Note taking

I've just been glancing back through a notebook that I was using on my last trip to England. Pathetic!

I've been making an effort with notebooks for my thesis work - for example I've always bought one nice brand (Japonica) over the last five years. And I've separated my field work from other notes by buying 5mm squared pages in blue cover books for the former and 8mm ruled pages in green books for the latter. It gives an illusion of order but I might as well not have bothered, they are still a complete mess. Pages aren't used in any kind of order and at least half of what I write there is unintelligible by the time I get to refer to it again. If I ever do refer to it again.

I often start off well enough - put down the date at least if I can remember what day it is. But then what? Lots of single line comments, only partly legible. As soon as I loose track or interest I start adding little arrows to emphasise the perceived importance of some items. Or maybe I just do it to prove to myself I'm still breathing and give others the impression that I'm paying full attention.

At school and university I was just fascinated by people who took neat notes. What the heck did they ever find to write down there? It was as if they were just writing down what the teacher said. I suppose that is actually what they were doing. Later they 'revised' this and replayed it in the examination. I never worked like that. I was engaging with what was being said but come the bell at the end of the hour maybe I was still looking at a blank page with the date written on the top. Or more likely a few meaningless comments like "but note exfoliation as a <--" or "ecological factors - three (things?)"

Some jobs demand good note taking skills, keeping an accurate record of events, and especially where someone else might be picking up a case later, say a lawyer or a doctor. I just couldn't do it. I think part of the problem with me is that I look at experience as something to give myself to 100%, there is no time for note-taking if you are really 'there', re-working what is being said with your mind and giving a good response. Also, if I do something I want it to be 'perfect' - every set of notes should be a PowerPoint presentation.

All this is no excuse though, I should really spend some time working on this. Otherwise I'm just surrounded by useless scribbles.