Thinking in bullet points
Note-taking as doodling, decluttering, and refining.
Thinking in bullet points.
Disclaimer.
This is what works for me, but it may not be for everyone.
The core benefits of using bullet points when taking notes:
They help make complex information more manageable and accessible.
They simplify revisions and help to memorize key ideas.
When you need to craft ideas or process concepts, they are great for doodling, decluttering, and refining.
Doodling:
When you let your mind pour ideas in a messy way, without judgements. The more you capture, the better.
Decluttering:
When you come back to clean things up. Organize, find patterns, combine. The more you simplify, the better.
Refining:
The final touches to polish a message or structure. The more you optimize for clarity, the better.
A practical example:
I love to use this approach when I need to prepare a presentation:
I focus on the message first, decorations later.
I type the key idea of each slide as a bullet point.
If a bullet point goes beyond two lines of text, I need to trim things down.
I first write things down without much judgement, I don’t discard anything (doodling).
When a first draft is done, I come back to remove the excess and organize ideas (decluttering).
I take a last pass and focus on variation of tone and precision of words (refining).
Most times I don’t finish in one session, I let the ideas sit for a day or more, and then come back fresh.
Only when the message is in good shape (between decluttering and refining) I start to work on the deck.
Some downsides to using bullet points:
Bullet points are not impactful for all use cases, and they don’t fit everyone’s mental model.
The nuance of ideas can get lost in the oversimplification.
Notes in bullet points do not substitute methods in which you get to expand concepts and ideas.
If you over do it, you can get stuck in a bad habit of quick thoughts that avoid expansive narrative. Be careful, and find balance by writing and reading long form.
My preferred use cases for bullet points:
Task planning of projects I’m working on.
Notes from a 1:1 meeting.
Preparing a presentation.
Jotting down ideas and phrases.
Distilling a core idea to its simplest form.
I use a variety of tools, but I’m always testing new ones:
Laptop:
Google Docs.
Roam Research.
Mobile (phone/tablet):
iOS Notes.
Obsidian.
If you use bullet points as a tool for thought, I’d love to hear about your process or tools. And if you don’t use them, what works for you?