Taking notes a favor to your future self

[Music]

note-taking

is an old practice not much has changed

besides the new apps

emerging to optimize a note-taking

process in time and space

across my notes i found the following

line

when you buy a book it’s not the paper

you pay for

but it’s the right to read my name is

serena

and today i’ll try to make you rethink

the value of writing notes

a notebook can be seen as a personal

assistant at work or studies

as a diary for self-connection a recipe

book for creating a home with traditions

a travel companion of memories and much

first i would like to make a little

request please turn your notebook

into a blank page of course that’s

assuming you’re going to take notes at

all today

i guess you’re now more conscious about

your writing and that’s a great sign

here is an old story in my first grade

only five years old i learned the hard

way

how to be correct with my handwriting

and how to avoid grammatical mistakes

otherwise my homework notebook would be

torn into pieces

to be written again from scratch within

that evening

you can call it good or pet parenting

however you feel like it

but today i thank my mother for that

exercise

that is how i build up my discipline and

will to be engaged with my writing

more years into the studies and

note-taking became a habit

i’m not the first to claim that the

routine of writing ideas and thoughts

is the reason behind accomplishments

bill gates for example made his notes

open in thegatesnotes.com or many

college students are making their notes

available

through their blogs and websites yet i’m

sure many of us have a love-hate

relationship with note-taking

due to the dilemma of where to write is

it worth it

and will i ever go through it again as a

person of many ideas

and i’m sure you’re one as well since

the early career

i was recommended to keep track of what

i thought were cool ideas

i would put them in the idea junk

notebook with a bad excuse that i have

no time to pursue them now

however ideas are worth nothing unless

you chase them

so clearly writing them down made it

feel a step

closer to realization

imagine for a moment if ideas are about

everything in life how you plan a

weekend

how you organize your socks and

underwear how you prepare yourself when

you’re in laws are paying a visit

with all of these ideas floating around

may they be

in the professional career or personal

life one can be perceived as a

workaholic

with no free time and one that is afraid

of missing out

i might have been one of those either as

a professional or just as a sister or

partner

maybe even worse nevertheless in my own

way

i combined multiple practices of

self-awareness and growth

trying to escape the void this is where

note-taking came to the rescue

helping reach the individual version of

work-life balance

in the following photos i would like to

show a few pages of my notebooks in

years

and reflect how note-taking is unique

for all of us

constructing a particular individual

journey

for example the first one here is about

loving to cook and even more loving to

eat

but just recently i decided to start a

notebook to track my recipes

food habits or other necessary

information

which could be influenced by social

media friends or my imagination

always content that is fitting for my

preferences

and health ambitions definitely here is

the opening page of the book

there is nothing special about this

unless i

add these following pages

my first trip to south korea in 2016 was

life-changing

and these pages capture the facts and

excitement after dining with the monk

in one of the buddhist temples in busan

we used four different bowls

for different types of food eating in a

very particular order

and with clear guidelines how to clean

afterwards

amazing experience it was necessary for

to get to my notebook afterwards burst

into the pages

and try to capture every single moment

so that i can relive that

as vividly as possible every time i open

the notebook

by the way i bought this notebook in a

secondhand shop for just two euros

now let me jump into some rather older

notes one in 2009

in high school i used to consider

biology more of a hobby

than a school subject in these notes i’m

learning about the central nervous

system

and more specifically the brain nowadays

it’s embedded knowledge for me being

drawn into my teaching

in the engineering masterclass about

applied innovation

we go through explanations on how the

brain work

nowadays such embedded knowledge is

being drawn to my teaching

in the engineering master class about

applied innovation

we go through explanations of how the

brain works

and how the brain as a pattern building

system

strongly influences our ability to be

creative

and develop new inventions due to our

experiences and thought process

we construct ideas in a certain way and

in case you aim

for something disruptive or

transformative you have to acknowledge

your patterns and try to break them

challenge them note-taking will help you

find these patterns

and service you into constructing new

ones

my intentions for being an entrepreneur

or educator of entrepreneurship

grow stronger when helping my family in

managing the seasonal seafood restaurant

back home in albania so constantly in my

notes you can find

dilemmas such as this one in 2013.

how to make the right decision between

master studies

and starting a company this is what the

notes below mirror

an attempt to capture pros and cons of

each

option what to do next as well

if you look closer there is a little

warm in the binding of the book

it shows that the book has been

traveling a lot through many shows

and boxes clearly as a highlight

these notes are telling me to go for

more mentorship and networking

hoping that it will give me a clearer

path in 2012 i wrote the first business

plan

and fast forward to 2020 i’m reaching

out to my network

for a mentor again i approach him with

the same question

startup life or phd life

i had been rejected twice before

applying again

and somehow i gave up but after surfing

through my notes and writing a lot more

new notes i decided that i could do both

i just had to think again trust me

seeing a pile of notebook in your

library reassures you

that there is a lot of hard work done

before where projects conducted

simultaneously didn’t need

tough compromises both initiatives

a phd in ai innovation and a partnership

position

in a startup like salvagey ask for a

learning journey

and whether i choose one or the other i

have to be a student

with much to learn much to absorb and

much to translate

into action and impact sology

for example has a fierce vision a

company creating sustainable materials

to replace plastic

through biofabrication it’s a startup

with many messages women led company

with representation of many countries in

the team

breaking new ground into the advanced

materials industry

healing the earth from plastic waste

it’s a company that has won many prices

recently

worldwide and wouldn’t have been

possible

if note-taking didn’t happen actively

and daily by each team member

in pitch training in my last five years

i also recommend fake note taking

as a company when you get a lot of

impressions from the audience

you need to give signs of attention

caring of the feedback

and good intention for further

development

in today’s world we are exposed to six

times more information compared to 30

years ago

and our brain is struggling to divide

what is the trivial or important

trustworthy information add here the

authenticity of thought

and authenticity of the idea how many

times you have been discouraged by

asking the question

how didn’t anyone come up with this

before

let me summarize what note-taking does

for me

they support learning and knowledge

intake

they store and visualize the instant

thought process

and they help retrieve information in

the future you can’t distinguish here

what’s more relevant at this point

you still use note-taking to have this

complex view

of past present and future in a piece of

writing

during the 15th century note-taking was

all about efficient reading

but today i believe it’s about efficient

listening too

to become a better listener and learn

how to listen to yourself

your inner desires inner boundaries

powers and weaknesses and more in the

covit 19 lockdowns the sales of the

notebooks have gone through the roof

highest compared to the last 15 years

that’s what statistics show

you don’t need a fancy notebook some a4s

glued together would do just fine

buy one build one and engage with it

more than just

an office or a work practice

there are no ultimate ways on how to

become a good note taker

just do them play with the notes as a

development tool

to get more done to check your progress

and advance in a high self-awareness

adventure be the coach of yourself

it’s okay if we don’t have similar

journeys as long as our common passion

for a positive change in the world

starts with a written note

and that is an idea what’s ready thank

you