotten.

The crucial point is that the permanent notes are not reminders of the thought or idea - but they are the complete thought or idea in written form. The fact that the slip box provides the standardised format allows you to build up the critical mass of notes that then serves as an idea generator.

The slip box is like a well organised box of Lego - each block is a note and if you want to explore then you can just follow the pieces. This then in turn gives you ideas about what to build (i.e. write) as you explore the box.

Chapter 7 - no more tyranny of the blank page

One of the most appealing things about the slip box approach is the fact that it gets better with time. Say you’d been using the approach for a while and used the slip box to generate the ideas for an essay or article. The article gets written and published. The permanent notes that it came from still exist in the box since they are written as atomic ideas. Over time more notes get added - perhaps they add more weight the the stance you took in the article, perhaps they contradict it. In time all that’s needed for a second essay that will undoubtedly improve on the first is there.

This wouldn’t be possible in the same way with a project based approach since all the relevant ideas are archived in a project folder.

Older approaches imply that each time you want to write you start from scratch. The advantage of the slip box is that you never have to start from scratch again.

Older approaches suggest that you pick an idea, make a plan and then write. But plans are unreliable and you’ll end up perhaps on a whole other topic. Far better to start with the atomic ideas and then build up the topics from the bottom upwards. Again there is the link to the ideas in the agile approach to building software.

The brain is neither objective or reliable - therefore place reliance in the external scaffolding.

The clusters of notes that form naturally in the slip box tell you where there is interesting stuff to focus on.

Chapter 8 - virtuous circles

The ideal is to find a workflow that is a virtuous circle - each action in the workflow is a positive feedback into itself providing more motivation. Ultimately this makes it more likely that we’ll end up enjoying what we’re doing.

Only if the process itself is satisfying and rewarding then this positive feedback loop be established. Like all behaviour change it needs to become intrinsic and part of who we are.

Feedback loops are important for motivation as well as for learning and growth. There is no greater motivation than seeing ourselves improve at what we do.

Seeking feedback therefore should be embraced and not avoided.

Dweck shows convincingly that the most reliable predictor for long-term success is having a “growth mindset.” (Location 1009)

Folks who have been praised for “being clever” or “talented and gifted” rather than for what they do tend to focus on keeping this view of themselves intact rather than being open to new challenges, risk failure and learning from it.

Having the goal of “writing a book” is overwhelming and much like New Year Resolutions will be forgotten after a week. But given everything here can be broken down into discrete, satisfying steps then you escape feeling lost and overwhelmed. Reading becomes reading with a pen in hand. Making permanent notes becomes reading your fleeting notes and putting into the slip box. Writing becomes following a line of thought through the slip box - and given you wrote them all in a complete, context free way the thing almost writes itself.

Chapter 9 - the steps to successful writing.

Multi-tasking doesn’t work. Give each of the tasks your undivided attention. Multiple studies show multi-tasking doesn’t work. It makes you feel more productive, but the overall actual productivity decreases. Not only quantity but also quality suffers. You feel more productive - but there is no control group to actually measure against.

When we multi-task we shift attention quickly from one task to another - since it is only physically possible to focus on a single thing at a time. Each shift drains our energy and actually decreases the ability to do more than one task.

The mere-exposure effect is worth keeping in mind. Simply doing something many times tricks us into thinking that we are good at it, regardless of our actual performance. A good example of this is re-reading a passage as a method of learning - this actually does nothing to help our learning it simply exposes us more and makes us think we understand it. (The way to actually improve it to test ourselves, write out the ideas in our own words etc)

Give each task the right kind of attention. Different tasks need different types of attention. Proof-reading is different to writing. Which is different again to outlining a structure. And different again to using the slip box to generate ideas. Reading is different again - be wary of skimming. Know when it’s best to be open, child-like, playful and creative and when best to be focussed and analytical.

Become and expert instead of a planner. Nice story in the book about paramedic trainers - when they looked at paramedics in practice they thought that newly qualified folks were the most experienced and the most experienced were the new folks. The trainers mistakenly assumed that those rigidly following the “correct” method were the most experienced, whereas the most experienced folks had internalised and gone beyond the teaching. Same with chess players - the more experienced the more they “feel” the moves and appear to think less than noobs even though they have studied very hard and systematically.

Get closure. Our brains are limited. Both attention and our short term memory are limited. We can hold a maximum of 7±2 things in our short term memory. It’s far easier to remember things we understand than things we don’t since the understanding fills in the rest. Nice example in the book of a seemingly random string of numbers - hard to remember on its own, but you’re then told it is the years of the world cup so after that it is easy since you only need to remember the starting number and the rule.

Things we understand are connected to other things we know - through rules, theories, logic, narrative, mental models etc. It is the building of these connections that the slip box is all about.

Every step is accompanied by questions like: How does this fact fit into my idea of …? How can this phenomenon be explained by that theory? Are these two ideas contradictory or do they complement each other? Isn’t this argument similar to that one? Haven’t I heard this before? And above all: What does x mean for y? These questions not only increase our understanding, but facilitate learning as well. Once we make a meaningful connection to an idea or fact, it is difficult not to remember it when we think about what it is connected with. (Location 1284)

Consider the Zeigarnik Effect which says that open tasks tend to stay open and occupy space in our short term memory. Regardless of their importance we are distracted by unfinished thoughts. But what’s interesting is that they don’t need to be finished to make our brains think they are. Writing them down in a #todo or setting a timer frees the brain up to forget them and reduce the overhead and stress.

The slip box allows us to do this - it is the reliable, external system that allows you to get stuff out from your short term memory and focus on the task in hand. You can therefore breakdown the undefined task of “writing” into discrete steps (i.e. reading, connecting permanent notes, outlining, proof-reading etc).

Conversely the Zeigarnik Effect can be used to your advantage - leave questions you want to think about unfinished. Look at your open questions list before you walk home from work - it will float around and you might get something.

Reduce the number of decisions. Attention is limited (only can focus on one thing) and so is short term memory (7±2 things). The third limited thing is willpower - it can be thought of as a muscle and takes time to recover. Ego depletion (acts of self control or making decisions or active choice) is a thing - there is a nice example in the book about parole judges, you want your case heard first thing in the morning or straight after lunch, otherwise you’re more likely to have a negative result.

The best way to beat this therefore is to limit the number of decisions. Use the same note taking method for the same item (e.g. highlighting methods in Kindle, or pen and paper for paper books). Stories of Steve Jobs etc only having one choice of clothes to wear.

Take breaks. Not only for recovery, they actively aid learning.

Chapter 10 - understand things

Read with a pen in hand. Since all you need to write is to take a walk though the slip box, and all you need to fill the slip box is to write some notes on what you read, the only choice you need to make is to read with a pen in your hand.

The slip box is a rich resource of connected, atomic notes that allows you to generate ideas. Whatever you read might add, contradict or be in some way relevant to the slip box. Therefore the idea is not to copy texts you read into notes, but to use them as a meaningful dialogue with the stuff we read. The slip box is not a collection of notes - but a collection of your ideas.

Translation and elaboration are key. This means capturing the truest sense of the texts you read but in your own words - no copy paste. Handwriting notes therefore helps since makes this impossible.

Conformation bias is real and is a sneaky adversary. As soon as you generate an idea you seek things to back it up - and you’re normally not even aware you’re doing it. Here again the slip box method helps you out. By deliberately splitting up the tasks you help counter confirmation bias.

  1. When you read, focus on undertsanding
  2. Take notes that accurately represent the ideas
  3. Then consider the relevance and connections in what you already have in the slip box

Working in that order, without letting your preconceived notions cloud your reading and understanding helps counter confirmation bias.

Hence why one of the most important mindset shifts in working with the slip box is working openly with the slip box and then using it to generate your ideas and writing. Be bottom up.

Learn to learn. Richard Feynman’s quote about only knowing if he knows something by being able to give an introductory lecture on it. When we write we should bear this in mind - except the audience now will be our future selves who will almost certainly be ignorant on the subject by the time they read it again! Writing keeps us honest since you can’t make unsubstantiated claims without being challenged.

Re-reading is a dangerous thing to do. The mere-exposure effect will trick you into thinking that you know it. Only by translating it can we hope to understand - and our gaps soon become clear. Most students build in very little self testing into their workflow.

By choosing a system that forces us into the deliberate practice of translating everything we read and writing for our future selves we avoid these traps and facilitate deeper learning.

You can’t not do the work. You don’t go to the gym and lift tiny weights. You don’t hire someone to go to the gym for you. Equally you can’t outsource understanding to apps or other quick wins. You’ve got to put in the effort.

Elaboration is the best way to learn. It means really thinking about what you have read in the context of everything else you’ve read, how it can be combined with other knowledge, what it contradicts, reinforces etc. Given the slip box takes care of storing the facts, you are then free to spend your effort in making the connections and asking the questions. Some folks will say that it takes too much time - however this is shortsighted, since the very process of building the slip box by elaboration is the process of learning.

There is a clear division of labour between the brain and the slip-box: The slip-box takes care of details and references and is a long-term memory resource that keeps information objectively unaltered. That allows the brain to focus on the gist, the deeper understanding and the bigger picture, and frees it up to be creative. Both the brain and the slip-box can focus on what they are best (Location 1663)

Again this links back again to the ideas in Atomic Habits - your system of productive habits is the things that frees you.

Chapter 11 - take smart notes

When reading, try to spot the things not said. What are the gaps in the narrative? How does it build into the bigger narrative? What is the writer’s point of view? Do they have bias? Going beyond what’s written marks out a good reader. But doing something with what you’ve read is equally important.

As already mentioned - self testing is the best way to learn. Writing literature notes is a form of self testing. Can you distill the main points of a text without using lots of quotes? Do you really understand it?

When translating into permanent notes this is self testing again. Do they make sense when converted into a permanent note? Can you capture the idea in writing? Is it backed by references and supporting evidence? Does it fit or contradict the other lines of thought? The translation from one context to another is key.

The use of an external scaffolding - in this case by using it for long term memory by connecting together lines of thought - is agreed to be beneficial to learning.

Learn by forgetting. There is a mechanism called “active inhibition” which is essentially your brain building a barrier between the conscious mind and the long term memory. The alternative would be to remember everything at the cost of understanding anything. There is a nice story in the book about a man who had a condition where he remembered everything - sounds great, but the cost is huge since there can be no forgetting and no insight.

Storage strength vs retrieval strength. Current teaching methods focus on storage - the remembering of isolated facts. Focussing on retrieval is a much better strategy - understand the ideas, rely on external system to remember them for you and then forget and move on. Paradoxically you’ll learn better. Similar to the idea that given Google exists - there is more benefit in learning how to use Google well rather than remembering facts. What sources are reliable? Hows does Google serve you things based on previous searches etc?

Focus on understanding and rely on external scaffolding for the rest (slip box, Google, your positive habits)

The challenge of writing as well as learning is therefore not so much to learn, but to understand, as we will already have learned what we understand. (Location 1911)

This quote feels like the main takeaway from the book - it’s all about understanding and using the scaffolding as a means to that.

Translation and elaboration are the the key steps. Think enough about a piece of information so that you can write about it. How does it fit into various contexts. Ask questions. What does it mean? How does it connect to … ? How is it different to … ? How is it similar to … ?

Tips for adding notes to the slip box. Add notes directly behind notes they refer to, or if new then as the last note. Add links to other notes to the new note. Make sure the index works well so you have sensible entry points to find it again. This makes sense for manual boxes - there will have to be some trial and error and fining what works when using an app.

Chapter 12 - generating ideas

The slip box is a tool for thinking. It’s not an encyclopaedia - so don’t fall into the trap of thinking like an archivist. It doesn’t need to be complete. It is there to help you to think, generate ideas, find topics to write about.

Generating topics. An archivist asks “what is the most fitting keyword?” for this note. The writer asks “under what circumstances would I want to stumble across this idea again even if I forget about it?”. The keywords should help you with the areas you work on as a wider context - not for a single note in isolation. For that reason - you have to do the work! It’s not a task that can be automated - it is unique to you. It is also a key part of the thinking process - since keywords are about connections and not about the isolated note you really have to think about what the note is about.

Generating mental models. Essentially you’re building up a lattice of mental models. Having a broad range of them in your head allows you to see how the world works. Adding notes should add to the lattice of mental models - since they are not added in isolation, but to what you already have models for.

See what you see, not what you expect to see. Really interesting idea that traits like being “open-minded” can actually be negative. Those identifying as open-minded are more prone to stick to their first ideas since they believe themselves to be without prejudice and therefore don’t need to seek ideas that counterbalance their initial ones. It’s far better to be open to the fact that you are fallible. That we find safety in what is familiar. That confirmation bias is real.

Constraints are good. The physical slip box had a natural constraint in that to make it easy to use you needed to stick to one side of the paper. Brevity and precision helps with testing your understanding - as well as training better writing. Strongly recommended to use the same idea when using an app - each note fits the screen with no scrolling.

Chapter 13 - share your stuff

The slip box is very much like what the chemical industry calls “verbund” - an integrated value chain, a production line where the by-products of one process form the starting point for the next. The slip box is a similar force multiplier.

Kill your darlings. Be ruthless. If it’s hard, put the darlings in a companion document - you’ll never look at it again but it’ll be less painful and make your main text much better. Sending your pet to the farm is much easier than shooting it in the face.

Chapter 14 - habits

Life-long learning and writing is not about accumulating knowledge - rather it is about becoming a different person with a different way of thinking. This is done through deliberate practice and questioning your own beliefs, processes, habits and thinking.

This links to everything in Atomic Habits.