
I like taking notes. But I don't take them as much as I liked. It's like the quote - "Our actual selves are more often than not, a let down from our perfect imaginations." or something like that.

But I do make it a point to take my pen in my hand as I click on the zoom link to join a call. Even if I am not expecting to take any notes.

## How do I take notes from meetings?

- I take note of my action items from the call. As a product manager, you never know from where your new task is going to come. I later move these to todoist (My task manager of choice).

- I like to note down highlights of the meeting too. I don't transcribe these later, but these just help me keep my focus. Else there is always the chance to drift to fantasy lands on online calls.

## Why the inclination to use the traditional (or as some would say archaic) method of taking notes by hand?

I use/have used notetaking apps of all different shapes and sizes. IA writer had the best writing experience. Obsidian was the most free-flowing/non-restrictive. Notion is great for tasks/projects or making plans. Apple notes for basically, short draft notes that need to be easily accessible.
I have used them all. And with the exception of IA writer from the list above, I still use pretty much all of them daily.

But, I also feel ridiculously slow while typing for some reason. That may not be entirely true but I still feel that while taking quick notes there is no substitute for a pen and a notebook.

More Importantly,
I know I have the liberty to take messy notes on paper. Paper allows for that, maybe encourages it too. When I take notes on any app, the app defines my process, which sometimes helps, sometimes hinders.

So, when I am not sure what kind of notes I want to take or even if the note will be useful later on, I tend to skew towards taking notes by hand.


I never start a meeting without a pen in my hand

Meeting notes by hand


Sorry for the slightly click-bait-y title.

This story started a few months ago with this tweet -
![The question](/blog-images/austens-question.png)

I asked the following question on our Inverted Passion slack group.

[Inverted Passion](https://invertedpassion.com) is a community created by Paras Chopra. The slack channel is usually buzzing with the questions, mentioned in the tweet above. I also like reading the mental models shared by Paras, have been reading them for more than a couple of years I think.

![Paras’s Reply](/blog-images/paras_reply.png)

### Writing is thinking.

This message is my phone wallpaper.

Paras’s message went like a flashbulb in my brain. I knew I think better when I write. But Writing was never a deliberate practice for me to improve my professional skills.

Now, I am trying to start my days with a daily note dump. This is to kick-start the writing process for the day.
I write about my tasks, my motivation levels or some new thing I’ve discovered.

As the day progresses, whenever I have to make a decision, I write.
Whenever I am preparing for a meeting or thinking about a product feature. I try to put it on paper.

Useful app suggestion: [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) (for unstructured note-taking).


Writing is thinking and I want to journal more