15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

–Natalie MacNeil is an Emmy Award-winning media entrepreneur, creator of
SheTakesOnTheWorld.com, and author of The Conquer Kit (Perigee 2015).
Take Notes by Hand, Not on a Laptop
Using paper-based bound notebooks for notes is better than taking notes on a
laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
Let the hate mail begin!
First, let me say that if you have dyslexia or another learning disability and
can really only record notes by typing them into a digital device, go for it. It’s
not a sin, and I’m not trying to bias the world against you.
But if you are using a digital device as a general preference and just think I’m
being an old fashioned Luddite, I encourage you to consider an interesting
article, “The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard,” published in the journal
Psychological Science in 2014.
Pam Mueller and Daniel Oppenheimer, psychologists at Princeton University
and the University of California, Los Angeles, did three different experiments
with 327 undergraduates. In one study, students watched a TED talk, took notes,
and then took a test on it 30 minutes later. While the laptop users and hand-
writers scored the same on factual questions, the laptop users did worse on the
conceptual questions.
Noticing that laptop users were transcribing the TED talk instead of noting

---

key concepts, Drs. Mueller and Oppenheimer did a second study and specifically
told the laptop users to just take notes in their own words. The results were the
same; hand-writers had better recall of the material.
One defense of laptop note-taking is that it enables you to take a more
complete set of notes, which is helpful when you need to review the material at a
later date. In other words, you’ll have more of the raw content to study. So the
researchers did a third study in which students took the test a week later, and
were given time to study before the test. Once again, hand-writers scored higher.
This latest research from Princeton and UCLA just con-firms what others
have discovered in the past. The act of taking notes by hand involves active
listening, cognitive processing, and finally recalling it to record it. People who
take notes with a laptop tend to just robotically record spoken words, without
doing the mental work to process it.
And don’t forget, if you want to keep a digital, searchable archive of all your
notes, you can always scan them into Evernote, use the Jot Script 2 Evernote
stylus, or use the Livescribe notebook by Moleskine.
My Personal Notebook System
There are many different fancy Moleskine systems available—including people
who cut out tabs or use fancy labeling systems. But you might find inspiration in
my Kevin Kruse Moleskine Genius System (OK, I just made that up, I don’t
have a fancy name for my system). To me, the more complicated I make a paper
notebook, the less likely I’ll use it. So I just keep it simple.
1. Get yourself a brand new notebook. (I’m back to using
Moleskine.) Doesn’t it feel great in your hands?
2. Get yourself some Pilot G2 gel pens. They’re cheap and a joy to
write with. I also like the Sharpie Extra Fine Point pens.
3. Tape your business card to the inside front cover so if you ever
leave it behind in a conference room or airplane, a good Samaritan
will get it back to you. Some people write, “If found, please call or
email me. I will pay a reward to get this back!”
4. Write the current date on the inside cover so you can quickly
locate the notebook in the future if you are trying to find notes
from a specific meeting or event. Some people like to use a
Sharpie to write the start date on the edge of the pages, so it can be
seen without even opening the notebook.
5. Jot down everything and anything you don’t want to forget.
Record random creative ideas you have: new ideas for books you

---

want to write, companies you want to start, products to invent, new
marketing tactics, gift ideas for your family, future vacation
destinations, restaurant recommendations, a great bottle of wine,
names for your baby, whatever! Write everything down, and you’ll
never worry or stress out about forgetting something again.
6. Whenever you encounter great advice or an inspirational quote—
whether someone says it or you read it—write it down in the back
of the book. Reserve pages in the back for these nuggets of
wisdom so they can all stay together and be easily reviewed in the
future.
7. At the beginning of each phone call or meeting, write the date,
time, and names of the people you are speaking with. Jot down any
notes from the call, especially any follow-up items or
commitments people are making.
8. If you are meeting people for the first time, draw a little diagram
of the conference table and write their names in the location where
they are sitting to help you remember them. Jot down notes from
the meeting but do not try to record everything that is said. You
aren’t a court reporter! Just try to record key goals, actions, next
steps. Summarize.
9. When you have filled your notebook, write the end date on the
inside front cover, again to help you locate the right book in the
future when you have a whole row of them on your bookshelf.
10. Put the book up on the shelf next to the previous journals. Here
will be a detailed record of your entire life!
11. Every New Year’s Day, make it a new tradition to thumb through
your old journals from the previous year. You’ll be amazed at
how much you’ll re-learn from your notes, and it will remind you
of all your progress. For any thoughts or ideas that you’ll want to
revisit in the current year, just rewrite them in your new or current
notebook.
I also use shorthand that adds clarity to my free-form notes.
•
I put an open square ( ) next to any item that is a “to do,” which
I’ll put onto my calendar as soon as possible.
•
I put an open circle ( ) next to any item that is an event to
calendar later.
•
I put an exclamation mark (!) next to items that require a follow-
up action from me.

---

•
I put a question mark (?) next to items that I want to ask about at
the end of the meeting.
•
I put an asterisk (*) next to items that are important or key
themes from an event.
How Does This Apply If You’re A(n)...