After two intensive weeks, I had filled up two entire notebooks. "Great", I thought, "now everything is in there, but how will I ever find anything again?" I know that's not a great insight, but people: you can't search in handwritten notes! I am convinced that the internet has changed the way we think and work. This has even been scientifically proven. Our "Internet" generation activates different regions of the brain, when asked a question than our parents did. They searched for the answer in their own heads. We, on the other hand, activate the regions of the brain that know where to find the answer on the internet: namely Google, Wiki or now, of course, ChatGPT. And that's exactly what my brain does. When I have a question, it first looks for the digital highway to the answer.

So I started transferring my notes. Obsidian is my tool of choice. There I created tabs for each topic and within my "personal development" time (TIL be praised for this facility), I transfer the notes into those digital tabs. The effect is great. On the one hand, I repeat the content, and on the other, it makes it searchable. I know you can also write on iPads with a pen, but it gives me goose bumps. Sorry. Maybe I'll learn that one day. Until then, I'll stick to my dual strategy. Any suggestions for improvement are always welcome to me.

But now let's start again from the beginning, or how I structure my notes:

Although I'm pretty fast on the computer keyboard at around 100-120 keystrokes per minute - no wonder as a former executive IP paralelegal - I'm still the type to take handwritten notes when things get stressful and when I need to focus. Current cut: one filled notebook per week. I am worried! "What am I supposed to do with around 17 handwritten notebooks at the end of the four months and what will I do with them"? As this scenario was already foreseeable for me after the first week, I reflected on the whole thing. Why do I actually like taking handwritten notes? Here are my thoughts for you:

Handwritten notes (vs. digital notes)

My Pro's:

• I can simply start quickly and without much effort, capture the most important things and can continue to follow the training and lessons well in the meantime
• I am not distracted by any technology! Why: I'm not distracted by the variety of digital tools or any incoming e-mails etc., as I only concentrate on my notebook and the training itself
• My memory is happy: I can simply remember things better as soon as I have written them down by hand! Believe me.
• I don't have to worry about appearance or digital structure: With handwriting, there is no limitation of software functions or templates, nor is there too great a variety of possible designs, such as fonts, & co. So! My recommendation: Keep it simple!

My contra's:

• Lack of structure: The structure of my notes is simply that everything is written down one after the other in a completely disjointed manner throughout the day: From reading tips, learning content, link recommendations & Co. One after the other.
• No search function at all: If I want to look up certain content again, I only have the option of scrolling through my notebooks. Time-consuming and often very unsuccessful :)
• One-sided access and no option to share: Unfortunately, I can only access the notes when I have them with me, I can't access them from multiple devices and I can't share them directly with my team if needed. So! My recommendation: Combine both options!

So far so good. But what about my inner credo: "A data analyst works purely digitally, of course!"? I just can't mentally fit my notebook into this picture. And what about the many old sayings such as: "If you write it, it will stick, because writing can sharpen the memory" or "whoever writes, stays"?

Here is my "how to":

After the first week, I was already able to recognize a repetitive content structure from my handwritten notes, which is confirmed on a daily basis and really makes sense:

Here are my digital and daily "note tabs":

• Blog (Blog Ideas & Blog Drafts)
• English Vocabularies & English Phrases
• Internal Rules & No-Gos
• Further Insights
• Weekly Learning to repeat
• Topics and Slides per Week
• Weekly Resources
• Presentation Feedback
• Important Data Terms
• Helpful Pages (Bookmarks)
• Helpful Tools
• Consultant Mindset-Input & Links
• Tableau stuff
• Tableau Prep stuff
• Random stuff

During the day, I simply write down everything that I spontaneously find important in bullet points, unsorted and handwritten. In my daily personal development time, I reserve a timeslot of about 10 minutes every day to go through my daily notes. At the same time, I write down everything that belongs in the relevant categories above and transfer the most important things digitally. Positive side effect: I systematically repeat the most important parts of my daily input and organize my notes in a standardized way, which reduces the perceived effort. Every evening, I cross out the notes I have completed and processed in this way and I am happy.

Conclusion:

So much daily input can be overwhelming, but the double processing of my notes gives me a feeling of success in the evening. It is a mixture of control due to the digital sustainability of my learning content and at the same time a visual reward (crossing out the processed notes in the notebook as well as the parallel visibility of the growing digital notes). Crossing out tasks or completed items on a list provides a sense of accomplishment, control and visual reward. It reduces stress by giving the feeling that the burden of responsibility is becoming lighter and helps to focus on what is important, which can lead to increased satisfaction.

This approach symbolizes to me that I have once again made progress. It not only gives me the feeling that I have completed something, but also the feeling that I have a full overview of the extensive daily content and can keep track of it.

So: Don't panic, but maybe PEN-ic !

Interesting Sources:
Psychological-Science-2014-Mueller-0956797614524581-1u0h0yu.pdf (cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com)
Advantage of Handwriting Over Typing on Learning Words: Evidence From an N400 Event-Related Potential Index (nih.gov)
A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Four Note-Taking Methods in Memorization and Comprehension of Grades 9 to 12 Students in an Online Setup (dlsu.edu.ph)
Digital Notes vs Paper Notes in 2024: Benefits of Taking Notes by Hand | Research.com