Flow Based Note Taking 1

Flow-Based Notetaking
Flow-based notetaking is a radical departure from the way

most people are taught to take notes. It’s a powerful technique for
accelerating your learning while listening to audio or in a lecture.
However, since it departs so much from traditional

notetaking it can be a bit harder to implement directly. It also has
weaknesses (which I’ll discuss soon) so its important to integrate
it carefully in your studying routine so it won’t sabotage your
success.
What is Flow-Based Notetaking?

Flow-based notetaking is holistic learning principles
manifested in your notes. The best way to describe it is to
compare it to its opposite. I’m going to call the opposite of flow-
based notetaking, hierarchy-based notetaking.
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With hierarchy-based notes you strive to:
Record every detail of the lecture, regardless of its

significance
Write down notes, in the order they were spoken
Transcribe information exactly the same way it was
presented
Create a perfect duplication of the lecture, except in paper
form
Now contrast this to flow-based notetaking, where you strive to:
Emphasize the important details, omit or downplay the

irrelevant
Write down notes according to your mental picture of the
subject, going back to add details and departing into new
sections as you learn
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Transcribe information in a completely original way from its

presentation
Create a new set of ideas and understandings, based on the
original lecture
With flow-based notetaking, your goal isn’t transcription it’s

learning. This may sound obvious, but that isn’t how most people
take notes. When most students take notes, they take them with
the goal of learning the material later. When you take flow-based
notes, your goal is to learn it, while in the class.
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Here are some of the principles underlying flow-based notes:
Learn it Once
A recurring theme in all my rapid-learning discussions will be
an emphasis on learning things properly the first time. The biggest
waste in time and energy in the learning process isn’t in the initial
understanding. It’s in forgetting and later confusion.
Flow-based notes fit into this paradigm because they are

about accelerating your learning, not transcribing exactly what
was said.
Now, as I’ll discuss later, this comes with some disadvantages

as well as benefits. I’ll try to show you how you can find the ideal
style for you to minimize the costs while still getting the benefits
of this learn-it-once principle.
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Parroting Isn’t Knowing

Some people confuse being able to spit out a professor’s
lecture notes with actually knowing the subject. But, just as a
parrot isn’t producing actual speech, regurgitation isn’t actual
knowledge.
Flow-based notetaking is creative process, not a recording

process. Instead of just writing down what the professor argues,
you’re also going to come up with your own ideas, examples and
connections.
Listening Isn’t a Passive Activity

People like to draw lines between listening and practice. As if,
in a lecture, they are passively absorbing knowledge, and when
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writing an essay or doing problem sets, they are actively

practicing it.
Flow-based notetaking turns this formula on its head, by

putting the listener in an active role, creating connections instead
of just absorbing them.
How the Heck Do You Take

Flow-Based Notes?
Enough talk about the principles, how do you actually do it?
The simplest form of flow-based notes is just to write down

all the information, except instead of recording it into a bulleted
list, you organize it spatially with arrows connecting ideas.
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So if your professor wrote down:
The 4 P’s of Marketing are:
-Product
-Place
-Price
-Promotion
You could start with a central bubble for the topic, with
arrows connected to each of the 4 P’s:
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Images, diagrams and your own ideas should help embellish

the notes:
From there, when the lecturer expands on each of these ideas,

you can create more arrows connecting these ideas together.
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Now with links between new ideas:
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However, mapping out the ideas is only the most basic part of
flow-based notetaking. In addition to that, you should strive to:
Write things in your own words, not the lecturers. If you

can’t describe something in alternate terms, you
probably don’t adequately understand the original
terms.
Write down new ideas. If any connections come to your
mind while mapping out the notes, draw another arrow
and connect. Your notes should be your thoughts, not
just the lecturer’s.
Connect ideas backwards. When you hear a new idea that
relates to an idea earlier in your set of notes, go back and
link it there. Backlinking is an easy way to create more
connections in your writing.
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The Weakness of Flow-Based Notes

The principle weakness of flow-based notes is that your
transcription typically won’t be as rigorous as with hierarchical
notes. When you’re making connections, it is difficult to write
down exactly what the instructor said in a lecture.
Normally this isn’t a problem. If you learned the ideas in the

class, then your notes should only provide a backup. However, if
you are completely confused during the class, flow-based notes
make it harder to completely relearn the material from your
transcription.
There are a few solutions to this approach:
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1. In courses that rely heavily on textbooks, with lectures

only as support, this shouldn’t be a problem. You can always read
your textbook for a more complete description of ideas you need
to relearn.
2. If a course is truly confusing, in class, you can take

traditional hierarchical notes in class and then convert them to
flow-based notes afterwards. I dislike this approach because it
creates more work, but it may be necessary for some classes.
3. Where it is allowed, you may want to take an audio

recorder and record the lecture. This way, if you don’t understand
notes, you can listen to the parts again from your professor’s
instruction.
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Implementing Flow-Based Notetaking

Flow-based notetaking can take awhile to implement fully.
Don’t worry about that. Even taking baby steps to taking more
flow-oriented notes or translating your notes into a flow-based
format can have a powerful impact on your learning.
These are the intermediate stages I’d recommend attempting

before diving in completely:
Flow-Afternotes
Leave a 1/3 margin in every page you take for notes. After
you finish taking hierarchical notes, write your flow based
connections in the margin. You can do this in pauses of the class,
or after the class in your spare time..
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Viscous-Flow Notes
When taking regular notes, try to draw arrows and
connections off the regular notes. You don’t need to write them in
a non-linear format or use the other advanced components of
flow-based notetaking. This method is a bit slower than regular
flow-based notes, but it is a good middle step.
Putting it Into Practice

Once again, the implementation guides are probably the least
important part of this program. The real value comes in going
through the ass-kicking emails you’ve received and actually
starting your first 30-Day Trial to put this into practice. Ideas are
nothing without execution.
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Flow-Based Notetaking

Flow-based notetaking is a radical departure from the way

However, since it departs so much from traditional

What is Flow-Based Notetaking?

With hierarchy-based notes you strive to:

Record every detail of the lecture, regardless of its

Now contrast this to flow-based notetaking, where you strive to:

Emphasize the important details, omit or downplay the

Transcribe information in a completely original way from its

With flow-based notetaking, your goal isn’t transcription it’s

Here are some of the principles underlying flow-based notes:

Flow-based notes fit into this paradigm because they are

Now, as I’ll discuss later, this comes with some disadvantages

Parroting Isn’t Knowing

Flow-based notetaking is creative process, not a recording

Listening Isn’t a Passive Activity

writing an essay or doing problem sets, they are actively

Flow-based notetaking turns this formula on its head, by

How the Heck Do You Take

The simplest form of flow-based notes is just to write down

So if your professor wrote down:

The 4 P’s of Marketing are:

Images, diagrams and your own ideas should help embellish

From there, when the lecturer expands on each of these ideas,

Now with links between new ideas:

Write things in your own words, not the lecturers. If you

The Weakness of Flow-Based Notes

Normally this isn’t a problem. If you learned the ideas in the

There are a few solutions to this approach:

1. In courses that rely heavily on textbooks, with lectures

2. If a course is truly confusing, in class, you can take

3. Where it is allowed, you may want to take an audio

Implementing Flow-Based Notetaking

These are the intermediate stages I’d recommend attempting

Putting it Into Practice

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