Some features in the note-taking system get a lot of attention such as being able to link your notes in an easy way as well as having good search options. They are essential to keep in mind when building your system and choosing the digital part of it. But there are also other less talked about features that are important to keep in mind for your note-taking system to be valuable not only now, but for all your needs in the future too.
Flexibility of shifting between paper notebook and digital notes:
If you are only taking notes digitally, you can skip this feature. More often, almost no one likes to be committed solely to one type of notetaking. When a note-taking system breaks it’s often because the integration of handwritten notes and digital notes is not working. Designing a note system where you have the full flexibility of moving between your paper (or e-tablet) notebook and your digital noteapp can be what you need in order to make notetaking and your system sustainable for you.
One way of doing this is to name projects by the same name in your handwritten notes as in your digital ones and clearly note page number of these project notes in the analog notebook index or table of contents. This way, when you work on the project in your digital notes, you can easily look up the ideas that you have written in your analog notebook and integrate these in your further work as you see fit.
A designated place and process for miscellaneous thoughts:
During the day you get ideas that you are not quite sure what to do with or how to handle at the moment. A feature of a good note-taking system is to have a space for these, that you are absolutely sure that you will see again when time is appropriate. Having this feature in place is one of the essential ways of making your note-taking system sustainable in the long run. If your digital note-taking system has a daily note function, this might be the place where you dump everything you are not completely sure about or do not have the time to deal with in the moment. I use my daily note for checklists during the day, so instead I rely on my analog notebook bullet journal style (Carroll, 2018) to provide this feature in my note-taking system. During the day I dump everything in there (and I really mean everything) that I do not have time to organize or do not know what to do with at this moment. Later I come back to it in review sessions, when I have the time and mental bandwidth to process it.
Doing most of your work inside your note-taking system:
A sustainable note-taking system is about actually using it. The more you write and do stuff inside of your system, the more you develop it further to fit your needs. So one core feature is that you need to comfortably be able to work inside it most of the time. This is a big aha moment for notetakers who seem to struggle with using their notes and system consistently in their daily work. Instead of making notes first only to then write all your output in a word processor, try writing your first drafts inside of your notesystem. You can always export it later when you need to automatically generate references or you have a firmer grip on the scope and ideas for the draft. The hidden benefit of this is that as you form your ideas in your first drafts, different and not yet activated note ideas might suddenly be relevant to incorporate. Also oftentimes new notes will be relevant to make in the process of writing something. Working inside your note-taking system makes this whole process much easier.
No note-taking system is one-size-fits-all and it needs to be adaptable to your individual needs. If you consistently find features you miss, it’s worth taking that seriously. Considering how to incorporate these features is what takes a note-taking system from functional to sustainable, and your system will be much better for it.
References
Carroll, R. (2018). The Bullet Journal Method: Track Your Past, Order Your Present, Plan Your Future. HarperCollins UK.
