Kyle Harrison
video

How To Take Smart Notes — Tiago Forte Interviews Sönke Ahrens

Tiago Forte and Sönke Ahrens (interview) 2020

How To Take Smart Notes — Tiago Forte Interviews Sönke Ahrens

Author: Tiago Forte and Sönke Ahrens (interview) URL: not captured — Kyle noted the interview but not its link One-line: Ahrens on why the slip-box works: notes as an external challenger to your own confirmation bias, “just write, write a lot,” file by context not topic, and stop punishing yourself for an imperfect system.

Key claims

  • Notes as a second opinion: “You don’t always have someone around to challenge you, so taking notes can help a lot to go against confirmation bias and remind you what you’re actually thinking.”
  • Tool matters less than having one — but the tool can still make a huge difference; technology enables a more open-ended, changeable process.
  • What people get wrong: they are hard on themselves for not having a perfect system, and they try to migrate and organize every old note. Tag old notes when you actually need them; Forte’s Digital Jubilee archives the old and starts over.
  • Start from the main idea, not the references — Kyle’s own note: starting from a pile of references produces “a poorly strung together collection of thoughts rather than a well-crafted narrative.”
  • Context vs. topic: context is at the content level, within something; topic is how you think about something.
  • Read what shocks you: “Everyone reads things they already know… Now I only take notes on things that shock me or break my mental models” — and “Do I want to be right? Or do I want to be effective?” (Forte).
  • Professional reading means adjusting attention to the text — sometimes no notes at all, sometimes a lot (Ahrens). Kyle’s aside: the older-students-teach-newer-students move reminds him of Elder Klebingat’s mnemonic system.

Notable quotes

  • Watched interview with Tiago Forte and Sonke Ahrens about “How To Take Good Notes” Productivity
    • “{Read “How to Take Good Notes” - https://twitter.com/soenke_ahrens books-to-read” (block reference from March 18th, 2020)
    • [Pronounced ‘Zuh-n-kuh’]
    • Referenced his book summary for the book
    • Website: https://takesmartnotes.com/
    • “You don’t always have someone around to challenge you, so taking notes can help a lot to go against confirmation bias and remind you what you’re actually thinking.”
    • “Technology can help with implementing a more open ended process that is more open to change.”
    • Reminds me of Elder Klebingat Mnemonic System Pertaining to God
    • He brings older students together with newer students and has them explain the benefit of note-taking and, if you adjust the system along the way it doesn’t matter.
    • “Just write. Write a lot.”
    • When you make people act old by shuffling around, they want to invest more, save more, and prepare more — they connect their present to their future
    • The tool you use can make a huge difference; more important that you have a tool rather than what tool you use
    • What do people get wrong about note taking?
      • People are really hard on themselves for not having a perfect system
      • Don’t try and move all your notes into the system and spend time organizing everything
      • If you tag old notes and integrate with the system, that’s great. But do that when you want to use them anyways
      • Tiago teaches the “Digital Jubilee” where you put all your old notes in an archive and start over…
    • Tiago Forte How to Take Smart Notes: 8 Steps for Using the Slip-Box
    • Where to start?
      • When Tiago writes an article, he doesn’t start by culling his pages of notes and references. He starts with “what is the main idea?”
      • I (Kyle) have had this issue where if I start with several references I always have a poorly strung together collection of thoughts rather than a well-crafted narrative from beginning to end
    • Filing by “context” rather than by “subject”?
      • Context is at the content level
      • Topic is more about how you think ‘about something’
      • When you look for context you’re thinking within something
    • Why isn’t this natural for people?
      • This isn’t just about curating a million things
      • It’s about re-evaluating what you’ve already written
      • “Everyone reads things they already know. Productivity people read productivity books. Engineering people read engineering books. Now, I only take notes on things that shock me or break my mental models.” - Tiago Forte
      • “Do I want to be right? Or do I want to be effective?” - Tiago Forte
    • Someone in the comments referenced this course:
      • Sign up for “Learning How To Learn” Coursera Course courses-to-take
    • “Being a professional reader doesn’t mean you have to have a certain level of note taking. It means adjusting the amount of time and attention you give to what you’re reading. Sometimes I’m taking no notes at all or I’m skipping parts because I don’t need them. Sometimes there is a lot that I’m writing down.” -Sonke Ahrens

How it connects

Referenced in