Is there a best way to organise notes? Whether you like it or not, if we want to function in todays society, means we have to be able to deal with many different notes, ideas and plans. With these notes comes the need to keep/remember and therefor organise our notes.

The best way I have found to organise notes is via three different systems

A notebook – think book
Evernote
One note

and on this page we will unpack all of these points in detail:

A notebook or think book

Many of the world’s greatest thinkers used notebooks to scribble ideas, things to remember, journal their thoughts etc. I deliberately use a cheap, messy book. The idea is that I am not wasting an expensive book that needs to remain pretty – my intention is to essentially wreck the book and keep scribbles only comprehensible to me.

Most of my notes in this think book have a temporary life span and don’t go anywhere. A lot of notes require action on a certain day, I place these notes in my calendar and cross them through in the think book.

Once done with these books, you can toss them, however,at the moment I still keep the full notebooks. It brings a smile to my face to see what I was thinking, worrying about or working on. These notes are messy, but it shows growth when you compare the books over the months and years.

Best way to organise your notes - the key benefits for a think book are:

It is portable and allows you to do something not on your phone or computer.
A notebook physcially contains your notes
You could even add some post-it’s on your day page
You can be create and flexible (worst thing your $3,- book is not working/not perfect)

Evernote

This is a phone and computer-based app requiring a small subscription. You can go very deep into your system and hierarchy in terms of organising your notes. I simply add notes for things I need to remember. A website, a password (written in code I understand), some writings or feedback.

You could use this as an electronic diary, add photos and files. For me it is mainly a digital post it box. I see it as a solution allowing me to retrieve information when I need it. Additionally, the phone app is amazing for a while I need it away from the computer.

For example:

I had to remember a code to for a work door. I simply kept it in Evernote and found the code on my phone every time I stood there in front of this particular door having again forgotten the code.

Clearly, I don’t advocate keeping passwords on a not-so-safe system such as Evernote. Instead, I argue for practicality and function above all else. To this end, I make sure that even if my account gets hacked, I have written my notes in such non-sense combinations. Often it is in code and mix between Dutch and English, notes that no-one in their right mind would be able to understand what the actual password on the note is.

Parenting in the 20th centrury

Let's talk about passwords and parenting. Firstly, parenting since the advent of the internet has become so much harder. In this day and age, you not only do you have to keep track of your own passwords you also need to keep track of your kids information. If you don’t it will take you 3 hours to “help the kids” find the correct details when they have forgotten their own passwords and links. An added benefit is that you can even share Evernote - notes with others. Lastly, this feature allows me to share Evernote with the kids so they don’t even have to ask what their password is, come the second time around.

Best way to organise your notes - the key benefits are for Evernote:

Portability
Being able to share
Ability to ad / make photos etc.

If you are a bit of a type A person like myself, you can do some courses on how to use Evernote. However, with the above instructions you will be up and running within 5 minutes. The time you safe makes the subscription worth the cost.

OneNote

One note is a Microsoft / Word based system, that is incredible if you use it to help you get more organised. I have seen it used more and more in online learning as the teacher can set up subjects (the electronic note books) with lessons (the tabs) and detailed information (the pages). It can be shared via the cloud or simply kept for yourself (if your computer dies you will have a copy on the cloud).

I do find a big difference between Evernote and OneNote. OneNote is for larger more elaborate notes related to lessons or logical retrieval. Evernote on the other hand can be used as an electronic "trashcan" with retrieval features for your "digital post-it notes".

Both tools serve their purpose but they do so in very different ways.