Comments on: Secrets of an obsesssive note taker gone bad

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:03:50 +0000

I definitely agree. I am also a person who forgets everything ten minutes after the meeting, so I rely heavily on my notes to remind me of what happened, what the big picture is, etc.

Especially when you try to remember what happened at the meeting a week after.

I used to not take notes because I thought they had to be perfect and that was a psychological barrier for me. But now I just write down anything and everything that I have the time to write down, so that looking over the notes later fires up the right neurons in my mind. Really helpful to recreate the setting during which I was taking the notes.

By: Lin Poissonnier

Lin Poissonnier — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:05:25 +0000

Setting in a meeting with out paper or pin can help. But if you don't have it. You take the chance that some one will see your not ready. Notes can be taken with out pen and paper. There are some great memory classes you can take that help peg information arount 20 Items that you place them in. If your interested I will send you the information on a couple of good ones.

By: mitch

mitch — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:16:36 +0000

Ryan must be thrilled. Although he is good at finance and the finance aspect of the discussion was getting a bit complicated – you wish he were there so that he could have brought you a pen. And perhaps a cup of coffee?

By: Stephanie West Allen

Stephanie West Allen — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:49:38 +0000

Read one of the books by Harry Lorayne, do what he suggests, and your memory will be astounding. Read YOU CAN'T TEACH A KID TO RIDE A BIKE AT A SEMINAR and you will see that the author suggests asking for a pen in a situation in which you are trying to persuade someone.

By: Dale

Dale — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:59:59 +0000

Hey, whatever is agreed to in a meeting is going to be in the contract at the end of it all. The only problem I forsee is having to rehash stuff you seemingly agreed to in principle beforehand.

By: JohnMcG

JohnMcG — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:53:07 +0000

A perfect microcosm of Brazen Careerist's advice — do whatever is possible to look smart and delay being exposed as a fraud for as long as possible.

I suppose it's worked so far…

By: Kristina Summers

Kristina Summers — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:52:09 +0000

Very funny! I too have learned that if I don't write it down then the info goes in one ear and right out the other. In my line of work, details are crucial so I have taken my note taking a step further. I scribble notes at every meeting (working for the government means A LOT OF MEETINGS) and when I get back to my desk I re-write those notes on my PC and re-organize my thoughts. I find I usually remember more this way and then I have my meeting notes filed awway by date in a format that won't leave me scratching my head wondering if I wrote down an "L" or an 1….

By: Benjamin Strong

Benjamin Strong — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:52:03 +0000

I am so crazy about note taking. I really liked Luca's idea of using your mobile phone. I have actually taken photos with it and converted them to pdf files. It works!

I have also invested in a cheap digital voice recorder. If I feel a meeting is important enough I ask if I can record it. Often the people I am meeting with understand the importance of the meeting and agree.

Otherwise I stick to pen and paper.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:01:08 +0000

When this happens to me, I just slash the artery in my thumb with a paper clip; a little bloodletting really shows how invested I am in what I'm doing.

This one's free, Penelope.

By: Chris Yeh

Chris Yeh — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:43:04 +0000

My habit of taking and keeping notes (as well as email) has served me well in my career. If you're around long enough, you'll always end up in some kind of legal wrangling. It's always a lot easier to win those if you have it in writing.

There is another school of thought that says that you should have a policy to delete all email…that that, I say, if you don't do anything wrong, you have no reason to have such a policy.