In high school I didn't take any notes at all.
But in college, as I got pelted with more information than an addicted Tik Tokker, I realized I needed to up my game. This began an over two year slog of researching into Personal Knowledge Management, 4 notetaking app transitions, and countless hours wasted.
Out of all my mistakes, these four traps cost me hundreds of hours:
Trying to make your notes perfect
Not taking notes in your own words
Trying to find the perfect notetaking method/app
Not connecting notes across classes and semesters
1. Trying To Make Your Notes Perfect
Perfectionism is the enemy of the good.
I can't describe the number of hours I wasted perfecting my tagging and linking system inside of Roam Research. And when I switched to Obsidian, it didn't matter anyways! Like with learning anything, you'll only get better as you do more. This means you should focus on creating as many notes as you can and iterating over time.
Quantity over quality.
2. Not Taking Notes In Your Own Words
Your thinking is different than others.
Writing your notes from what the professor says verbatim is like notetaking suicide. Take notes in your own words. Not only will you understand the notes better but they will be more personal to you.
Notetaking will be more fun.
3. Trying To Find The Perfect Notetaking Method/App
The perfect method/app to start with is the one your using right now.
Along my notetaking journey I started with Google Docs, went to Notion, then to Evernote, than to Roam Research, and finally to Obsidian where I have remained for six months. This constant switching only made it harder for me to get better at notetaking. My recommendation: don't even consider switching notetaking apps until you have used one app for more than six months.
Trying to find the perfect method/app is only another form of perfectionism.
4. Not Connecting Notes Across Classes And Semesters
"There are no rigid disciplines in the universe, only concepts."
When I first started notetaking, I treated classes as separate from each other and my outside learning. This makes no sense! The highest leverage I have gotten from notetaking is from the connection of seemingly unrelated ideas. For example, connecting a note from Introductory Biology about recessive genes to your History note on the massive chins of the Old English Aristocracy caused by incest. You have to make sure that you connect notes between classes and semesters together.
It's through the linking of these highly related concepts, from class to class from semester to semester, that your knowledge base starts to grow. Your Zettelkasten becomes more than the sum of its individual parts.
Your knowledge compounds over time.
Taking better notes is easily one of the highest leverage skills I have built. But that doesn't mean it has to be super hard. It doesn't have to be if you avoid these four traps.