Note Taking

Note taking is a valuable skill. Most people can’t remember all the details they are deluged with every day. Having a method to record the important morsels of information without getting buried in all the noise can mean the difference between being effective at your job and being a black hole for information.

In meetings, people are constantly taking notes. They jot down a slew of information, or type furiously on computers. So, what happens to that info?

Note-taking is a skill that can greatly increase your capabilities and set you apart from your peers. It is hard to imagine, but countless career progressions have been slowed because people were not good at taking notes. The most common missing points? Deadlines and key requirements. Missing on either one lowers a person’s stock.

The Benefits of Note Taking

1. The simple act of writing things down makes one pay attention.
2. The more senses you use, the better something sticks to memory. Listening is one sense. Writing adds two more—touch and vision.
3. It makes people learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Information comes flying at you, and you can’t write fast enough to get it all. Note taking teaches you to mine for the nuggets.
4. You don’t forget as much. You have a written record.
5. You have a history of events. Notes can help you trace a chain of events to address problems.
6. You can save information for later. This is very useful when consolidating lessons learned.

The Pitfalls of Note Taking

1. Sometimes you miss what is said while you are writing down notes.
2. You have to write legibly and coherently. Often, people go back to notes and can’t figure out what they say. The problem is not only chicken scratch. Confusion also comes from poor abbreviations or cryptic comments.
3. You might get the note wrong. If you do, you later might have more confidence that it is correct than you otherwise would.
4. You might be overconfident of your note-taking ability. It is easy to procrastinate after a meeting, and delay planning your follow up actions. If your note taking wasn’t as good as you thought it was, it would be easy to miss something.
5. Notes are abridged forms of what was said. Sometimes they get taken out of context when they are read later.
6. People don’t have standard note processes. Sometimes they can’t figure out their codes.
7. Notes take time to go through later. Writing it down is not the end—it needs to be put to use or it was a waste of time.
8. Notes are not taken with a purpose. People take notes with no clue as to why they are doing it. Purpose changes how notes should be taken. Think how different note taking is for a student who will be tested later and a manufacturing supervisor who is going to relay information to her team.

Note Taking Strategies

There are many tools available to you for taking notes. You can also choose whether to be old school and write things down or get modern and embrace the latest technology.

Some notes relate to actions and deadlines and need to make it into calendars. Some information is just for things you don’t want to forget and might need later. Some notes are just observations.

You also should embrace your visual side. Pictures are great in many instances. Practice sketching. You may not have an artistic bone in your body, but with practice, you’ll figure out how to pack a LOT of information into your pictures. It is true that they can be worth a thousand words.

The key to note taking is a having a process. You need to know what sort of things you want to note, where you want to note them, and how the information is going to be used. You can also develop a basic code to streamline the process.

Note Taking Quality Check

The old expression “garbage in, garbage out” applies to note taking. Make sure that the content is accurate using a technique like a brief back. It prevents accurately recording the misinterpretation of a comment.

“Note Taking” vs. “Notetaking” vs. “Note-Taking”

You may see different versions of how this term is written out. I generally stick with using it as two words, since that is how most of the google search results have it spelled out. The other versions, though, are also acceptable.

Words of Warning When Taking Notes

• Don’t try to write down everything when taking notes. There is a fine balance between getting enough and losing focus on the speaker.
• Write neatly. Illegible notes are worthless.
• Be careful about using voice to text technology. It can be useful but is not perfect. If you are not careful, you’ll end up with notes that can be full of errors and hard to understand.

Key Points to Remember When Taking Notes

• Get good at note taking. It is probably the most under-rated skill in continuous improvement.
• Search functions are a great tool that has come with new note-taking technology.