How to Become Super-Fast at Notetaking

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It makes sense that if we learn the trick of super-fast notetaking we can improve our productivity, right? People generally speak at a rate of 120-180 words per minute. By contrast, the average notetaker can write 33 words a minute. It’s not a good strategy then, to try to record every word.

But how do you become super-fast at notetaking?

In this post, we’ll share some tips to help you take notes faster, so you’ll never again struggle to note the main points from a lecture or the salient points of a work meeting. Later, we’ll discover why you should always keep a notebook handy. First, though, let’s learn about the importance of summarising.

If you can take notes like a pro and stay organised, there is no doubt your productivity will improve, and you’ll be able to work more effectively.

Without further ado let’s jump in.

6 Simple Tips for Super-Fast Notetaking

Here are the best tips we have to speed you up and make you more productive and organised when taking notes.

1. Summarise

When taking notes, the main thing is to write down the most important ideas embedded in the information being given to you. You can summarise the information imparted to you using bullet points or numbered lists, as this is a more organised, simple way to take notes than writing paragraphs.

Your notes will be:

• Much shorter.
• Easier to understand
• Easy to expand and add to as needed.
• Taken using keywords and phrases which provide you with key information in a simple form.

2. Use Abbreviations and Symbols

Add abbreviations and symbols to your notes to speed things up. Here is a list of some of the symbols and abbreviations you can use and what they represent.

• @ – at.
• * – means vital information.
• ! = – to mean something is not equal to something else.
• £ – for money.
• #- represents numbers
• wt – for weight

And so on.

If you want to do something a bit wild, try dropping some of the vowels from words so you can write faster. You will be able to read most common words just fine like this. Be selective about which words you drop vowels from though because you don’t want to end up with unreadable notes.

Soon, we’ll talk about the power of mind mapping. Now though, it’s time to find out why keeping a notebook handy is so useful.

3. Use a Notebook

On the face of it, using a notebook and pen might not seem the fastest way to take notes. But if you rely only on apps and digital devices to take notes, what will you do when your phone’s battery dies?

Having a notebook handy saves you time and frees you from all the distractions present in the digital world. Simply turning to an analogue form of notetaking — even if it is a little old-fashioned — can make you a far more productive notetaker.

4. Bullet Journalling

Want a way to organise your notes that makes it easier for you to plan? Bullet journalling might just be for you. You can use bullet journalling to get stuff out of your head and keep track of them. You will be able to track important stuff you must remember. You can even use bullet journalling apps to help you.

Bullet Journals can be a combination of a diary, day-to-day planner, and to-do list. They often use different symbols to distinguish between various events.

Once you get the hang of using a bullet journal, you can use it as a multipurpose tool and keep everything you need in one place, giving yourself a simple way to stay organised. Read our post on bullet journals and printable productivity planners for more detail.

Next, we’ll find out how to use mind maps for super-fast notetaking.

5. Use Mind Maps

Often words are not enough to convey a thought process or idea. Creating mind maps is a fantastic way to link ideas together and develop a visual representation of them. Through creating mind maps, you can visualise the whole structure of a given topic.

You can also use them to highlight important ideas and help deepen your understanding of the connection between ideas. You can also use different colours to highlight ideas that are in opposition to each other.

Use a Speech to Text App

Using a speech-to-text app is a sure-fire way to become a faster, more productive notetaker. Taking notes in this way is fast because:

• You’re not doing any of the hard work.
• You will be recording loads of information you know you wouldn’t remember otherwise, since we can speak faster than we can write or type.

Several programmes have an option that allows you to dictate to them, such as Word’s dictate button found in the top ribbon, and Google Docs voice typing feature. Read our post on how using dictation software can make you more productive to find out more.

The Best Method for Super-Fast Notetaking

Before we wrap things up, we thought we’d share the best notetaking method we’ve tried. Why not give it a whirl and see if helps you review and sort your notes, and become more productive?

The Cornell Method

This is a particularly good way to review your notes and make sense of them and get yourself organised.

Here’s how to use the Cornell method.

• Draw three vertical lines down a black sheet of paper.
• Title one section notes, one section cues, and the final section summary.
• The notes section is for notes you take during a work meeting or lecture.
• Fill in your cues section soon after you’ve made your notes. Here write the main points, events, dates, and people talked about. You can even add a couple of test questions if you wish. The purpose of this section is to provide you with clues to help you recall the main ideas, or overarching themes discussed.
• In the third column, summarise the who meeting our lecture as simply as you can.

This way you can stay organised, write summaries when things are still clear in your head and give yourself useful cues to aid your memory when needed. It may just do wonders for your productivity.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. We’ve covered how to become super-fast at notetaking, including everything from using bullet journalling and abbreviations and symbols where appropriate, to how to make the most of mind maps. We’ve even highlighted one of the best notetaking methods out there that’s sure to boost your productivity.

Why not try a few of the tips we’ve mentioned to find out if they work for you?

Like this post? Be sure to read our post about how handwriting can boost productivity.