A Better Note-Taking System for Your Scattered Brain
‘Four Mind Banks’ can help you process information in a simple, engaging way
I recently started a new job, and I’m in that phase where I’m constantly bombarded with new and unfamiliar concepts, from company vocabulary to industry know-how. The learning curve is steep. At every meeting, I take furious notes, trying to soak in as much information as possible.
For a while, I tried the bullet journal system of note-taking, in which you use icons to label the nature of every single bullet point you write down. While it’s a creative way to mark your thoughts, I found that it becomes difficult to quickly label all the different patterns when you’re faced with heaps of new information. People talk fast. Slides move from one to the next at lightning speed. You don’t have time for labels — you’re simply trying to keep up.
During meetings, I realized that four things were happening in my mind:
- I was gaining new information.
- I was coming across things I wanted to gain further clarity or dig deeper on.
- I was coming up with ideas and insights.
- I was having strong feelings about certain issues.
