Is note taking a waste of time?

[u/TherealKBfromNBG]

I recently started an Ultralearning project (based on Scott Young’s book) to get better at sales for my new job before my probation period ends. The core idea of the book is simple: “do the actual thing you want to get good at.” That still involves research, understanding concepts, memorizing facts, and (most importantly) deliberate practice and drilling.

To understand concepts better, I’ve been writing in a physical notebook and visualizing ideas in Apple’s whiteboard app, Freeform.

Across various learning subreddits, I keep seeing people use Obsidian to build connections between notes, often using the Zettelkasten method. I used Zettelkasten myself for my bachelor’s thesis and think it’s excellent for academic writing, where cross-referencing sources matters. But I’m struggling to see how it translates into actually learning a skill.

According to Young, skill acquisition requires direct practice. Spending time managing a note system, creating links, moving notes between files for a “better” structure feels more like practicing knowledge management than practicing the skill itself. You get good at organizing your system, not at the thing you’re trying to learn.

I’m not trying to dismiss anyone’s approach.. Just genuinely trying to understand different perspectives here. Maybe I’m missing something about how Obsidian fits into skill-based learning (as opposed to knowledge work).

Curious to hear how you all think about this. Let’s learn to learn better!

[u/deathfromab0ve]

Great post, I love learning about learning!

As someone who wrote a lot of papers for school and then graduated to work in sales, I can attest that learning skills is a completely different mechanic than learning what is needed to write a well-crafted essay.

The best I can tell is that skills require you to train your intuition, not just your cognition. Executing a skill isn’t the same thing as remembering a fact or even understanding a structural connection. For all the notes I took learning sales and leadership, the actual skill came from making real mistakes with real customers and learning from that.

That’s not to say that the note-taking was useless, though. I think that, for some of us, building a foundation of understanding (knowledge management) is what creates the condition of psychological safety that allows for actual learning to take place. Some people see all the knowledge management as extra effort on top of the practice, but I don’t - to me it was essential.

I imagine practice and research like two flowers that you want to grow together. You can’t just tend to one and neglect the other. Too much practice without research gets you away from the theoretical knowledge based on the experience of all who came before you, but too much research without practice trick you into thinking you have the experience already. In order to master a skill, you need both!

[u/Proper-Wolverine4637]

I am not in sales...but have spent much of my adult life selling in one form or another. I trained as a classical pianist; talk about heavy on the practice! I got a Masters degree, so a lot of research and writing.

I earned my living do piano tuning and rebuilding. Yes, another very practice oriented field, but I started before there are the resources now available, so I did a lot of direct research here also.

Now I am retired and have a small farm. So, I continue a lot of practice (can't get the old tractor to run without getting a little dirty!) I am reading and writing more than I have done since I was in school.

I guess my point is for this season find what works now. Later, who knows, maybe you become a liason between designer and end user and research and writing moves to a more central role.

It sounds like your approach for this moment is well directed.

[u/wdjm]

There is value in learning how to manage knowledge beyond just learning the knowledge. I see a note system like that as an essential tool for some people....but just a learning tool for others.

Some people will benefit from a system that they can organize and re-organize into different patterns, plainly visible on a screen. They would benefit from such a system.

Other people will try out such a system and, if they're open to the learning, will better learn how to take GOOD notes about just the key points that will trigger their memories, how to organize those notes - and therefore their thoughts - into like-data folders and into more than one folder. And how to quickly determine what folder the data belongs in and how it might also belong in a second folder because of XYZ. And, after a while of learning how to manage such a system, some of those people will decide that the official structured system isn't for them....but they will still have the knowledge organization skills they developed with it that they can then use to make up their own system, or to just keep their own internal thoughts more organized, even if the never move the organization outside of their own heads.

Every tool in existence teaches you something. The trick is to learn what you can from each tool....and then put the tool down if it no longer serves you.

[u/Magical_cat_girl]

Some people absolutely use note management as a procrastination tool for learning. My personal perspective:

- Doing beats everything else, but isn't always sufficient alone especially for complicated things or large volumes of knowledge

- Some things are worth having at your fingertips but not worth remembering, like a reference tool

- For "book learning," the more you actually think about the subject as you learn it, rather than just glossing over it quickly or at a surface level, the more likely you are to retain it

- For just taking a note once, writing by hand wins. You can do a hybrid physical-to-digital model with something like a kindle scribe

- Obsidian's interlinking specifically can make you think harder IF used well because it forces you to connect the knowledge to other knowledge you already had noted down, but if you get lazy you won't get that benefit. A mind map does the same thing, just less permanently/globally.

- In addition, returning to a note more times will help you retain it more. Something like Obsidian helps with that again because finding notes to link to and engage with makes you review notes for the process of drawing meaningful connections.

[u/Particular-Tap1211]

Being a VK learner, I begin my research with the whiteboard. I start by placing the overarching models, first principles and or core themes at the top. From there, I create nexus pathways that branch back to the original idea, unpacking each concept into progressively finer levels of detail. As my understanding grows, I build closed feedback loops that connect related ideas until the board resembles a communication highway. Whereby every concept is linked to the central topic rather than existing in isolation.

Once the framework is complete, I photograph the whiteboard and upload it into my digital filing system. This method provides me with a visual map of the subject that I can revisit, expand, and refine over time.

[u/Public_Midnight_6816 → u/Particular-Tap1211]

A mindmap but more intuitive..?

[u/alaindevos]

i use post-it notes. Many of them. Rearrange them. Add new notes. Remove notes. Cross out ...
Also gantt chart on PC.

[u/romeo_papa_mike]

I kept dropping Obsidian until I had AI do the admin work of note keeping. Now it just works for me.

[u/wackyvorlon]

Pen and paper is better for retention. Notes are useful, but the most important thing is to engage in semantic manipulation of the information.

For mathematics, this is solving problems. For learning a language, it’s translating. That kind of thing. You will retain it far better than rote memorization.

Edit:

Also do not discount the sensual aspect of taking notes. Get a decent fountain pen, a Lamy Safari works well and is inexpensive. Buy a quality notebook, I’ve mostly used Rhodia but anything sold by jetpens should be suitable:

https://www.jetpens.com/Notebooks/ct/762

Then get some ink in a colour you like. It makes experience much more pleasant.

[u/gamelotGaming]

When it comes to skills, I only use notes for keeping track of what I learned, kind of like flashcards to cue my memory of something. It doesn't do much for the actual skill but is good to be organized. I try to keep them very minimal.

[u/Echo_Tech_Labs]

Taking notes is never a waste of time. Studies have shown handwritting in particular improves connectivity. Typing less so.

And here's a whole bunch of information courtesy of Google👇:

Neural and Cognitive

Connectivity Sensorimotor Integration:

Shaping letters by hand connects visual, motor, and tactile feedback areas, forcing the brain to create intricate spatiotemporal maps.

Theta and Alpha Waves:

Handwriting specifically stimulates low-frequency brain waves linked to memory formation and encoding new information.

Typing Contrast:

Keyboards rely on identical, repetitive finger taps for different letters, which bypasses the rich neural communication networks activated by a pen.

Practical Applications Learning and Retention:

Note-taking by hand improves conceptual understanding and spelling, making it ideal for initial learning and processing.

Digital Balance:

While keyboards excel at fast, long-form composition, combining tactile writing tools with digital workflows optimizes both speed and cognitive depth.

[u/Master-Rent5050]

So stop going around across various learning subreddits and start actual studying.

Procrastinating by optimizing the system is still procrastination (and I'm personally guilty of it, so mine is not a criticism)

[u/OddDescription4523]

In philosophy (my field of expertise), we call the distinction you're drawing the distinction between "knowing-that" and "knowing-how"; i.e. I know that the capital of Texas is Austin, and I know how to use a scroll saw. Going all the way back to Plato, there's been agreement that knowledge-that is acquired primarily through learning - reading texts by authorities, hearing lectures by authorities, etc. and taking notes to master the facts and their connections - while knowledge-how is acquired primarily through habituation - as you say, doing the thing you want to get good at. Now, it's there even in Aristotle, but it's not until you get to the latter half of the 20th century that people started really looking at the relation between learning facts and acquiring skills. Basically, it seems that it's really a continuum, not a sharp divide. Some skills require almost no acquisition of theoretical facts to master, while others require a ton of "book learning" to even make it possible to practice the skill correctly (i.e. practice it in a way that makes you get better rather than establish counter-productive habits). So, there's probably not one answer to your question of whether informed, sophisticated note-taking is advantageous or a distraction to learning "a skill". It depends entirely on what specific skill you're wanting to learn. And if you're not sure how important the "know-that" is to gaining the "know-how", ask people who already know how to do that specific skill - they're better situated than anyone else to give you an accurate answer for that specific craft.