Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

Friday's Digest #112

How I Take Notes Productively

(or: What I Learned After Doing It Wrong)

Knowing how to take notes can boost your productivity as a doctor and scientist.

But most of us are doing it wrong. Let’s fix it!

October 18th, 2024

Friday's Digest - The Newsletter for Doctors & Scientists

For two decades, I've been developing tools that have improved my practice in medicine, dentistry, and scientific research.

Join me every Friday to discover a new tool you can integrate into your workflow as a doctor, a scientist, or both.

I believe in sharing knowledge, embracing automation, boosting productivity, and finding joy in the process.

Life Update
Tools and Tips
Readers’ Favorite
Stuff

Life Update

We’re moving.

No need to worry. We’re not relocating again 😃.

We simply need more space, so we’re moving to a bigger apartment nearby.

We’ve been in our apartment since 2008, and we absolutely love it. But having three boys in a 3 bedroom apartment (2 bedrooms under American definition) is getting VERY difficult.

So, after returning from the US, we only unpacked what was necessary to get by. And the rest is still stored in bags and boxes.

Because we haven’t really unpacked, our apartment feels very temporary. And we no longer have a home office.

In the past, I wrote about my mobile office — the things I carry in my bag to set up an office anywhere.

It’s a nice concept, but not having an area that is just yours affects your ability to focus. Since the summer of 2022, my dear wife and I haven’t had any place to sit down to work. And I must say, it will be nice to have a home office again.

On the other hand, I enjoyed the little things since returning home. I had the opportunity to eat real hummus, drink great coffee, and enjoy high-quality and LOW FAT cheese.

And above all, I finally met my family and friends face-to-face. I haven’t done it for more than two years. Having the ability to do this at any given moment is irreplaceable.

Speaking of the little things, I think I’ll have a coffee now and eat some (low-fat) cottage cheese.

See you in a bit! ☕🍚

Number 112!

Tools and Tips

Ah, that was delicious.

Today, we'll discuss productive note-taking techniques.

There are many tutorials out there, but most come from university students focusing on exam preparation. I want to cover a broader range of note-taking systems, focusing on doctors and scientists.

We'll begin by defining the PURPOSE of your notes and then dive into HOW to take notes.

Let's get started.

First, WHY you're taking notes?

Generally, notes fall into two categories: short-term and long-term.

Short-term notes are ideal for tests or quick projects you won't need to revisit later.

For instance, as a student studying for a biochemistry exam, you likely won't review these notes afterward. And after writing a literature review, you'll probably throw the notes away and simply re-read the review.

On the other hand, long-term notes are meant for future reference. These include notes from lab meetings, things you learned on the job, or meaningful quotes from books.

Now that we’ve established your note-taking purpose, let's explore HOW to take notes productively.

🔵 Short-Term Notes

👉 Go Digital

For short-term notes, digital formats will give you flexibility. Digital will allow easy editing, sharing, and reorganizing.

Sure, handwritten notes have their merits, but digital will save you time.

I use Notion for short-term notes.

You can watch this video to see how I use Notion when reading and writing manuscripts.

If you want to keep it simple, Google Keep and Apple Notes are already available on your phone and accessible from any computer.

👉 Make It Visual

I learned this the hard way after being an inefficient student. I wasted countless hours on text-heavy notes. I summarized lectures, highlighted books, and studied from dense paragraphs.

What a waste of time.

The game-changer was when I started summarizing lectures using PowerPoint slides.

I simply opened the ppt file on my laptop, and added notes in the "notes" section under each slide.

My grades skyrocketed because of that.

I’m not saying that grades are the most important thing in university. But making my studies visual really made everything easier (and productive) for me. The grades were the cherry on top 🍰.

If you don’t have the actual presentation, you can import slides into your notes using your phone's camera.

👉 Make It Accessible

For short-term projects, make sure your notes are always accessible so you can work on them from anywhere.

If you prefer pen and paper, use a portable notebook (see the next section). If using an app, choose one that syncs IMMEDIATELY across all your devices (Notion is great for that).

🔵 Long-Term Notes

👉 Go Analog

For notes you want to keep, I highly recommend using physical paper.

If you've used software for your notes, print them and put them in a binder. For lectures, write down your notes in a dedicated notebook.

If you prefer to stay digital, invest in a proper backup system. Remember, digital notes are never secure. Which is why I recommend printing them.

👉 Make It Attractive

I admire Steve Jobs's mission to make every Apple product beautiful and enjoyable.

And I recommend that you apply this principle to your long-term notes.

Make it attractive!

I use a Leuchtturm 1917 notebook that I carry in my bag. It has high-quality paper and a nice hardcover. It’s a notebook I’ll never throw away.

👉 Make It Routine

What's the point of taking notes if you never revisit them? I've made this mistake countless times, and it's such a waste.

That's why I use two apps that automatically resurface my notes on my phone. Think of it as the "memories" feature in your photos app or social media that brings back old pictures.

For studying, I use Anki. If you want to learn more, I wrote all about it here.

For revisiting my notes, I use Readwise. See the "Stuff" section for more details.

Readers’ Favorite

One of the top questions I get is, "How do you manage to find time for everything you do?"

Curious? Here's where I shared my time management system.

Stuff

📱Application I use - Readwise

Imagine you're sitting down, drinking your coffee, and reading a book or a manuscript. Suddenly, you come across something important or a quote you love.

What do you do?

Here's what I do: I highlight it and export it to Readwise.

Readwise saves it, and it will make sure I won’t forget it. How?

Every morning, Readwise shows me five quotes I highlighted in the past.

It takes me 30 seconds and keeps everything fresh in my mind.

If I want, I can browse my entire quote library and find any highlight I've ever made (including Kindle).

Personally, I've stopped using Kindle. Now, I read everything using Readwise Reader. It’s a reading app designed by the Readwise team to make reading enjoyable. And it automatically syncs with the highlight system.

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

If you received this newsletter from a friend and would like to join Friday's Digest, visit https://newsletter.shaysharon.com

See you next week!

Shay

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