My final university year during lockdowns was tough, I knew this from the start of final year that I needed to adjust my learning techniques if I wanted to continue my motivation and learning retention throughout the year.

I thought, if I can learn something really well when I first gain the information, I will not need to study so much. Which honestly, worked out very well for me, and allowed me to make good progress during my dissertation, where I needed to consume hundreds of articles and research papers to learn my topic.

How I write notes - The Zettelkasten technique

Take a step back. And make learning a more dedicated and focussed process. Stop trying to rush learning many things at once, or trying to consume so much. Instead, ensure you are able to understand each piece of information that you consume.

Step 1 - Consuming:

Focus down on what you are reading or listening, at each step think proactively what it means in your own words, and whether you can visualise what you are learning. Think how it may connect with other pieces of knowledge you have.

Step 2 - The draft write:

Write down all the notes of the particular information somewhere, ideally somewhere easily accessible and visible at a later time. The most important part about this writing stage is to put it down in your own words. Copying and pasting, or just citing word for word does not achieve anything.

Step 3 - The meaningful write:

Now you have the knowledge in your own words, the next part is being able to write it in such a way to teach others. Explain the topic in detail, and connect pieces of knowledge together that are related to the topic. This provides a much more indepth understanding of a topic, where does that topic fit in with the rest of the world, rather than just by itself.

Explain all related concepts and provide diagrams if you can. Think of this as, if you or someone else were to read this piece of writing a few years later, would they be able to understand it?

Step 4 - Organise:

The next part is, organising your new knowledge amongst your other pieces of knowledge. Forming a web network of your own personal learning experiences. For one, this is encouraging as you are able to visualise your learning expand over time.

And secondly, the neater your "second brain" is, the more enticing it is for you to come back and add to it.

A tool I personally use for this is: obsidian, a powerful knowledge tool with built in network visualisers, and compatable markdown file formats.