Quick Guide to CAPTURING Notes when ENCOUNTERING Information

Cam Bestwick
Mar 1, 2024
3 min read

Updated: May 11

^Use this quick reference guide as a refresher before you enter an obvious note-taking situation like a class or an important meeting.

Steps for initially taking down the notes:

It should be extremely easy to start making a note – no more than 15 seconds.

Speed matters – give yourself the option of writing a lot of notes quickly.

The indented bullets method is a good option for this, but different capture methods work well in different situations.

Write notes in your own words where possible.

Include just enough information for your future self to get back to its source material. Fully referencing everything is rarely necessary, but knowing your sources is extremely helpful. Some examples could include:

# From the book [name of book], chapter 2, halfway.
# From article in [publication] called [title], link here: [link]

Include symbols in your notes to denote any major changes speaker or voice. Here is some of the most useful markup you can add:

)) at the end of a sentence means you are quoting the source material exactly.

* at the start of a sentence means it is your own reaction or opinion.

^ at the start of a sentence means you are commenting on the notes themselves.

&& at either end of a sentence means it is an action that needs to be taken.

# at the start of a sentence (usually at the end of a paragraph) is providing just enough information to get back to the source material (see next point below).

Solutions to common issues at the CAPTURE stage:

When there is not enough time to write in your own words…

You can always add a small overlay of your own words.

For instance, you could:

· Write a summary/debrief paragraph of up to 100 words at the top of your notes document.

· Write a summary/debrief sentence within each section.

· Write a single sentence to yourself about what the notes say and how they could be useful.

When you know you can never get back to the source material (like a live speech)

Write down more details about the source so you could fully reference it if needed.

Think about what referencing systems generally need and get down as many of those details as possible.

Steps to finalise and store the notes

Don’t spend too much time improving the notes now. You can make most improvements while you are already handling them / still have them open, but don’t improve them too much until you know they are going to be needed again.

Ensure the title of your notes tells someone who ‘wasn’t there’ what the notes are (without reading them). A good formula is:

The date backwards – [YYMMDD]
What the notes are – e.g. notes, list, brainstorm, minutes, etc.
Where they are from – e.g. book, course, meeting, etc.
What they are about – i.e. the topic.
Example: "240408 Notes from SUYU Notes course about note taking and productivity"

Store your notes in the fewest places possible. It makes them easier to find later. Those locations can be well-organised, but try to have as few locations as possible.

Reminders of key note-making principles:

You are following the SUYU Notes system, which is a double-loop cycle which keeps you iterative and keeps you from over-or under-investing in your different notes. The goal is to move your notes through the cycle quickly and repeat the cycle. It has four steps:

You encounter information in the world you expect to be important or useful in the future.
You capture some notes that represent the information.
You improve those notes by making them easier or better to use.
You use the notes to take better actions in the world

A good note-taking system will help you balance the effort you put into producing notes with the benefit you get from using them.
Being iterative in your note-making will help you balance the level of effort and benefit over time.
Smart note-taking usually means finding ways to make the smallest possible upfront investments (in your notes) with the largest potential benefits for your future self.
Try to only spend time improving your notes while you are already handling them.

More detailed explanations of these ideas and the reasoning behind them can be found in the resource: SUYU Notes — A Recap.