6 Habits to Take Notes Like an Expert
From Information to Transformative Wisdom
🏷️ Categories: Learning, Memory, Habits.
There’s something deeply frustrating about spending hours reading a book, watching a course, highlighting entire pages... only to realize, weeks later, that you remember almost nothing. Or worse: you don't even know where you saved those notes.
Sound familiar?
I've been there too. Until I discovered that note-taking isn't about storing information. It's about thinking better. And to think better, we need to change the way we view the act of taking notes.
Here are 6 habits that transformed how I write, organize, and apply what I learn.
These are simple practices that only require a bit of intention and repetition—but believe me: they make the difference between forgetting everything in a few days and turning knowledge into a part of you.
1. Make Your Notes More Visual
Think about this: how long does it take to read and understand a 200-word paragraph? 30 seconds? A minute? And how long does it take to understand a diagram with the same idea?
3 seconds. Or less.
The brain processes images infinitely faster than text.
When taking notes, avoid writing walls of words. Start translating ideas into visual forms. Here are 4 ways to do it:
Mind maps: Organize hierarchies between concepts.
Flowcharts: Structure step-by-step processes.
Comparison tables: Spot differences at a glance.
Quick sketches: Activate visual memory and speed up review.
Practical example: You’re reading about “how to improve habits.” Instead of copying the whole definition, draw a cycle: Trigger → Action → Reward. Just by looking at that drawing, you'll recall the theory.
Visual note-taking it’s brain efficiency.
2. Capture Only the Essentials
Highlighting an entire chapter isn’t note-taking.
Don’t fall into the collector’s fallacy: we feel like we’re making progress by gathering information, but in reality, we’re not moving forward at all (Christian, 2014). It’s the effort of summarizing and relating that makes the difference between knowing and understanding.
Real note-taking requires effort—it’s not just highlighting and flipping the page.
How to do it? With the Root Method.
The Root Method in 4 Steps:
Gradually highlight the information into smaller, more digestible chunks.
Before starting, take a blank sheet and write everything you already know about the topic you’re going to read—even if it’s very little.
During your reading session, add new information in another color.
Before the next session, review your sheet. During the session, return to step 2.
Store these sheets in a binder and review them periodically.
This is how a huge amount of information becomes manageable. As I used to tell my university friends: “A good summary fits on a napkin.” The more you reduce, the more essence you retain—and a few keywords will be enough to recall the entire concept.
From simple to complex: for a good mind, few words are enough.
Want to go deeper? You can find the full explanation of this method [here].
3. Organize Your Notes Intuitively
Do you have hundreds of folders, tags, colors, and hierarchies? Never find what you need or waste a lot of time in the process?
I get it.
I used to think that complex systems helped until I learned a much more practical way to organize: organize by usefulness, not by topic.
How?
Write first, then organize: The moment you capture an idea is not the moment to judge or file it (Forte, 2023).
Organize by utility: Instead of classifying a note under “Productivity,” use labels like “Podcast Project” or “Improve Habits.” The information you collect is for something—make that purpose clear.
This simple shift saves you seconds when searching, minutes a day, and hours a week. Imagine having every note you need at your fingertips: it gives you the power to create at the speed of thought.
4. Write Down Ideas When They Occur, Not Later
The best ideas don’t come when you open your notes app.
They come while you're showering, walking, watching a movie, or half-asleep.
Don’t delay writing down your idea—the longer you wait, the less you’ll remember. Ideas only become real when you write them down, no matter how crazy they seem. Just capture them so they don’t vanish.
Later, you can reflect on the idea and file it based on its usefulness.
5. Review and Update Your Notes
Taking good notes is only half the game. The other half is reviewing them.
The brain tends to forget, and your understanding of a topic evolves over time. With each review, you can refresh your memory, expand your perspective, and correct outdated notes.
How to do it right?
Spaced Repetition:
Review your notes at increasing intervals. This optimizes studying, taking advantage of the psychological “forgetting curve.”
Each review improves your brain’s information retention.
At first, we forget quickly. But with repetition, long-term memory kicks in. Ever crammed for a test the night before and forgot everything afterward?
This is why.
Use your calendar to schedule regular reviews of key information for your current projects. That way, it’ll always be at your mental fingertips. As you review, think about how to condense further, add detail where you’ve learned more, and correct what’s necessary.
Don’t aim for perfect notes on the first try. Perfection comes through revision.
6. Apply What You Learn
Real change doesn’t happen when you learn new things.
It happens when you apply them.
Knowing daily exercise improves health is useless if you never get up to work out. Knowledge without action is just useless storage.
So how do you integrate what you learn?
Change One Habit at a Time
To make big changes without failing, take small, gradual steps.
Use the Seinfeld Method: pick one habit to change and do it daily for at least a month. Only once it’s 100% part of your life should you choose the next habit to work on.
To make new habits easier, follow these 3 keys:
You’ll find everything explained step-by-step in the corresponding links.
Discard What Doesn’t Work
You don’t need to apply everything you learn.
Test what you know and keep the 1% that truly makes a difference for you. If after 1 or 2 months a habit hasn’t benefited you, maybe it’s not right for you. Everyone has a unique context—what’s essential for one person may be unnecessary for another.
For example, I’ve read and tested countless productivity techniques over the years.
Do I use them all now? No. I stuck with the 1% that worked best for me. Do the same when learning something new: apply it, and evaluate if it helped.
The best notes aren’t the prettiest.
They’re the ones that change you.
✍️ Your turn: What other keys do you consider when taking notes?
💭 Quote of the day: “There is only one way to learn. It's through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.” — Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
See you next time! 👋
References 📚
Christian. (2014). The Collector’s Fallacy • Zettelkasten Method. CC:BY-NC-SA Christian Tietze, Sascha Fast.
Forte, T. (2023, May 16). Progressive Summarization: A Practical Technique for Designing Discoverable Notes. Forte Labs.