This lecture does not discuss class notes, paper notes, journaling. Instead, we're talking about notes for creating things and improving creativity.

The big picture is thinking about notetaking; the habits which inform the use of our notes; and the principles which inform our structure.

Here are names and misc things mentioned.

• Tiago Forte's "Second Brain": System for taking notes.
• Zettelkasten: Inspiration for Tiago Forte's "Second Brain". This was a physical system of notecards and links with notecards.
  • Andy Matuschak: English source for Zettelkasten.
  • Sönke Ahrens: Another writer.
• Notational Velocity: Note taking app.
• Atom Notes: Notational velocity for Atom.
• Vim Notes: https://github.com/alok/notational-fzf-vim

Thinking About Notetaking

Think of brain as data structure where ...

• Input: Reading, lectures.
• Preprocessing: Note system.
• Queries: Recall.
• Application: Make something.

Think of yourself as three selfs: past self, current self, and future self.

You should think of future self in two ways: as a stranger and as yourself. As a stranger, you want to build the tools and take the notes to help a future you which has forgotten things. As yourself, you want to help yourself.

Aside: I enjoy writing notes like I'm talking to someone else because of this.

You can waste time even if you're doing something productive. For example, if you read something incredibly deep or learn a lot but don't take any notes. When you later forget that, your past self wasted your current self's time.

Habits

• Atomic Notes: Every note should be small, focused, and standalone.
• Start from Abundance: Takes lots of notes. Don't try to do a "heavy lift" where you do all the work at once. If you take lots of small notes, you can slowly build up to something large.
• CODE: (From Tiago Forte)
  • C: Capture / Collect good ideas.
  • O: Organize information. We'll emphasize links of information.
  • D: Distill ideas. Think of as refactoring.
  • E: Express. Make stuff.
• Play: Get comfortable exploring your notes and "having conversations with your past self".

Principles

• Text files
• Full text search
• Easy to make and follow links
• Fast note creation

A good bonus is having executable code.