Comments on: Effective Note Taking

By: gavinzhu2010

gavinzhu2010 — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:40:32 +0000

good blog for golf .thank you very much.

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:00:38 +0000

Hey Syed – thanks for swinging by and I’m glad I could help. It’s definitely helped me lately…Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Maintaining Momentum When You Have No Motivation

By: Syed Akram

Syed Akram — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:02:58 +0000

Great post Paul. I’m never been teach or told how to read and ebook such short time the way you explain in here. Thanks again.
Syed Akram´s last blog ..Argentina Need A Real Coach Not Maradona

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:44:33 +0000

Hey Martin – let me know if it works for you. I’m still following the method and it’s working for me but I’d be interested if you find the same success…

Paul

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:37:21 +0000

Hi Paul,

Something I have been thinking about a lot lately. For the amount of material that I read, I feel like I should be much more knowledgeable about certain subjects. I can only chalk it up to a failure to retain much of what I am reading. I’ll give your system a shot.

Thanks for the informative post.

Martin
Martin´s last blog ..Art of Day to Day Improvement

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Stephanie, my long lost twin I know how you feel about having to adopt new methods considering much of what I read these days is online. I need to get a kindle or something!

Paul

By: Stephanie Smith

Stephanie Smith — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:14:14 +0000

@PAUL: Dude -I could be your twin…ok -not literally, but I am also ALWAYS reading something. I cannot go somewhere without the option of having SOMETHING to read.
Highlighting?-guilty. Notes, stickies, page tabs…guilty as charged.
it worked in nursing school, but now I am back in school online and it has forced me to do things differently. I am going to give your idea a shot! Thanks!
Stephanie Smith´s last blog ..Mired in indecision

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:00:46 +0000

Hey Tom – I know ALL about the index cards for studying. I don’t miss those days one bit

I just used to get in such a habit of taking notes that I stopped really digesting the material. I would end up with pages of useless notes without context…so I’m trying to force my way back to when I used to read with retention!

Paul

By: Tom Harvey

Tom Harvey — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:12:20 +0000

Paul

Some great tips there. I used to use flash cards which stemmed from revision notes in my study days, which I found were useful as limited my space. However they were never easy to store and archive so now I tend to favour small bound notebooks.
I think I have found one of the keys is to read for the content itself like you say, as then you will take it in and can make notes with a fuller understanding afterwards.
Some useful new techniques for me to try, just need Alex to run some more Webinars now….

Tom

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:20:24 +0000

Norene – great idea! I also have a list that I keep ideas down but my problem has been reviewing the list to actually take action on the idea. Possible future blog post?

Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Effective Note Taking

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:19:28 +0000

Hi Roberta –

Thanks for stopping by! I know what you mean about the “no-marking” deal as we would get the frown marks from teachers if we even made the smallest pencil mark on a page. But I rebelled anyway and now mark and fold to my content

Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Effective Note Taking

By: Norene

Norene — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:42:51 +0000

I find that a lot of what I read will spur new ideas for my life or my business. I have an ‘idea’ file on my computer where I put down these thoughts as they occur. When I am looking to write a new blog post or create a product, or even just looking for motivation, I go to this ‘ideas’ folder. -Norene
Norene´s last blog ..Weekly Wrap-Up: Productivity

By: Roberta

Roberta — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:14:57 +0000

Great points, Paul. And as noted by others’ comments, we all have our own ways to make the material meaningful for ourselves and our own use later. It’s good to share our methods with each other so we can experiment and maybe find something that works better, or as an adjunct to what we do already. I pretty much do it the way you have described, as I, too, am an avid reader and was a great student in college. Other students used to buy my notes! Nice little side income (emphasis on the “little”). The one thing that is hard for me to overcome, though, is that my generation was drilled to think that books are not just precious, but inviolate… thus, no marking, no page dog-ears, or even too many bookmarks. I actually got into trouble in high school for too many bookmarks in my textbooks, doubling the thickness of the book and breaking the bindings. They should have let me underline salient sentences and write page numbers on the cover leaf. Ha! (In those days, schools owned the books.)
Now, I am in love with highlighters.
Great post… and I love your header graphic!
Roberta´s last blog ..Do These Bother You? They Sure Irritate Me.

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:03:32 +0000

Hey Dave, when you mean note lists are you referring to broad bullet point topics or something else? Thanks for stopping by…

Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Effective Note Taking

By: Paul Norwine

Paul Norwine — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:02:38 +0000

Hi Gordie –

What I have found when I take notes going through a book the first time is that I end up with a TON of notes that need to be reorganized. I often just reiterate or regurgitate exactly what the author has to say and, instead of reading for retention and learning, I end up more focused on my notes than the material I am reading. Plus, I have pages upon pages of notes that are unorganized and just sit in a binder or notebook that I hardly ever look at again.

With the method I described above, you actually read for understanding and learning. The notes are done after the fact and are in your own words so you are able to retain the knowledge long after reading. On top of that, your notes will be concise and organized making it quite nicer to look at (and much more effective) when you need a “refresher.”

This is just what’s helped me

Paul
Paul Norwine´s last blog ..Effective Note Taking