Everyone takes notes, from uni students to kids in school, to content creators and to workers in information-related jobs.

Despite this, few do it; right.

This guide is here to change that.

I believe that the best note-taking method for you, the reader, is minimal note-taking. This is regardless of what you take notes for.

This article’s going to go into some detail about why taking notes is best done minimally, as well as how you actually go about minimal note-taking.

Let’s get started…

What is minimal note-taking?

Notes are not taken for the sake of it in the large majority of use cases. They’re a means to create some kind of value that can be shared with others, or learned.

Because of this, I’ve defined minimal note-taking as:

“The path of least resistance and complexity in your notes that leads to a desired quality of output or learning.”

In other words, take as little and as simple notes as you can in order to create content or learn at a level that is of satisfactory quality or proficiency to you.

Any more complicated, you’re wasting your time developing, organising and maintaining your notes.

Too simple, your work might lack the structure and organisation that makes it engaging and logical to read or understand, or you might not be able to remember ideas or concepts that would have led to good pieces of content or effective learning.

Notes are always taken as a means to create, or to learn. There are no productive exceptions.

(Of course, you can write a short sentence somewhere to remind you of some fact or idea, but I don’t class this as ‘note-taking’ in the same way — it’s more just jotting down a reminder.)

This is the core idea behind minimal note-taking, and now I’m going to explain how to develop a minimal note-taking practice…

How to take minimal notes:

The decision on what medium to use for this is important first.

Consider what you take notes for. Is it to share information with people through content creation? Is it to learn so you can pass your exams? Is it because you’re told to by someone else?

This information is going to determine what you use to take notes, as well as the complexity of your note-taking system.

The main decision that you have to make here is whether you’re going to take notes digitally or physically.

It’s better to take digital notes if you want to share your thoughts online, or if you want to automate many areas of your note-taking workflow.

Physical notes are better for attention and clarity. This is because there are no elements waiting to wrench your focus away from creating the note. They’re better for journaling and similar mindful practices.

If your desire is to take digital notes, you’ll have to choose an app for the job. Again, consult your use case, and choose something that’s as simple and intuitive as possible for you.

The goal is to remove as much friction as possible in the note-taking process. If Apple Notes or Google Keep is enough for your use case, by all means, this is what you should be using and nothing more.

I use Obsidian because it has customizability through plugins but it can also be a simple markdown editor if you want it to. You have to watch out for options like this though, because it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of customising when unnecessary — something I’ve definitely fallen for in the past.

Start with the most simple system for your use case as possible. Then, when you encounter a lack of function in your system, look to extend it with other tools and plugins to solve this problem. The most drastic change would be to move to an alternative app to solve your problem. This is very rare however — my use case has developed a large amount over the last year and a bit, and I’m still using Obsidian.====

There’s no point adding plugins in before you’ve encountered the problem that they solve, so don’t do it. If you find yourself with spare time, it shows you’re not creating enough. Write more, share more. Use your note-taking system how it’s meant to be used.

You might find that over time your system evolves, adding plugins and features that are no longer relevant, because you’ve lost the need for their functions.

This is where the regular review comes in…

The regular review is a practice where you go through your notes and note-taking systems, looking for ways you can pare it down to its simplest form again. This could be done by removing plugins, archiving no-longer-needed files or (in the rarest cases) changing to a simpler app or to physical notes.

There’s one more step to minimal note-taking…

Distraction removal.

Turn off notifications and alerts when you’re taking notes and creating. You don’t need the distraction. Use Do Not Disturb or Airplane Mode to unplug from the world.

The benefit of this is that you can spend more time in an unbroken state of focus when creating notes. Because your notes are created in a focused way, this reflects on your learning or output. Your content is better organised, or your learning is more consistent and longer-lasting.

To summarise:

  • Use the simplest system possible for taking notes
  • Review it regularly to prune unwanted features and files
  • Turn off all your distractions when taking notes to improve quality

I hope you’ve learned something from this guide, and as always, thanks for reading!