4 Note-Taking Tips That Can Change Your Life

When I was a kid, I desperately wanted to become a writer. I hung around book signings and listened to authors talk about their processes. A lot of them mentioned notes. Have an idea? Make a note. Overhear something interesting? Jot it down. I was confused because I didn’t understand how you could make notes and then weeks later magically remember they exist and use them in your writing. As a process-oriented person, I wanted to know every step. Where do you write notes? What kind of detail should they have? When do you look through them? How does a note go from being a thought to something more substantial?

Now that I am both an adult and a real writer (yay!), I make a ton of notes about many more things than writing. What I’ve learned is that the purpose of notes is to improve your life.

So what kind of notes can change your life? 

1. Postmortems of the Past

For starters, there are notes about recurring events. When something big in life might happen more than once—like moving house, having a baby, or changing jobs—it makes sense to write down what went right and what could have gone better so that the next time you do it, you can learn from past experiences. 

I call them postmortem notes. I used to work at a magazine about video game development where in each issue we had a “postmortem” feature. A few members of a team that had made a video game would write an article about what went right and what went wrong while developing it. That way, the team could learn lessons for next time, and any game developers reading the article would learn, too. I took the same practice and started making notes about my personal life whenever it seemed relevant.

The big one for me is moving house, which I do way too often and sometimes across borders. Getting the details of the move right, like what I put in my suitcases versus what I pack up and ship, make a huge difference in both my comfort during the move and how much it costs.

All I do is create a new text note in my note-taking app, which is Joplin at the moment, and make bullet points under two sections: What Went Right and What Went Wrong. 

Looking back through these notes, I can see that moving pets is always stressful and that unexpected problems come up no matter how much I try to perfect the process. Another bullet point says I should stock up on prescription medications and contact lenses (both of which I order by mail) before a move so that I don’t get caught without them while my mail is forwarded. It looks like a few years ago I regretted packing up the dog’s brush rather than bringing it in my bag. Skimming these notes before a move always makes the next one easier, better, and more comfortable.

2. Journal Entries for Emotional Growth

Another type of note is a journal entry. I’ve been keeping a daily journal for nine years, which sounds like more than it is. I record the goings on of the day and my reaction to them. More often than I’d like to admit, I turn to those pages to prove that I’m right about something, like who was at an event or what happened. My journal is digital, which means I can search it easily and don’t have to flip through paper pages.

Another and more important way my journals have been useful is for my emotional growth. Specifically, reading a series of diary entries written a few days in a row has made me realize when several stressful things happened back to back. For example, when the coronavirus started spreading globally, I was in the process of moving from Europe back to the United States. That I remember. But in going through my journal entries, I remembered that I also had a major medical issue start just a few days after that…and then one of my dogs got injured pretty badly, and then I learned I needed surgery but because of COVID-19 the healthcare team wanted to push it out until maybe June. It went on like that for weeks, a conglomeration of stressful circumstances building on each other.

When we are in the thick of things happening, we don’t always recognize that one trauma was followed by another and another in close succession. Our brains don’t always lump bad events together but rather treat them as separate, unconnected events. Being able to see and acknowledge that you’ve been through a bombshell of experiences can help you process them differently and with more self-compassion.

3. Calendar Events for Being a Better Grown-Up

Whether you’re a forgetful person or not is moot if you keep up your calendar with important events and by marking important dates. I rely on my calendar all the time not just for reminders of upcoming meetings, but also to be better at adulting.

(Credit: Google/Jill Duffy)

When a friend or extended family member mentions their birthday, I make a calendar entry for it and try to send them a message each year on their day. I make the calendar event yellow so it stands out more. When I can’t remember the last time I went to the dentist or to a particular doctor, I look it up in my calendar so that I can plan the next visit at the right time both for my health and for health insurance eligibility. If I make a calendar event for someone’s wedding, then I always know when their anniversary is. If I jot down a pregnant person’s due date, I see it on my calendar and remember to ask how they’re doing leading up to it.

I also set up calendar events for bets that I make with my partner who told me in 2018 that weed would be legal at the federal level within five years or I’d get 100 bucks. My payday is December 31, 2023. Cashing in on bets may not make me a better grown-up, but it does give me some walking-around money.

4. Photo Notes for Quick Reference

Occasionally, my notes take the form of photos. Usually it’s something that I don’t need to preserve for the rest of my life, but something I need to reference quickly while I’m on the go.

For example, my favorite grocery store has a huge bin at the front for recycling all kinds of stuff (pictured below). But what stuff exactly? I always forget. That’s why I took a photo of it. Now I know to bring an old pair of sneakers with me the next time I go shopping.

(Credit: Jill Duffy)

Have I ever taken a photo of the generously sized craft beer shelf at this same grocery store? You bet I did. That way I can send the picture to other people and easily consult with them about what to buy.

As I was writing this, I wondered if I had more photo notes that I had forgotten about. And indeed I do! I have three pictures of price tags of bicycles that I test-rode a few weeks ago (one is below). The price tags list the make and model, which helped me look up more information about the bikes before deciding which one to buy. I also have a picture of the instructions for a tricky combination lock for the mailbox at my previous address. I can toss that picture now since I no longer live there, but it was handy every time I went to get the mail and was like, “How do I do this again?” Then there’s a picture of my friend’s license plate because sometimes I borrow his car and I need the plate number to use a parking app.

(Credit: Jill Duffy)

Connecting the Dots

Certainly, I’m more organized than the average person. I write down all kinds of important things to make sure I’m on top of them. After years of doing it, I’ve finally connected the dots to see how taking the right kinds of notes appreciably makes my life better. It’s a far cry from what I expected note-taking to be when I was a kid listening to writers talk about making creative notes, but it’s more valuable to me—and probably will be for other people, too.