Effective Note-Taking: Avoid Common Traps（有效记笔记:避免常见陷阱）

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原文为英文，中文翻译为老庄渣翻供参考

Not everyone needs to take notes.

Many of us got through school just fine with little or no note-taking.

It was possible to sit at a writing test and just think on the spot.

It was possible to prepare for an exam just by reading highlighted material and memorising it.

It was possible to find our sources again as the teacher had given us the reading list.

不是每个人都需要记笔记。 我们中的许多人很少或根本没有做笔记就顺利地完成了学业。

坐在写作测试现场思考是可能的。仅仅通过阅读突出显示的材料和记忆就可以为考试做准备。由于老师给了我们阅读清单，我们有可能再次找到资料来源。

I mean, why would you need to take notes if: you can remember all the information you need; you don’t deal with complex information from multiple sources; and you don’t write long reports or content? Unnecessary, right?

我的意思是，如果: 你可以记住所有你需要的信息; 你不需要处理来自多个来源的复杂信息; 你不需要写很长的报告或内容，你为什么需要记笔记呢？没必要，对吧？

But taking notes is essential for knowledge work.

但是记笔记对于知识工作是必不可少的。

Knowledge workers need to be constantly improving their knowledge through study and research, applying knowledge to solve problems, and communicating their knowledge to others.

知识型员工需要通过学习和研究、运用知识解决问题、与他人交流知识，不断提高自己的知识水平。

There is no list of assigned readings. The exam can happen at any time in any shape and form. And the amount of information is so large that we can’t expect one would remember, make sense, and generate new ideas all in one sitting only with what they have in mind.

So we take notes.

没有指定阅读书目。考试可以在任何时间以任何形式进行。而且信息量如此之大，我们不能指望一个人能够记住、理解和产生新的想法，所有这一切都只是在他们的头脑中。所以我们记笔记。

But how to take effective notes?

Ask 5 people this question and you are likely to receive five different answers.

但是如何做有效的笔记呢？

问5个人这个问题，你可能会得到5个不同的答案。

The fact is: no one knows what effective note-taking looks like. Mostly because there is not enough research on the topic (until now at least).

Instead, we share our practice (and hopefully the reasoning behind it) in the hope it can be useful to others.

In this article I will highlight common note-taking traps and how to overcome them.

事实是: 没有人知道有效的笔记是什么样子的。主要是因为没有足够的研究课题(至少到目前为止)。相反，我们分享我们的实践(并希望它背后的理由) ，希望它能对其他人有用。在本文中，我将重点介绍常见的记笔记陷阱以及如何克服它们。

Defining Effective Note-Taking

有效笔记的定义

Effective means to be successful in producing a given outcome. Thus, for something to be effective it needs a goal or intention.

Any note-taking goal, even "no goal at all" (which is also a goal), will determine how effective your note-taking techniques are.

As my professional focus is in note-taking for self-expression, research, learning, and creativity, my focus here will be on knowledge and ideas. That means it won’t include information about tasks, files (e.g. invoices, business cards), or people.

成功产生既定结果的有效手段。因此，有效的东西需要一个目标或意图。任何记笔记的目标，甚至“根本没有目标”(这也是一个目标) ，都将决定你的记笔记技巧的有效性。由于我的专业重点是自我表达、研究、学习和创造性的笔记，所以我在这里的重点将是知识和想法。这意味着它不会包含任务、文件(例如发票、名片)或人员的信息。

I want to discuss a note-taking practice that:

Supports your way of thinking (it is customised to you).

Represents your knowledge (inspired and influenced by the words of others, but not just a copy/paste of their words).

Allows for easy retrieval of your knowledge.

So let’s check what are 3 common note-taking traps when you are trying to create a system that is truly yours.

我想讨论一个笔记实践:

支持你的思维方式(它是定制给你)。

代表你的知识(受到他人话语的启发和影响，而不仅仅是他们话语的复制/粘贴)。

可以方便地检索您的知识。

因此，当你试图创建一个真正属于自己的系统，让我们检查3个常见的记笔记陷阱。

Note-Taking Traps

笔记陷阱

First, why do I call them traps rather than mistakes?

These practices can move you forward so they are not mistakes. They will support your thinking and give you a sense of accomplishment, but only up to a point. They move you forward but they are not the best you could achieve.

As you transform these practices into habits, it becomes way harder to get rid of them. Thus, a trap.

So, which traps are those? Let’s check them out.

首先，为什么我称它们为“陷阱”而不是“错误”？这些练习可以让你前进，所以它们不是错误。他们会支持你的想法，给你一种成就感，但只是在一定程度上。他们推动你前进，但他们不是你能做到的最好的。当你把这些习惯转化为习惯时，想要摆脱它们就变得更加困难了。因此，这就是一个陷阱。那些是什么陷阱，我们去看看。

Note-Taking Trap 1: The Quest for the Perfect Tool

笔记陷阱1: 寻找完美的工具

What is the best note-taking tool?

This is, by far, the main question I receive. And, honestly, I have once asked that question as well.

When we notice that note-taking can be more than just “copying what the teacher wrote on the blackboard”, we get passionate about the possibilities of our tools.

最好的记笔记工具是什么？

到目前为止，这是我收到的最主要的问题。说实话，我也问过这个问题。当我们注意到记笔记不仅仅是“复制老师在黑板上写的东西”时，我们就会对我们的工具的可能性充满热情。

Should you use Evernote, Notion, Scrintal, Obsidian, or Tana?

We get excited about their features: which tag system should I use? Should I use an outliner, a long-form note, or a visual way of representation? How many links should I have in a note?

你应该使用 Evernote，Notion，Scrintal，Obsidian 还是 Tana？

我们对他们的特性感到兴奋: 我应该使用哪个标签系统？我应该使用大纲视图、长篇笔记还是可视化的表示方式？一个便笺中应该有多少个链接？

Questions, questions, questions.

It turns out each tool is the result of a series of design decisions made by its creators, all of which may have positive or negative effects on you. So, to pick up the best tool to support your way of thinking, first you need to decide: which way of thinking should your tool support?

问题，问题，问题。事实证明，每个工具都是其创造者做出的一系列设计决策的结果，所有这些决策都可能对您产生积极或消极的影响。因此，为了选择最好的工具来支持你的思维方式，首先你需要决定: 你的工具应该支持哪种思维方式？

To make the process easier I created the PKM Pyramid.

PKM stands for Personal Knowledge Management — that is, effective note-taking as we are focusing here.

为了使这个过程更容易，我创建了 PKM 金字塔。

PKM 代表个人知识管理——也就是我们现在关注的有效笔记。

PKM Pyramid

PKM 金字塔

The PKM Pyramid is an acknowledgment that tools support certain ways of thinking, while adding friction to others. It has three levels:

Mindset is a way of thinking or a state of mind.

Method is a procedure that puts a mindset into practice. Two methods can be compared against each other regarding how efficient they are in supporting one (or more) mindset(s).

Tool is an artefact that enables the application of one or more methods.

PKM 金字塔是对工具支持某些思维方式的确认，同时也增加了其他思维方式的分歧。它有三个层次:

心态是一种思考方式或精神状态。

方法是一种将心态付诸实践的过程。两种方法可以相互比较，看它们在支持一种(或多种)心态方面的效率如何。

工具是一个人工制品，它能够应用一个或多个方法。

At the base of the pyramid we have the mindset. This is what we want your tool to support. Only by building the base we then start creating the upper levels. Without the base, everything will eventually collapse (sometimes over and over again).

But climbing this pyramid is not a trivial task. In my own practice and teaching of note-taking I have already uncovered more than 20 mindsets and I know the list is far from complete. So, how can you get started?

在金字塔的底部，我们有心态。这就是我们希望您的工具支持的内容。只有通过建立基础，我们才能开始创建上层。没有基地，一切最终都会崩溃（有时一遍又一遍）。但攀登这座金字塔并非易事。在我自己的笔记实践和教学中，我已经发现了20多种心态，我知道这个清单远未完成。那么，如何开始呢？

Here are 3 options for you to choose:

这里有3个选项供您选择：

Option 1 (not recommended). Learn all mindsets that work for you before you choose a tool. That means: self-reflection, reading, self-reflection. You think a lot before you try anything out, but it doesn’t really work, does it?

选项 1（不推荐）。在选择工具之前，了解所有适合您的思维方式。这意味着：自我反省，阅读，自我反省。在尝试任何事情之前，你会想很多，但它并没有真正起作用，是吗？

Option 2. Choose a tool you like and use it while exploring your intended mindsets. You will learn by trial-and-error and by finding points of friction where your mind doesn’t work as you want it. It won’t make the exploratory process any faster, but at least you will get started.

选项 2.选择一个你喜欢的工具，并在探索你的预期思维方式时使用它。您将通过反复试验和找到分歧点来学习，在这些分歧点中，您的思想无法按照自己的方式工作。它不会使探索过程更快，但至少你会开始。

Option 3. Work with a Personal Knowledge Management professional and a supportive community to get a quick start to your process. It is easier to start your journey from a list of mindsets and some initial methods than having to figure it all out alone.

Climbing the PKM Pyramid is a personal journey, but you don’t need to do it alone. The community is here so you just need to reach out.

选项 3.与个人知识管理专业人员和支持性社区合作，快速启动您的流程。从一系列思维方式和一些初始方法开始您的行程比独自弄清楚要容易得多。

攀登PKM金字塔是一段个人之旅，但您不需要独自完成。社区就在这里，所以你只需要伸出援手。 Solution for trap 1: Climb your PKM Pyramid.

陷阱1的解决方案：爬上你的PKM金字塔。

Note-Taking Trap 2. Writing Notes as Pieces of Truth

笔记陷阱 2.将笔记写成真理的碎片

Our second trap appears when we want to build a system that represents your knowledge.

I mean.. Look at your notes (if you have them or not).

当我们想要建立一个代表你的知识的系统时，我们的第二个陷阱出现了。

我的意思是看看你的笔记（如果你有没有的话）。

If you need to prove to someone that you have the knowledge you claim you have, could you just give them all your notes? Do these notes represent all the knowledge you have or are they just clippings of other people’s words?

When it comes to writing the content of our notes, we can use two different mindsets.

如果你需要向某人证明你拥有你声称拥有的知识，你能把你所有的笔记都给他们吗？这些笔记代表了你所有的知识，还是只是别人的文字剪报？当谈到写笔记的内容时，我们可以使用两种不同的心态。

The first mindset is what I call Notes as Pieces of Truth.

第一种心态是我所说的笔记作为真理的碎片。

It refers to the desire to have only true, complete, and high quality knowledge within our notes. In that case, false, partial, or vague information is not allowed.

The consequence is the belief that all our notes should contain pieces of truth.

But tell me..

Have you ever seen a (non-egoistic) person who ever believed their thoughts are the absolute truth?

它指的是在我们的笔记中只拥有真实、完整和高质量的知识的愿望。在这种情况下，不允许提供虚假、部分或模糊的信息。结果是相信我们所有的笔记都应该包含真相。但是告诉我.. 你有没有见过一个（非利己主义的）人曾经相信他们的想法是绝对的真理？

The consequences of having this mindset are:

拥有这种心态的后果是：

We avoid writing our own thoughts down. As every note needs to be their final version with only correct information, it instantly triggers perfectionism. When that happens, we may avoid writing notes about our thoughts altogether.

我们避免写下自己的想法。 由于每份笔记都需要是只有正确信息的最终版本，因此它会立即引发完美主义。当这种情况发生时，我们可能会完全避免写关于我们的想法的笔记。

Personal notes are seen as disposable. When we finally come to write down our thoughts, we just treat these as fleeting notes – notes that are disposable and have a deadline to go to the rubbish bin (or trash can). By treating them as disposable, we tend to not work well on our own thoughts. Why would you put effort in growing a note that will go into the bin anyway?

个人笔记被视为一次性的。当我们最终写下我们的想法时，我们只是将它们视为转瞬即逝的笔记——一次性的笔记，并且有进入垃圾桶（或垃圾桶）的最后期限。通过将它们视为一次性的，我们往往不能很好地处理自己的想法。你为什么要花力气去写一张无论如何都会进入垃圾箱的纸条？

All our long term notes are the words of other people. You want to write content with your own knowledge contributions. Yet, all your good notes are about other people's thoughts. You just try to capture the author's thoughts exactly as published. You do have quotations, facts and citations, but where is your own argument? Where is your knowledge?

我们所有的长期笔记都是别人的话。您想用自己的知识贡献来编写内容。然而，你所有的好笔记都是关于别人的想法。你只是试图完全按照发表的方式捕捉作者的想法。你确实有引文、事实和引文，但你自己的论点在哪里？你的知识在哪里？

This mindset will give you notes with a lot of information. But if our goal is to represent your knowledge then it becomes a trap.

Instead, I suggest creating Notes as Pieces of Understanding.

这种心态会给你很多信息的笔记。但是，如果我们的目标是代表你的知识，那么它就变成了一个陷阱。 相反，我建议创建笔记作为理解片段。

This mindset recognises that ideas are born vague, incomplete, and chaotic. Only by spending time with those ideas will they grow into what we could consider truth or at least good reasoning.

If you see notes as pieces of understanding it also means your notes will improve over time. As your understanding grows, your notes will grow with it.

这种心态认识到想法生来就是模糊的、不完整的和混乱的。只有花时间研究这些想法，它们才能成长为我们可以认为的真理或至少好的推理。如果您将笔记视为理解片段，这也意味着您的笔记会随着时间的推移而改进。随着您的理解力的增长，您的笔记也会随之增长。

At any point in time you can look at your notes and say: this is my current understanding, my current knowledge about these ideas. They won’t be just information you came across. Instead, they will represent your personal knowledge (even if still inspired by your sources).

Solution for trap 2: See your notes as pieces of understanding.

在任何时候，你都可以看看你的笔记并说：这是我目前的理解，我目前对这些想法的了解。它们不仅仅是你偶然发现的信息。相反，它们将代表您的个人知识（即使仍然受到来源的启发）。 陷阱 2 的解决方案： 将您的笔记视为理解的一部分。

Note-Taking Trap 3. Writing Document Notes

笔记陷阱 3.编写文档注释

Creating notes is time consuming.

So we don’t want you to write 100s of notes just to discover you can’t find them later – when you need them the most.

Then let us stop for a moment to investigate when we want to find our notes again. To:

创建笔记是很费时间的。因此，我们不希望你写了100多张纸条，却发现你以后找不到它们了——当你最需要它们的时候。那么，当我们想再次找到我们的笔记时，让我们停下来调查一下:

remember what we know about, or related to, an idea.

improve our understanding or expression of an idea.

communicate an idea (in a project, deliverable, or a conversation).

记住我们对一个想法的了解或与之相关的内容。

提高我们对想法的理解或表达。

交流想法（在项目、可交付成果或对话中）。

We are always looking for ideas in our notes.

Now let us investigate how most people take notes:

我们一直在笔记中寻找想法。

现在让我们调查一下大多数人是如何做笔记的：

A note with all knowledge you needed for a deliverable (e.g. Report May/22).

A note for a source you have read (e.g. Comments on Article X’s highlights).

A note with all thoughts and ideas you had on a given day (e.g. Daily note 05/07/2023).

A note with everything you know about a topic (e.g. Oceanography).

包含可交付成果所需的所有知识的说明（例如 5 月 22 日报告）。

您阅读过的来源的注释（例如，对第 X 条亮点的评论）。

包含您在某一天的所有想法和想法的便笺（例如，每日便笺 05/07/2023）。

包含您所知道的有关某个主题的所有内容的注释（例如海洋学）。

Most people take what I call document notes.

大多数人都拿我所谓的文档笔记。

And this is our 3rd trap.

Document notes contain either multiple snippets of ideas or a full argument chain within a single note. Also, to make things worse they have cryptic titles that say nothing about which ideas are inside that note.

It is inefficient to use document notes when it is time to find your ideas again, for three reasons:

这是我们的第三个陷阱。文档注释包含多个思想片段或单个注释中的完整参数链。而且，更糟糕的是，他们的标题含糊不清，没有说明笔记里包含了什么想法。在重新找到自己想法的时候使用文档说明效率低下，原因有三:

You need to remember in which document you wrote your idea (You most likely won’t).

You need to read most of the note to find the paragraph mentioning the idea (Time consuming).

Pieces of the same idea may appear spread over multiple notes (Good luck searching for it all). These pieces may even contradict each other.

你需要记住你的想法是在哪个文档里写的(你很可能不会记住)。

你需要阅读大部分注释才能找到提到想法 (耗时)的段落。

同一个想法的片段可能会出现在多个音符上(祝你好运搜索到它们)。这些片段甚至可能互相矛盾。

Now let us stop to reflect..

If you are looking for ideas, why are you writing notes as documents?

Instead, I suggest writing what I call idea notes.

Idea notes focus on only one idea.

现在让我们停下来反思。 如果你正在寻找想法，你为什么要把笔记写成文档？

相反，我建议写我称之为想法笔记的东西。 想法笔记只关注一个想法。

Yes, they can contain multiple ideas, but they focus on only one. Similar to a blurred background image in a picture, multiple ideas are present but only as a backdrop to enhance the focus on the main idea.

是的，他们可以包含多个想法，但他们只关注一个。类似于图片中模糊的背景图像，存在多个想法，但仅作为背景来增强对主要思想的关注。

If a background idea starts fighting for attention, then it is time to give its own note. As a background idea moves into its own note, it leaves a reference behind (or a link if you are into link-based note taking).

So when the time comes to search for an idea, you won’t be searching and browsing through documents. Instead, you look for the note for that specific idea, directly.

Solution for trap 3: Create idea notes.

What Next?

While there is no perfect formula for effective note-taking, if you focus on the best mindsets for your specific needs, everything else will come together.

Now, it is your time to climb your PKM Pyramid, write notes as pieces of understanding, and decide whether document notes or idea notes will work best for you.

Bonus question: Did you know that writing idea notes can also lead you into a few traps?

But that is the topic for another day..

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bianca Pereira is a researcher and Personal Knowledge Management coach who helps you uncover the mindsets and methods to unlock your thinking. You can learn more about Bianca’s work at http://pkm.biancapereira.me/profile.