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 reorganized during later classes.

I think it is difficult to have an effective overview when first encountering a broad topic, and trying to impose one would be counterproductive. Over time, patterns and categories develop organically, shaping an intuitive structure. Rewriting raw notes into ordered ones is also an excellent way of consolidating knowledge.

An Excursus on 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) in how we organize and explore written content. Unlike traditional linear structures, it allows seamless referencing and navigation between texts. This is a fundamental shift from physical texts because it enables a more organic way of exploring knowledge — you 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 understanding in a way that reflects 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 other maps of concepts. This 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 sub-topics as maps of concepts.

Breaking complex ideas into small, self-contained pieces makes them easier to reference and integrate with other notes. Organizing concepts as an outline builds the structured understanding needed 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 the power of hypertext, I simply link back to the existing note.

When gaining new insights on a concept, I update the original note directly rather than scattering related thoughts across multiple ones. This creates a central, evolving hub of knowledge that grows across projects and subjects. It mirrors the way we actually understand things — refining, expanding, and deepening concepts as we encounter them in different contexts.

Conclusion

To do this, I’ve been using Obsidian for the last three years because it aligns well with these principles. But the truth is, you don’t need any fancy software. 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.