Taking down notes? Note the following…



Now as students and down the line as anybody, there is a compelling need to write notes. You may be a student listening to regular lectures, frequent talks or a part of the team working on a certain project. Lot many knowledge inputs are bound to flow and roll down. Do you want to lap them op or just let them go into oblivion? The choice is yours. I strongly suggest that you partake the benefits by way of making notes. How to make that possible? Just take down, write down and then get down to task. Make it a point to carry a note book wherever you go. You will be so much richer if you could preserve such notes for long.  If you have such notes written over the years, just browse through a few pages and see its utility and flavour in the light of present times. I can tell you friends, it is great delight to see what you scribbled coming handy now. Making notes is an art by itself.  It should not take too much of your time or the paper. It should be the sense and essence. Do not immerse yourself, writing down when someone talks. It may embarrass the speaker or mislead him into thinking that you pay no attention to him. Write as if you wrote not. Write in a flash and get back to your normal listening mode in no time.


Tips for jotting down the points
  • Do not carry note book or diary as such. Instead hold a sheet of paper folded into four parts.  What you hold should not be apparently visible.
  • Take down the key points in a subtle way. Use one or two words in place of sentences.
  • Connect the points that emerge in the talk in your own creative way.
  • Use pencils instead of pens. Keep the size of the pencil to be within your palm.
  • Note the key words, references, context  emerging in the talk,
  • Write down as you are seated without having to bend or hold on to the desk top.
  •  Do not attract others’ attention and much less that of the speaker
  • Do not hold out the paper while asking a question or having an interaction.
  • Do not ever say, ‘ I have taken down what you said ….’ , while having interaction
  • Once the meet, talk is over, it is all yours. Transfer the finer points to your note book
Making notes is a skill to be internalized. It helps you focus. It serves you as a frame of reference. Practice it now onwards.  Making notes in a library is quite different from jotting down from out of a talk or meeting.  Act with discipline and responsibility. It serves in the long run.

Dr. N  Jayarama Shetty,  Ph.D, M.Com, MBA, MA( Psy), LL B, CAIIB, D. TD, PG. DHRM, PG. DMM,  Pragya,  Visiting Professor, Nitte School of Management, Bengaluru

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