This is sort of fascinating and I’m learning all sorts of neat tips.
I got more organized this semester in part using Evernote, but I use it very differently from you, I think @ChickieD. I tend to use checklists because the act of crossing things off is more satisfying than just editing the note. I have a notebook that contains a note for every day of the week.
(My professor’s last name was Strauch. I was going to office hours (OH). Carbon compounds with OH groups are called alcohols. Strauchahol. Elaborate, I know.)
I have the app set up to display this notebook on the home screen of my cellphone so I have everything at hand. I tried handwritten lists and it just doesn’t work because my phone is the one thing I can count on myself not to lose or forget. I do try to keep a small 5X3 notebook at hand in my back pocket at all times though in case I have an idea for a project or a concept I’m trying to develop, or even homework. This is mainly for mathematics, where I can print my homework questions small and put them inside my notebook, then work on the problems wherever.
Every project gets it’s own notebook in Evernote, with one note specifically devoted to To-Dos for that project which migrate to the main Weekly To-Do. Other notes are mainly about processes, references, etc. Unfortunately, I can’t quite use it to take detailed notes. I tend to use a very idiosyncratic shorthand for things like class notes or personal notes that precludes the use of a digital system for anything but task management. (It’s one part symbols I made up, Arabic abbreviations, and “abbreviated” Japanese characters.)
@Clifton recommended an excellent system in the PIE method that is already so similar to what I do in classes currently that I might try it. Otherwise, I’ve found that trying to be funny and throwing in puns, my own weird rhyming slang (see “Strauchahol” above) and drawing small cartoons of what I’m taking notes about is often just as helpful as making those notes detailed or trying to take down what the instructor is saying verbatim. It really helps when the instructor really loves teaching from powerpoints, because I often feel like it’s hard to know which part of the presentation I actually need to take notes on, since most of it is present in bullet point form, already. Powerpoint really wreaks havoc with my ability to take notes, which is weirdly important to being able to get those concepts in there.
