Do You Share The Compulsion To Take Notes?
Gretchen Rubin
6x NYT Bestselling Author | Host of the "Happier with Gretchen Rubin" Podcast | Pre-order "Secrets of Adulthood," out April 1st
Assay: One of my Secrets of Adulthood is: People are more alike than we think, and we’re less alike than we think.
For instance, for years, I thought that my habit of constant note-taking was quite peculiar. But I’ve discovered that many people share this passion.
In her essay “On Keeping a Notebook,” in Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion describes this drive:
The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself.
I use a very loose method of organization. For my major topics, such as “happiness” or “Churchill,” I keep a single, giant, dedicated document. I add all relevant notes there, along with subject tags so that I can find the note later. I also have a document called “Notes” where I keep notes that don’t belong in any particular place.
For quotes, I have one document for general quotes; the other for happiness-related quotes, which I use for the Moment of Happiness, my daily emails of happiness quotes. (If you want to get a daily happiness quote by email, sign up here.)
For notes related to books I’m writing, I’ve wondered whether I should organize my notes better, but I do find that the action or scrolling through them and seeing odd juxtapositions of ideas helps to stimulate my own ideas and creativity.
How about you? Do you share this compulsion to take notes? How do you organize them?
--Would you like to get a signed, personalized, free bookplate for a copy of Happier at Home or The Happiness Project, to make a gift more personal? (Or want one for yourself?) Email me to request them: just be sure to include your mailing address and people's names. I'll mail anywhere, and ask for as many as you like. But PLEASE request them soon, if this is for a holiday gift; fact is, I can be pretty slow. Don't know what I'm talking about? Look here.
(Photo: orangejack, Flickr)
Christian Writer, nutritional advisor
12 年It's the only way I learn. I may never look @ the notes, but writing them down affords me an extra way of retaining the info. Though I follow my compulsion on this, I then stuff them in a folder marked "writing notes", or "diet/fitness", whatever.
Retired at Analyticus
12 年I am the recipient of a notetakers files....my mother who left tons, literally of notes taken over her lifetime along with news clippings, poems she liked, letters from friends and family. I didn't appreciate her compulsion growning up and even teased her that we couldn't read her notes....surprisingly, I can read them...not all but enough to capture her life and times. I won't ever write to the extent that she did but I am using her notes to document her life and times for her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I think she would say it was all worth while if I am able to give this gift on her behalf.
Regional Board Chairperson at Participatory Ecological Land Use Management PELUM
12 年Yes I do share the compulsion to take notes! At first it was peculiar but now i know it is an impulsive action common to many! Some times I feel too exposed taking notes especially in a conversation I have decided to own a miniature audio recorder that I listen back to and then take notes later!
Professional Life Coach at Life Coach Philippines
12 年I've found numerous ways to take notes -- pocket notebooks with random scribblings, post-its filled with keywords and ideas, my BB notepad with plenty of bullet points, bookmarked a lot of web pages and I even tried to use the application Evernote! Sometimes though, as much as I find organization in chaos, I still forget where I placed which and what. But yes, notebooks and anything that's hard copy is very useful for me.