How I Take My Notes
As an engineering student, I’ve spent the last six years refining how I take notes. I’ve tested countless systems, fallen into productivity rabbit holes, and ultimately landed on a simple, effective philosophy.
In this post, I' ll go through the principles I apply when taking notes.
Writing for Understanding
Writing is one of the best ways to solidify understanding. As Prof. Feynman teaches, explaining something in your own words forces you to think more deeply and identify gaps in your knowledge. In my notes, I try to do this as if I were talking to my future self.
Content Before Structure
Rather than over-planning, I let the structure emerge naturally as I accumulate notes. My focus is on capturing the anarchy of ideas first and then refining the structure as it emerges from the flow. Messy but content-rich notes are far more valuable than neatly-structured but empty ones.
For example, when taking notes at the beginning of a university course, I rarely build an outline that follows the syllabus, I take notes in only one file, to be re-organized during later classes.
I think is difficult to have an effective overview when first encountering a broad topic, and trying to impose it would be counterproductive. I noticed that, over time, patterns and categories develop organically, shaping an intuitive structure. Additionally, rewriting the raw notes into ordered ones is an excellent way of consolidating knowledge.
An excursus about hypertext
Wikipedia: " Hypertext is text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access."
I argue that hypertext was the last real revolution (before GPTs) regarding how we are able to organize and explore written content. Unlike traditional linear structures, it allows seamless referencing and navigation between texts. The reason I think this is a fundamental shift from physical texts is because it enables a more organic way of exploring knowledge. It allows you to follow connections between concepts rather than being confined to a rigid, pre-imposed structure. This is especially useful when learning something new, as it lets you build your understanding in a way that reflects better how ideas naturally connect in your mind.
Atomic Ideas & Map of Concepts
As a reflection of the hypertext paradigm, once the flow of ideas has been captured, I try to organize the content following two basic categories: Atomic Ideas and Map Of Concepts.
Atomic ideas are self-contained ideas, while maps of concepts are structured lists of atomic notes or maps of concepts. This simply means trying to organize your notes as if you were building your own Wikipedia.
<MAP-OF-CONCEPTS> -> (<ATOMIC-IDEA> | <MAP-OF-CONCEPTS>)+
For example, the starting note of a university course is usually a map of concepts, containing the individual concepts seen during classes, and the sub-topics as a map of concepts.
Trying to break down complex ideas into small, self-contained pieces, makes it easier to reference and integrate with other notes. While organizing the concepts as an outline it is perfect to build the structured understanding you need for classes.
Evergreen Notes
From this way of taking notes emerges the concept of Evergreen Notes1. Once ideas have been captured and organized in a way that makes them easy to reference, there’s no need to create a new note every time a familiar concept appears in a new context. Instead, summoning once again the power of hypertext, I simply link back to the existing note.
When gaining new insights or a different perspective on a concept, I update the original note directly rather than scattering related thoughts across multiple ones. This approach creates a central, evolving hub of knowledge that grows across projects and subjects. It mirrors the way we actually understand concepts, refining, expanding, and deepening them as we encounter them in different contexts.
Conclusion
To do this, I have been using Obsidian for the last 3 years because it aligns well with these principles. But the truth is, you don’t need any fancy software to implement this approach. Even plain text files can be enough to build a system that works for you. What matters most is not the tool but the mindset: focusing on understanding, letting structure emerge naturally, and making knowledge truly your own.