Master three tips to take notes easily

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I still remember that on the evening of July 27, 2018, I held the first “Workplace Writing Power (opens in a new tab)” course in Shangzhou Study Room. This class starts with the writing outline and content strategy to teach you how to write content that can effectively persuade supervisors and customers. It not only focuses on cultivating writing skills in the workplace, but also hopes to help each student find ways and fun to communicate and convey.

──Writing ability in the workplace is your superpower!

In the course, I also introduced you to the key points of writing work notes.

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In fact, there are many books and methods about note-taking in the market, such as the well-known Cornell Note-taking Method (opens in a new tab), Bullet Note-taking Method (opens in a new tab), McKinsey note-taking method or Finnish note-taking method, etc. You can decide which note-taking method to use based on your own needs, scenarios, uses and preferences?

But for me, taking good notes is very simple. I only need to master three key points:

1. Story: Whether we are taking interview notes or recording the experience of a wonderful lecture, the most important thing is to be able to reproduce the essence through simple and concise notes, so that people can read the notes afterwards as if they were reading a story.
2. Key points: Some people are used to listing key points, while others are good at grabbing keywords. In fact, these methods are all good. The key point is that you can group some key information, or even use different colors of pens to draw different blocks on the notebook, and then fill in the information one by one.
3. Review: Many people have been busy all their lives and written notes for decades, but they almost never review them again. It is a pity to think about it. If taking notes is just a formality or boring work, it is really a waste! There is a lot of condensed information in each note. I encourage everyone to read it frequently and find some clues.

I think you don’t need to stick to methods or formats when taking notes, but you must record and experience them with your heart. If you are interested in the topic of workplace writing skills, you are also welcome to contact me through the “I love writing notes (opens in a new tab)” club! There are many friends here who like to write notes, so you can discuss them together!

★ Photo Credit: Calum MacAulay (opens in a new tab)

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Further reading

• From note-taking tools to thinking framework: Create a note-taking system that truly belongs to you
• Use the card box note-taking method to create compound interest on knowledge
• Make good use of reflection memos and write excellent lecture notes