Meeting notes by hand

I like taking notes. But I don't take them as much as I liked. It's like the quote - "Our actual selves are more often than not, a let down from our perfect imaginations." or something like that.

But I do make it a point to take my pen in my hand as I click on the zoom link to join a call. Even if I am not expecting to take any notes.

How do I take notes from meetings?

• I take note of my action items from the call. As a product manager, you never know from where your new task is going to come. I later move these to todoist (My task manager of choice).

• I like to note down highlights of the meeting too. I don't transcribe these later, but these just help me keep my focus. Else there is always the chance to drift to fantasy lands on online calls.

Why the inclination to use the traditional (or as some would say archaic) method of taking notes by hand?

I use/have used notetaking apps of all different shapes and sizes. IA writer had the best writing experience. Obsidian was the most free-flowing/non-restrictive. Notion is great for tasks/projects or making plans. Apple notes for basically, short draft notes that need to be easily accessible. I have used them all. And with the exception of IA writer from the list above, I still use pretty much all of them daily.

But, I also feel ridiculously slow while typing for some reason. That may not be entirely true but I still feel that while taking quick notes there is no substitute for a pen and a notebook.

More Importantly, I know I have the liberty to take messy notes on paper. Paper allows for that, maybe encourages it too. When I take notes on any app, the app defines my process, which sometimes helps, sometimes hinders.

So, when I am not sure what kind of notes I want to take or even if the note will be useful later on, I tend to skew towards taking notes by hand.

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