The napkin and the whiteboard are tools for thought too
Note-takers, be aware of the tourist syndrome
There are notes born to be burned.
Sometimes, taking notes is only about taking notes, without being worried about capturing the notes and keeping them in a folder, the cloud, or an app.
The fact we have the technology — note-taking apps, tools for thought, or PKMs — doesn’t mean we need or have to archive everything. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
I know, several apps allow you to capture those scribblings on the napkin, the incomplete and unfinished brainstorming ideas on the whiteboard, or the fleeting notes on the first piece of paper we found at hand.
But they are called fleeting notes for a reason.
Sometimes we just need to see an idea on a napkin or a whiteboard to solve a problem or to have an insight. Once we have the solution or the insight, it becomes part of us, it’s embedded into us. Whatever we wrote down becomes irrelevant.
In this case, note-taking or writing is the tool for thought itself — watching or reading my thoughts makes my thoughts clearer.
