This is how i take notes while reading a book .

How do you take notes ???

Initially, when I started reading books, I never thought of taking notes — whether it was fiction or non-fiction. I just read them because it felt good.

But about six years ago, when I read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, something changed. I realized there was so much in that book that I needed to note down somewhere — it was valuable, and I knew it would help me somehow. That was the first time I thought of writing notes for the books I read. Until then, I had only taken notes from my school and college textbooks.

Deciding to take notes was one thing, but I had no idea how to do it. My first thought was to buy a separate notebook just for writing important points. The idea was that, over time, I would have a notebook full of key takeaways from all the books I read. Initially, this worked fine, but soon, it became annoying to carry a separate notebook everywhere. I somehow managed during my graduation, but then a new problem emerged.

Sometimes, I would forget it at home. Plus, writing down every important point took a lot of time and effort.I developed a habit of reading books while traveling or waiting somewhere. Whenever I got a few minutes, I would pull out my book and start reading — but I couldn’t carry my notebook everywhere. That’s when I felt the need to simplify my note-taking.

I started searching online and came across a few YouTube videos. One video, in particular, caught my attention.

In that video, the person talked about highlighting important points, writing notes in the margins and edges of the book, and using sticky notes to revisit key sections. These tips completely changed the game for me. I bought a highlighter and some sticky notes, and from then on, I always carried them in my backpack. It made note-taking effortless, and when revisiting a book, I only needed to go through the highlighted sections and my handwritten notes. This method helped me retain a lot more information.

This is how I take notes now. The picture below is from Right Thing, Right Now, a book I recently completed. The first time I read it, I highlighted key points with a highlighter. The second time, I underlined important parts with a blue pen. Now, I don’t know what to do the third time I read it! 😅

How do you take notes while reading a book? Let me know! 📝✏️