Why You Take Notes But Never Get Smarter

My knowledge journey started with listening to audiobooks. This is what gave me the bug for learning new things and to become an autodidact. I realised that in order to recall all the amazing things I'd been learning, I needed to take notes. Doing so helps me feel like I'm participating in the knowledge that I'm learning.

However, as time passes, I found that I was forgetting what I'd made notes on. I want to recall aspects of the books that were really important to my understanding of a topic, but I just couldn't remember what they were. In some way, it's like remembering the punchline to a joke but not the lead-up.

And I feel like I'm really improving because I'm getting all the new knowledge from the books, the audiobooks, and the videos that I'm watching. But, on the other hand, nothing's really changing. I don't feel smarter. It's like this form of note-taking is giving me the illusion of progress, but I'm not seeing the results.

And it turns out, the problem isn't the effort that I'm putting in. It's the note-taking system that I've adopted isn't designed to make me think.

In this day and age, we're bombarded with no short choice of content to consume. There are books on many topics that allow us to dive deep, podcasts that can allow us to listen to the experts in the field, and of course, there's YouTube, which is full of content ranging from the very simplistic to a masterclass.

So we're forever highlighting the passages of a book, creating bookmarks, and adding videos to our watch list. It feels productive. It feels intentional. We even create notes as we read and watch.

Yet these notes pile up in apps like Obsidian and Notion. And as the list gets longer, we feel we're building knowledge.

Yet, why is it, when we try to recall or use it, nothing is there. You can't quite find that specific passage even though we're sure that we made a note on it. But it turns out what we're doing is just capturing what we felt was relevant in the moment, but not applying it to our wider understanding.

The reality is, if you feel this is happening to you, you're not alone. This is actually how most people "learn".

So we think that the issue is down to:

1. Not enough notes—so we try to learn more by adding more things to create notes on
2. Not the right system—so we try to fix that by seeking the next inventive method, folder structure, application, etc
3. Not enough discipline—so we try to block out study time, join the 5am club or find the perfect playlist that will give you the focus you need

So yeah, you start looking for better tools, different structures and capturing more detailed notes. The YouTube algorithm starts feeding you new creators with their own technique. Digital note taking, paper note taking, AI note taking, Zettelkasten, Atomic Notes, etc, etc. I should know, I'm one of those creators.

Then it feels like you're starting over time and time again. A new system, a new method, a new tool.

The real issue however is that we're simply collecting and not actively thinking. We call this the Collector's Fallacy. This is where saving information feels like learning, but in reality nothing is being processed.

But what does it look like in practice? Imagine you're highlighting a passage of a book. You're collecting extracts as you go. But unless you take that an explain it in your own words, you'll never move on from the Collector's Fallacy and become a Thinker.

The problem you're facing isn't the input, but the transformation of the information that truly helps you to think.

The reality is that learning doesn't happen when you consume, it happens when you process and re-express what you're discovering.

Our brain doesn't work like a computer where we can just store information as though they are files. No, we need to build meaning through the connections. It's those connections that aid the recall of the material.

Passive learning simply doesn't work. It's isolated and we rarely revisit the content as it gets buried in our note-taking.

When you start to reframe your note-taking as having the purpose to aid future thinking, we move beyond the archival mindset that makes us think 'if I've captured it, I've made progress'.

Our notes should not be just a mere record of what was said, but it should be a critical thinking step that will help us shape our overall understanding of the topic as a whole.

If you're not changing how you think through your notes, what's the point?

Getting smarter though your note-taking is really quite straightforward. Focus on:

1. Rewriting the ideas of what you're learning in your own words—this will help you test your understanding and make it part of your thought process, not someone else's.
2. Break ideas into single concepts—this is how we make sure we really understand the components.
3. Connect the ideas together—our mind builds connections for understanding and recall, doing the same in our notes helps make this process much easier.

There are established systems that define a starting point to help you. The Zettelkasten method is extremely popular. Its key concepts are:

1. Don't just copy what you read, interpret it and make it your own
2. Don't just store your notes, connect them together and discover insights
3. Don't just collect notes for the sake of it, use them to develop your own thinking to become an expert thinker

Your notes should be a living and breathing system. It's not a point in time snapshot of what you read, but an evolution of how you think, and how to allow your thinking to change as time goes by.

So in conclusion, if you feel that you're not really getting smarter but you're putting in the reps of making notes, it's not because you can't learn, it's because you're using a system built for storage, and not thinking.

You may think of note-taking as something you're passionate about. But I would urge you to reframe this. You're not just a note-taker, you're a deep thinker.

If you want to try this out today, instead of looking for more information to capture, take notes you already have, and process them into your own thoughts. Rewrite it to show you understand it, and ask deep questions to find the gaps in your knowledge.

And remember, the goal isn't to have thousands of notes. The goal is to have better thoughts.

If this is something you're keen to explore deeply, then consider checking out my book Atomic Note-Taking. It uses the Zettelkasten method to build a system and a workflow thats aimed to help you become an expert thinker, not a note collector.