let go, take notes, and learn | obsidian

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

Taking notes and learning can be difficult. Not even really because of the topic we want to learn. But mostly because of us — our own beliefs, our own thoughts, and our inner chatter.

I often catch myself being psyched about learning and taking notes while planning it. I’m excited to dive into the topic. But as soon as it comes to studying, I don’t feel like it. I start to get anxious. The original motivation silently disappeared. Thoughts about my excitement vanished and got replaced with an inner voice trying to stop me.

“Why should I learn this?”
“Why should I take notes about this?”
“Will it make any difference?”
“Is it maybe a waste of time?”
“I won’t understand it!”
“It is just too complicated!”
“I’m not smart enough!”
“There is way too much to learn!”
“What benefit do I have from all these notes?”

Some days, my inner voice still convinces me to avoid studying and taking notes. And, I regret those days. I regret listening to my inner voice.

We need a way to fight this inner voice. We need a way to convince ourselves, to let go, sit down, and just start learning.

let go of beliefs

Beliefs like “I’m not smart enough.”, ”I will never understand this.”, “It will make no difference.” can hold us back. Let go of these beliefs.

Try to learn without any judgment about yourself. Try learning with a playful mindset — with a desire to learn, research, get frustrated, and keep trying. Learning takes place step by step, not in big leaps. So don’t be so hard on yourself.

let go of thoughts that drain your energy

You will make mistakes, you will feel frustrated, and your notes will all of a sudden make no sense. In these moments, thoughts will bubble up and try to convince you to stop learning.

But actually, this feeling of frustration and confusion is perfect. It is the perfect cue to keep learning, not to stop learning. Learning comes with difficulty and confusion.

Making mistakes and feeling frustrated, but still focusing on what we are trying to learn will trigger the release of a neurochemical cocktail for learning. A neurochemical cocktail containing Epinephrine, Acetylcholine, and Dopamine. Epinephrine gives you energy, Acetylcholine sharpens your focus, and Dopamine boosts your motivation.

So let go of thoughts that drain your energy and pull you away from learning once it gets a bit difficult. Stay with the feeling of frustration and keep your focus.

let go of expectations

If we study a new concept, we want to understand it right away. We don’t want to look foolish. We just want to take the perfect notes and connect them perfectly in our Obsidian system.

We just want to get it right and that, ideally from the start. This expectation can be daunting. It can stop us from taking notes and starting to study in the first place.

Let go of this expectation. Try accepting that you probably will do it poorly at first. You might have to restructure your notes. You might have to rewrite your notes. You might have to delete a bunch of them. But there is no shame in it. Learning and taking notes are recursive and excursive — you will come back to certain insights and your learning path is personal to you.

You will refine your understanding and your notes step by step.

Once we let go of beliefs, thoughts, and expectations that try to convince us not to take notes and learn, we will do them more joyfully.