Whenever I have the fortune to come across an “optimized notetaking” workflow my confusion only stirs deeper.
It’s not like I’m unsympathetic: I’ve spent an ungodly amount of hours fiddling with Anki or my text editors – but I at least learned my lesson by the end: that defaults rule the practical day, keeps frustration at bay. It seems with notetaking that lesson is delayed or obscured under the noteweight.
Every time I even tried to take notes – out of a doubt that I am wrong and just don’t get it yet – so it started for a long week and followed with failure. The most successful stint was running a tab of “What did I do/learn today” – an opportunity for reflection, I suppose. But it’s not as though these reflections are worth cross-referencing.
In the same way one can posture ethically with a Starbucks frappe so one may posture intellectually by the mound of scribbles they’ve garnered enough courage to collect as valuable. Before you clapback about the existence of this website, don’t worry, I agree: I’ve stated many times that this entire website is worthless and/or useless but that is precisely why I write anyway.
Perhaps notetaking is an exercise which forces some confidence upon you: with enough keystrokes you’ll get a little smug and think, yes, perhaps these are the new Nag Hammadi texts! At least for my own personal voyage, you could add as a shaky footnote.
I very much look forward to the day where I talk to someone and they pull their straightened palm right up, stammer a “Wait!” – holding back some curled cheeks blushing – to whip out their notetaking system all to determine which particular reference they required for a keynote point in our conversation. Most suitably so it’d be a conversation about, by chance, whether one should have a sandwich or some nachos.
I also look forward to being proved wrong and those who are the ardent note-followers do rise the ranks, find their God nestled between their webs of backlinks, all converging upon a crystallized ideal to manifest.
Until then, well, I’ll just be the little gremlin – threading half unrelated things, provided as presentation not because it matters whether someone reads this, but because it’s a restraint. If I had full reign again I would fashion trails out of my intestines and draw bloody smiles on the pavement.