note taking

every time the reading material makes you think something, write it. even if it's something like "I didn't know that," "That's dumb," "Well, of course," or even "Hmmm...," write down that thought.

I often took notes that, at the time, seemed totally useless, but they later proved extremely useful. Sometimes 10 or 20 years elapsed before I could benefit from them. So I’ve learned never to assume that a book I’ve read can’t have future value for me. And that’s why I’m skeptical when others tell me that note-taking is irrelevant in their... See more

The simple fact is that there is no job or career in which keeping track of your learning isn’t useful.

For example, some of you may have wondered about a special section of The Honest Broker called The Vault. This includes more than 400 literary essays that I’ve written over the years. The vast majority of these were simply the result of me thinking about books I’d read, and trying to organize my observations after I’d finished them.

Nobody hired me... See more

I took notes when I was younger in order to learn. But I now take notes in order to enhance my own ways of engaging with the world.

The discipline of taking notes can evolve into taking notice—which is a much higher level activity.