We all know the situation: You want to tell a friend about an inspiring quote you read in a book lately, but you can’t remember the exact sentence or the page number? Read this article to find out how to structure your knowledge and to be prepared in the future.
1. Index Your Notes
Richard Branson, the first billionaire in space, is considered as an entrepreneur who brings a block with every conversation he has. In this way, he can take notes that will help him avoid ambiguity afterwards. Two people do not always interpret what is being said in the same way. In the event of a dispute, he is on the safe side, because a court usually gives the right who knows how to document himself better. Everyone has a pad these days, and some even have a notebook. My father, who still notes a lot at the age of 80, calls it ‘Kladde’. It is absolutely part of my life. I never leave the house without it, although it doesn’t go as far for me as it does with the designer Austin Kleon , who had pockets the size of his notebook attached to the inside of his jacket.
At the moment I prefer the brightly bordered Leuchtturm1917 branded notebooks, which have an index that allows me to spend time with my booklet even when it is full. Just before you get to the end of the book, it is absolutely essential to update the index, otherwise valuable thoughts and ideas may be lost. Since I’ve been using Lighthouse, my life has improved in quality. I was shown by a good friend of mine who is an ethical branding designer. I recently wrote three pieces in full, each in a different color in terms of the cover. It will be a small collection that is more dear to my heart than much else in my life. I’m thinking of equipping one of these beautiful booklets from the Japanese brand At the moment I prefer the brightly bordered Muji with an index and using it as an alternative, which cost a quarter.
2. Categorize Your Media
My friend also showed me a somewhat difficult to understand system for making notes on the margins while reading a book. With a system of asterisks and squares, he marks sentences that he finds “interesting, remarkable or extraordinary”. But only he really understands this system. Another friend, a philosophy professor, once showed me his beautiful library full of works from world literature. He marked the pages of his books in a similar way so as not to have to reread publications once they had gone through. I held my breath at the time and thought it was impossible to read so much and to be able to remember what I had read. Meanwhile, the reading virus has me totally under control. I read books in the classic way, often before going to sleep, read e-books on the e-Reader or my tablet and busily take notes online in the digital form of the works. As far as audio books are concerned, I switched to the Audible app, on which I now manage 126 books that I always have with me for walks or drives. In the Flipboard app, I save references to books that interest me, it works very quickly and I have a lot of fun rummaging around when one of the books is finished and I allow myself to buy a new book.
3. Structure Your Bookmarking
For books in physical form, I started by writing on the inside of the book cover at the very front, because there is almost always a white page. But I found that pretty awkward. First, I had to switch to separate sheets of paper once the page was full of annotations, and second, it doesn’t look good. The poor book. So smeared and full of leaves that keep falling out, I didn’t like that. A little more dignity, please, I thought to myself and went into myself.
That’s when I came up with the idea of bookmarks – Self-made bookmarks, provided with my own logo and enough space to write down notes on them. You can even give them away. The bookmark is made of cardboard. This results in a somewhat thicker writing pad, even if I want to quickly jot down a thought about an audio book in the car. And that’s what I need. A bookmark for the book I am currently reading that allows me to write down ‘Important Learnings’, ‘Sentences to Remember’, ‘Book Recommendations and Sources’ and gives space for free notes and paintings. So the bookmark is not just a note for a book that can be archived in a filing system and allows me to bundle all my thoughts in one place, no. It is much more! It also acts as a kind of marker for the page on which I want to continue reading. And I can also transfer the content easily into a digital hub so that I can access my knowledge whenever and wherever I want. Isn’t that awesome?
What are your experiences with managing knowledge? Have you created your own customized bookmarks, yet? Add your ideas in the comments on Instagram or contact Björn directly to exchange ideas.
Photo Copyright: Björn Göttlicher | The brands mentioned in this article are just mentioned for editorial reasons. No one who is included in the production of this article is getting paid by them.
Björn Göttlicher
In Björn Göttlicher, the composure of the Spaniard is paired with the reliability of the German and the drinking ability of the Finn. As a cool dad and a passionate hat wearer, the author of numerous books is just as humorous in dealing with his flaws as he is in conveying photographic knowledge. He deals a lot with the aesthetic and philosophical questions of the medium of photography and explores cinematic storytelling in his short films. In addition, he is the founder of the project on ethics in photojournalism “A doubting photographer”. He lives and works in Bamberg, Germany. On his website you can find out more about his work, workshops, exhibitions, awards, and publications.
