From 984e15e54fe638575f38630e33d9bb119bd44269 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eltrac Date: Tue, 6 May 2025 12:09:31 +0800 Subject: docs: update draft Former-commit-id: 99fc880f9ab70c833507734c070cd7e5d784b7ff --- content/en/posts/take-ugly-notes-do-pretty-work.md | 18 +++++++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) (limited to 'content') diff --git a/content/en/posts/take-ugly-notes-do-pretty-work.md b/content/en/posts/take-ugly-notes-do-pretty-work.md index 77fca4f6..b5957477 100644 --- a/content/en/posts/take-ugly-notes-do-pretty-work.md +++ b/content/en/posts/take-ugly-notes-do-pretty-work.md @@ -19,10 +19,22 @@ I used to be obsessed with taking pretty notes. Here's my old Obsidian vault and The link graph is pretty, the whiteboard seems brilliant, and god, I even color-coded all my folders? And they got icons? They're so pretty that I don't even want to click on it. -And I surely did not. These well-organized brilliant-looking notes never actually helped me learn anything. Well, maybe a little, but all the good learning happened while I'm doing actual work, not taking pretty notes. +And I surely did not. -In school, teachers evaluate students' academic performance merely by looking at their notes. I remember in my middle school and high school, if a kid's book is almost illegible due to the fact that they have written useless words all over the page, they are considered as a diligent child. And guess what, we all try to write as much crap as possible but never even think to review it. +These well-organized brilliant-looking notes never actually helped me learn anything. Well, maybe a little, but all the good learning happened while I'm doing actual work, not taking pretty notes. + +In school, if not taking tests, teachers evaluate students' academic performance merely by looking at their notes. I remember in my middle school and high school, if a kid's book is almost illegible because they have written useless words all over the page, they are considered as a diligent child. And guess what, we all try to write as much crap as possible but never even think to review it. It almost seems that the more pretty notes you've taken, the less you learn. -However, taking notes is not always like this. +However, taking notes is not always like this. I believe written languages are born because humans desire to remember things and master skills. We invented speaking to communicate and writing to take notes. When goals are clear, we know what to write and what not to write. Nobody has ever struggled to find the perfect note-taking method. + +I think we all need to stop for a second to think about why we take notes. + +## Artist's Sketchbook + +I watched a YouTube video on writing mini essays to build a systematic framework of knowledge. The YouTuber describes it as the best note-taking method and learning method. And one comment reads: + +> Oh, this is just like a sketchbook for an artist. + +Exactly! A notebook is just like a sketchbook. You sketch to capture new ideas, but the real paintings happen on a canvas. We don;t expect -- cgit v1.2.3