I aim to enable compounding growth for note-taking system. Like how investment creates a nest egg for retirement, note-taking creates a repository of knowledge can be tapped on for projects, or built on to attain further height.
I believe note-taking is a learning activity, providing that it summarises the content on which the note is being taken. Copying quotes have no benefit. When well-indexed however, multiple notes can prove a valuable resource, as they offer multiple perspectives on the topic. Notes can build on each other, as we can refer to other written notes to explain prerequisite or even related topics.
I have bene reading more about the different methods of note-taking, especially the Zettelkasten method. From which, I am currently paying attention to the following ideas:
- Notes are the outcomes of our thinking. We can improve our thinking and writing by organising our notes better.
- Writing our notes create a virtuous cycle of writing. In the process of writing a note, I practise thinking and translating my thoughts better. This leads to more prolific notes in future iterations.
- The more notes we have on hand, the more pieces we have to synthesise into a new piece of work. This is akin to how more LEGO blocks we have, the greater the structure can be. The Lego block analogy is from this brilliant post here.
- The work needed to create a new product is reduced to editing and building structures from smaller pieces.
- The key point of the notes lay in their potential to be connected to one another. By relating notes to one another, they are able to add value to each other, when combined into a piece of writing.
This idea resonates with the time savings of taking notes, which I have briefly written about here.
Only with sufficient runway in terms of the time used to write a substantial amount of notes, then they can be built into a valuable resource to use in our future work.