Did you know journaling less might teach you more?
I have the recurring suspicion that we spend a lot of time doing what is essentially cargo cult work. It looks like work, but because we don’t understand how the work connects with a result, we’re actually play-acting. Going through the motions. What this last week taught me is that I was apparently play-acting note taking…
Ultimately, you should capture what resonates with you! As you consume a piece of content, listen for an internal feeling of being moved by the idea This special feeling of “resonance” is your intuition telling you that something is literally “noteworthy”
I use Readwise and Tana to collect highlights from things I consume. Notes from meetings, journaling for personal growth, everything that I might learn from goes in there.
The thoughts I collect are what end up on this blog, and in my newsletter. I didn’t make many notes this week, in fact on one day there’s just a single note. But in my weekly review, it turns out that I have learned about the same number of things as usual.
Pay attention to your "micro lightbulb moments" When you say “Ooh, that’s interesting” or "Ooh, I’ve never thought of that” Those moments are rare Write them down and most importantly… revisit them
What I think is going on is that I’ve believed that more notes should mean more learning. But since our mind can only do one thing at a time, what is actually happening is that I’m spending a lot of time writing notes I will never use.
A stressful week resulted in me only taking down the things that are really important. Which is what I always want.
On the other hand, when I’m not writing notes all day long, it’s reasonable to assume that I’m not reflecting on my thoughts and might be spending the week thinking the same thing over and over again. Journaling is a very good method for avoiding this trap, which is why I believe journaling is so helpful for personal growth.
But again, I haven’t stopped journaling. I just journal less.
I’m about to leave on a two week trip to the US, and I think I will continue to journal daily, but not try to take a lot of notes. In note taking less really is more.
The true purpose of learning is to turn our knowledge into action What have you learned recently that's just waiting to be put into practice?
Until next time,
J