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Study Hacks : The Study Hacks Guide to Note-Taking

In this post, I describe some of the most important note-taking strategies to grace the digital pages of Study Hacks. Take a look. If you master this step, you’ll enjoy significant improvements to your academic life.

A Study Hacks Crash Course on Smart Note-Taking

Why Most Students Don’t Understand the Real Goal of Note-Taking
A classic article from the early days of Study Hacks. It lays out my core philosophy on how to take notes well. You can use its “Three Laws of Reduced Study Time Note-Taking” as a general framework for the construction of your own customized note solution.

Read the whole thing, it is not just for students!

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6gwo7l. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

I have a guest post today at Spatially Relevant. If you are interested in blogging tips, please check it out.

On Blogging

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/55av9e. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

David Allen calls the calendar your “hard landscape”. There is a reason for that, primarily because your calendar is the foundation of your productivity practice. The raw data you put into your calendar determines the information that comes out. This is the “landscape” that you are going to traverse on any given day.

What goes in your Calendar

Three types of raw data go into your calendar:

1. Time-specific actions - This is jargon-speak for meetings and appointments, some will be with other people and some will be for yourself. Make a habit of scheduling your Most Important Tasks for the day.
2. Day-specific actions - Less-structured than a meeting or appointment, this type of entry is for an action that needs to get done on a particular day, but any time is fine. I suggest that you use this category carefully, as your calendar should not become a to-do list. Your 3-5 Most Important Tasks will often fall in this category.
3. Day-specific information - This category of entry is for data like telephone numbers, directions, or specific information about a person you are meeting or the agenda for that meeting. If this category gets too bulky/takes up too much space, consider just writing a note in the calendar as to exactly where you can find that information.

Your Calendar is a Tool,

…not your taskmaster. Work toward the habit of limiting your calendar entries. To paraphrase Albert Einstein, keep the entry as simple as possible, (but not too simple) for you to be able to make the most of the information. A cluttered or messy calendar leads to a day of frustration!

Remember: the appointments that you make with yourself for your most important tasks are just as binding as appointments that you make with other people.

If you aren’t able to trust yourself to show up, how can you trust your system?

Where is your to-do list

I’d love to know what kind of information you are getting from your calendar, or what kind of assistance you are not getting.

(Click the links below to learn more about the specific questions)

• Does your to-do list migrate into your calendar?
• Do you use a pencil for your entries, so you do not have to cross things out when there are changes?
• Is your calendar format the right one to maximize your way of working?

Leave a comment, perhaps we can work together on a solution.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6lk4cb. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

From How Not to Write:

Thoughts on Using Index Cards

…here are a few lessons I’ve learned about index cards:

1. Be Clear - Nothing is worse than finding a card in your stack that says “remember that thing” or “add dialogue from today’s conversation”. Even though you were in a hurry and swore you’d remember the details, I guarantee that you will not and you will bang your head on the table when you find cards like this in the stack.

2. Be Concise - Putting complete sentences on an index card may feel like a path to clarity, but in the confined space of the card you end up taking card after card and invariably one will get lost and become “remember this thing.”

3. Think Non-Linear - The benefit of using index cards is that you can shuffle and reorder them with ease. However, if you have constructed your thoughts in such a way that one MUST lead to the next, you’re missing out on the interesting possibilities that occur when you suddenly shake up the stream of your narrative.

What do you think? How do you capture your ideas, thoughts, and inspirations?
Please share in the comments.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/58z8hz. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen