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Boris is the wise ol\u2019 CEO of TNW who writes a weekly column on everything about being an entrepreneur in tech \u2014 from managing stress to embracing awkwardness. You can get his musings straight to your inbox by signing up for his newsletter!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n How hard could it be to take notes? You might not have considered this question, but I think about it a lot. <\/span>Note-taking hasn\u2019t just helped me with my own work, but it also helps me understand my team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t do this through my <\/span>own <\/span><\/i>notes though, but by understanding theirs. <\/span>Over time I\u2019ve learned that different people take different notes, and what works for you might not work for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I enjoy looking at people\u2019s notes, and often ask people to explain what they wrote down and why. I see a few different note-taking strategies, and wonder if there are more than I know about. Here\u2019s what I see:<\/span><\/p>\n You don\u2019t see this a lot, but I met people who are able to almost transcribe conversations using maybe 10% written notes to encapsulate almost 100% of a conversation. This is like magic to me. I don\u2019t understand how people can listen, understand, compress, and then write down at the same time. But it looks extremely useful!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been in meetings where we weren\u2019t sure about a thing and then someone would say \u2018Well, on December 14 you said this\u2026\u201d and then was able to bring back a conversation and confront me with what I said.<\/span><\/p>\n This is the kind of note-taking done by action oriented people. They listen to a conversation and focus on conclusions and actions. It\u2019s a very common way to take notes, and useful too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m guessing 50% of my note-taking is of this variety. Unfortunately, I can either think and talk, or listen and write \u2014 but not both.<\/span><\/p>\n Some people write down quotes, facts, and numbers, not to read them back later, but simply to ingrain the information. If they write something down, it gets stored in their memory and they don\u2019t really need to look back at what they wrote later.<\/span><\/p>\n Their notes are amazing to look at as they\u2019re usually a random mess of numbers, words, and sentences placed all over an unlined page. And this is completely fine, because they don\u2019t really need to look at their notes later.<\/span><\/p>\n This is the note-taker that\u2019s easily distracted or has a vivid imagination. I fit squarely in this camp. In any given conversation any word can trigger a thought and that thought will turn into another one, and before you know it my mind is completely off the tracks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One trick I\u2019ve found helps me mentally \u2018stay\u2019 in a meeting is to write down the thoughts that it triggers. I do this a lot and end up with notes that have random words on them that have nothing to do with the meeting I\u2019m in. By writing down these words, I park my thoughts, or pin them to the page as it were.<\/span><\/p>\n It can be helpful to know what kind of note-taker you are, and what kind of people you are surrounded by. If you know, you can anticipate, or even manage your audience or team. I\u2019ve heard speakers say to the audience: \u201cNo need to take notes, I\u2019ll share my slides later\u201d which is great for one group of note-takers, but useless to the rest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re in a meeting with a \u2018writing to focus\u2019 person and they\u2019re writing a LOT down, maybe they\u2019re just distracted by the type of words you use, and you\u2019re better off using the whiteboard to explain your story. If you\u2019re doing a presentation you can always share your slides, but please know that person in the front who is frantically writing in his notebook is doing it because they are inspired and want to write down their ideas quickly so they can keep focusing on your story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ideas, the ones you inspired, aren\u2019t in your slides. They\u2019re now on paper, in my notebook.<\/span><\/p>\n Can\u2019t get enough of Boris? Check out his older stories here, or sign up for TNW\u2019s newsletters below:<\/em><\/p>\n \n Published February 21, 2020 \u2014 17:09 UTC\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nLiteral note-taking<\/b><\/h2>\n
To-do and actions note-taking<\/b><\/h2>\n
Writing to remember<\/b><\/h2>\n
The writing to focus notes<\/b><\/h2>\n