Notes As Your Second Brain

We’ve considered the obstacles to learning, and the best mindset and approach to learning in general. We’ve looked at how reading is a key practice for anyone wanting to learn anything, and we considered the various ways to read better.

But have you ever read something, understood and even agreed with it, only to have it float completely out of your mind just a few days later? The world is a big place and filled with plenty of interesting ideas—many of which we risk losing if we don’t have a system for recording them so we can return to them later.

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Memory is a wonderful tool. But note-taking is perhaps handier, and a practical way to externalize our own memory so that our brainpower is freed up to do more creative, analytical and problem-solving thinking.

By taking (smart) notes we allow ourselves to process, recall, organize and collate information as we learn and acquire knowledge. Notes are like the written expressions of our inner thoughts—by putting our thought processes down on paper we in effect capture them, as well as give ourselves the chance to inspect them and rearrange them as needed. None of us can be said to have learnt anything if we cannot easily access all this new knowledge or insight.

What comes into your mind when you think of taking notes? Are you picturing school or university days where you quickly scribbled along in a notepad as the teacher talked? While there’s nothing wrong with this technique, there’s much, much more to note-taking as a discipline in your ongoing learning. As you may have guessed already, optimal note-taking is not something that happens by accident; you need a system.

The Luhmann Method

Prominent 20th-century sociologist Niklas Luhmann designed a note-taking system so appealing that many continue to use it today. Luhmann understood (perhaps inspired by his sociological training) that context mattered more than content. Context is the bigger picture: the network of relationships surrounding any one piece of information. Essentially, the system entailed creating separate index cards for each idea, which connected them to as many other ideas as possible. The idea was to thematically link ideas to one another as he assembled these cards into what he called a “slip box”—something like a second brain that synthesize novel associations and insights.

He began by writing an interesting idea on an index card and numbering it. When a new piece of information was added to this, he would subdivide the subsequent index cards, for example 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. Branching connections could spread infinitely in all directions, and could themselves have their own branches. Each card would forever have a permanent ID number that would identify it and its place in the tree of ideas. Ideas with longer and more complex reference numbers were those that had a greater history and had been more thoroughly explored.

If this decentralized, potentially infinite labelling system has you thinking of hypertext and the structure of URLs, it’s interesting to note that the system predated the internet. But Luhmann must have done something right, as the prolific work he created using this system was well-received and certainly novel. Luhmann created an astonishing 90,000 notes during his life (around six a day). He even claimed that the box had a sort of life of its own, and that he in effect established a dialogue with it—all by virtue of not relying on his own brain to remember properly and make novel connections.

What can we learn from Luhmann? You don’t need to replicate his system exactly to benefit from the underlying principles. Let’s take a closer look.

Principle 1: note-making is not an outcome, but a process

Don’t take notes to record what you have already thought about, but to assist you in expanding your thinking. There’s a reason your old schoolteachers always wanted you to paraphrase texts in your own words—in writing these notes, we are in effect seeing them for the first time, from the inside out, and have a far better chance of comprehending and remembering. Think of taking notes as another medium for thinking, using pen and paper rather than your mind.

When you take notes, you pick apart data and gain a deeper understanding. By elaborating, translating, reordering, questioning, comparing, contrasting, rephrasing and explaining, we dissect an idea and truly begin to understand it. The truth is that, no matter how smart you are, this is difficult to do mentally. You can get more done by externalizing your thought processing and working with it in the form of notes.

Principle 2: write as though you had an audience

It doesn’t matter if your notes or ideas are ever published or read by another human being. What matters is that you practice discernment in what you note and how. Don’t waste time on things you know are trivial; be rigorous, focused and demand quality from yourself. Picture these notes being read and relied upon in future. Avoid vagueness and repetition, and make your words count. When you are deliberate, conscious and purposeful in your note-taking, your thinking will follow suit and you will learn more quickly, and with deeper understanding.

Furthermore, focus on your presentation, especially if you prefer to write your notes instead of using an electronic device for them. You might take notes meticulously and efficiently, but if the information isn’t presented in a comprehensible manner you will refrain from relying on them in the future. Making your notes aesthetically pleasing can do much to increase the amount of information you retain from them.

Principle 3: creativity doesn’t happen in a void

You can’t form opinions unless you understand the topic, and you can’t create something completely new from scratch. You can’t find any interesting answers until you’ve taken the time to research interesting questions. In other words, learning/studying is not so very different from creating.

When you take notes, you are having a conversation with the supporting course material. You don’t have to pluck things from thin air. Every bit of understanding rests on some prior bit of understanding—so if you’re trying to solve a problem or create something new, don’t start from nothing, start with what you know.

Famous physicist Richard Feynman had a technique that involved him writing in a notebook called “Things I don’t know about” and actively shaping his learning efforts around figuring those mysteries out. This is a simple but profoundly useful note-taking/journaling technique that keeps your focus where it should be, and allows you to use what you know to find out what you don’t know.

Allow fresh patterns to emerge. It’s a non-linear process—there’s no reason you can’t return to old notes and elaborate. Extract key information, shake it up or try putting it in a different format. When notes are done well, you’ll be able to use them as milestones on your way to learning, or as a scaffold that helps you inch closer and closer to understanding using baby steps along the way.

Principle 4: have a standardized workflow

While the note-taking part of the process is flowing and open-ended, you still need a structured protocol for how and when to take notes. If you’re committing to reading an hour a day, add on ten minutes so you can jot down notes, questions and reactions. Try cut down on distractions and clutter and focus on extracting the essence of what you read to create beautiful notes.

You might like to re-read these notes as you continue reading the same or another book, and add to or amend them as you go. Keep it simple: if a “slip box” doesn’t serve your needs, you don’t need to have one. Try bullet journaling, mind mapping, or a system of your own creation. What matters is that it works for you.

Make sure that your notes, whatever form they take, are uniform. You need something in a standardized format that you can compare and carry over across any and all topics and books.

Principle 5: regularly appraise your process

It’s a trap to get too attached to any one method or technique and lose sight of the fact that it’s not really working for you. Note-taking is an iterative process: make sure you constantly ask how well your process is going, and refine as you go. The design and implementation of a note-taking strategy itself must be open for adjustments. You’ll know your notes are beneficial if they inspire fresh ideas, reveal connections you wouldn’t otherwise think of, motivate your curiosity and creativity, and help you keep track of a complex, “bigger picture” idea that would have eluded you if you’d just approached learning in an ad hoc way.

Ask questions like:

Do you ever return to your notes?

If you do, how do you use them? Is your method working?

In what ways can your notes support your learning? Could you do better?

Make notes of progresses made, insights gained, knowledge banked and leading questions that will help inspire the next step of your learning. Use notes to self-assess, record points of challenge or areas to focus on, criticisms, unknowns, issues, inconsistencies. Note down your plans, your intentions, your methods and your success. Make lists. Check them twice. Your notebook is a scratchpad where you tackle these aspects of your learning process in a dynamic and intelligent way.

Principle 6: The more the merrier

Don’t have separate notebooks for separate disciplines or projects – combine them. Work on many learning projects at once and “cross-train your brain” by reading several books at once, considering each in the context of the other, to get a broader view. The more ground you cover, the more likely you are to stumble on a happy “accident”—an idea that suddenly illuminates your topic for you, or advances your understanding.

As you make notes, remember to keep them diverse and interesting. Bounce ideas off one another, and don’t limit yourself to one book, one idea, one author, one field. The best aha! moments are often those that find us by surprise—but we can certainly lay the foundation for them. You might glean information from a book about politics to use in your psychology class, or you may organize some new skills according to the projects you hope to use them for, not in their conventional categories.

Principle 7: Keep it interesting

It’s a rule of learning that the more personally relevant and interesting a piece of information is, the greater your chances of understanding and remembering it. To care about what you’re learning, to really grasp it, you need to have a clear and direct line to your own self-determined goals. You need to feel like the information fits into the bigger picture of your learning.

When we’re trying to learn something new, we can sometimes lose our enthusiasm as we get bogged down in the technicalities and details. Try often to use questions and curiosity to re-engage your passion for your topic. Remind yourself of why you’re learning in the first place. Make sure you’re directing your own learning process, and not merely slaving along with someone else’s idea of what your growth should look like.

As Luhmann famously said, “I only do what is easy. I only write when I immediately know how to do it. If I falter for a moment, I put the matter aside and do something else.” What is “easy” is what feels natural, obvious and interesting in the moment. Learning seldom happens by force or rote. Gather information and be diligent, but know that insight and understanding can’t be forced or faked. Follow your genuine curiosity, interest and passion and you will never feel unsure or unmotivated.