No More Scattered Notes. No More Forgotten Ideas.

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Let’s talk about it.

I hit you up with my methods and techniques which are applicable in my writing journey and my language learning.

Truth be told it’s also very applicable in my day-to-day job also.

I don’t write much down for my gym and football because I’ve been doing them for so many years that all my workouts, sets and drills are in my head.

If you’re new to fitness however, you might note down your progress and tracking.

Are you buying what I’m selling now?

It’s a little discussion that we’re going to have today about the beauty of note-taking.

This letter is inspired (but unfortunately not sponsored) by my recent read of ‘Building a Second Brain’ by Tiago Forte.

I haven’t finished it yet, because funny enough, I’m slowly processing each page and making notes on any key information.

I’d say my experience of note-taking comes from my years at school and university. The methods I learned from others were then refined and tailored over the years to how I best took in information.

Fast forward to finishing and applying for jobs, it was actually a blessing that at the time of applying for jobs and writing my CV, AI wasn’t around.

This led me to actually doing the hard work of taking great CVs and applications as inspiration and tailoring them to my own experience.

All fun and games until it’s done in seconds with AI now.

No complaints though; it was a necessity that helped me get the job I’m in today and allows me to perform adequately while working with different clients.

Instead of empowering us, this can often overwhelm us.

Information overload becomes information exhaustion. That’s why it’s so easy to feel like you have so much going on inside. You’re constantly trying to remember things so you’re bugging out.

That's five times higher than in 1986.

We’re not built for all of that.

And I’ve learned the hard way: if you don’t control it, everything else controls you.

Filter your inputs, but also make sure that you have ways to organise the chaos in your head by filtering your outputs too.

Way back when I’m pretty sure everything took triple the time because of the limited capacity of getting things out of your head and down onto paper.

Imagine having to make sure you have access to notebooks or paper to ensure you note down important details.

I’m talking bank details, business notes, meeting reminders, birthdays and so on.

Now we all have access to a smartphone and laptop that can house all of that.

• A calendar app is an extension of your brain’s ability to remember events, ensuring you never forget important dates or appointments.

• Your smartphone is an extension of your ability to communicate, allowing your voice to reach across oceans and continents.

• Cloud storage is an extension of your brain’s memory, allowing you to store thousands of gigabytes and access them from anywhere.

You already have a formidable collection of notes ready and waiting: the ideas, strategies, objectives, challenges, questions, concerns, contributions, and reminders you’ve collected over the course of your life.

It’s up to you on how you decide to get it down and organised. Utilise the technology we have to make the process of notetaking streamlined and portable.

My notetaking methods are a combination of handwritten and digital writing.

My passions require a form of consuming information, but instead of consuming everything, I focus on things that build me.

Each passion teaches me something different. It takes skills gained from my experience in education and employment to use and apply them to my passions.

A lot of adapting is required, but it’s shown me what’s worked for me and what hasn’t.

Fitness:

It’s all about discipline through discomfort.

I’ll make notes of my sessions throughout the week but typically I benefit more from actually doing gym workouts and football sessions rather than note-taking on HOW to do things.

For some, they might write down reps or sets in the gym, or certain drills to be carried out in a set order.

Arabic/French:

Learning how to actually learn because the process of language learning is something that cannot be taught.

It’s taken a lot of trial and error to see what worked for me and what allowed me to understand grammar rules and pick up vocabulary effectively.

Now my note-taking is a mix of:

• Digital notes typed up from podcasts

• Digital flashcards typed up from lesson/course notes

• Reading and annotating a book with words unfamiliar to me highlighted

• Using AI to create sentences to handwrite so it helps stick.

Reinforcing a whole new language means I can’t just play word games on an app for 10 minutes a day to maintain a streak. It takes a dedicated note-taking process that is implemented even on the go.

Writing:

Clarity from chaos where any ideas and inspiration from sources, social media or everyday life are written down.

This gives me purpose to turn it into content ideas in written or visual format. Even Instagram reels still have elements of writing attached to them with my captions or lessons from my journey.

One system will suffice, but for me:

• I store Thread and digital product ideas in Kortex.

• On-the-go notes and rough drafts in Apple Notes.

• Reminders and planning in Notion.

• Language learning write-ups in Goodnotes.

The best writers are those that have very effective and consistent note-taking habits where a lot of ideas are refined from others or a simple idea manifests in situations out of the blue.

Travel:

A period of pattern-breaking and adaptability.

I wouldn’t say travel gives me reasons to write notes on; it’s more reviews or experiences in the countries I travel to.

My notes taken on the go mean I utilise systems like Apple Notes, Kortex and Notion to capture ideas for writing or accelerate my language learning based on being immersed in the culture.

I only really handwrite notes for my languages, so on the go it’s usually my experiences and reviews of each day, or how I’m able to balance my journey on the go.

Don't be that person to drown in endless amounts of information.

It’s all fun and games scrolling and saving posts for later on, which you never end up getting to and it just gets lost and buried.

Build organisational systems and structure to ensure you control the input.

Make it intentional so that even the content you consume fuels output.

Scroll less as a consumer and more as a researcher.

Apply more effective note-taking systems.

Filter everything through your values and goals.

It’s not just making it easier for you down the line; it’s about making it simpler now so you’re not burning out or getting overwhelmed from a boatload of information that could be broken down and organised with simple methods and systems.

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The bottom line

Think of yourself not just as a taker of notes, but as a giver of notes. I think of it as giving my future self the gift of knowledge that is easy to find and understand.

We all have our own methods of note-taking, but to make things easier and ensure you're spending less time thinking of what to write or report on, have systems that can be easily identified for a purpose.

Adopting the habit of knowledge capture also has immediate benefits for our mental health and peace of mind.

We can let go of the fear that our memory will fail us at a crucial moment.

Instead of jumping at every new headline and notification, we can choose to consume information that adds value to our lives and consciously let go of the rest.

Your challenge for this week: Think about how you take notes and what you do with that information. Depending on your job or hobbies, there will be some form of information handling where you’ll have to decide what to utilise and what to let go.

• If you come across something useful, what do you do with it?

• Do you come back to it or save it in a system straight away?

• What does your current system for learning, saving and recalling look like?

You might run straight to AI, but don’t underestimate the power of info capture. You might have stored some ideas that you can get down and organised that future you will benefit from.

It’s all about it being searchable, reusable, and valuable over time?

If you want to understand more about how I take notes and organize ideas, or want to discuss it further, feel free to reach out on Instagram @liftlangleon.

Till next time, peace.