My Physical Notetaking System
About
I tend to prioritise portability and modularity when it comes to physical note-taking. I wouldn’t want 5 separate notebooks for every subject just so I can note something down that won’t even stick to my mind for a long time.
In my opinion, the notes you take from school is a mere memory jogger for when you actually learn the shit better.
Here’s my Workflow:
Setup
Things needed
- A5 Refillable Binder - main unit which holds everything down
- Folded A4 printed templates
- Section Dividers (3-4 based on no. of subs)
- Rough Pad for all the rough work
- 2 Pens - one black and one blue.
How it works
[!TLDR] Your main objective is to curate information that you actually need at school. Your Obsidian workflow will handle the rest.
Rough Pad
Use when:
- You’re solving something for the first time
- You’re unsure, experimenting, or flailing a little
- It’s fast, dirty, or doesn’t need to be remembered
- You’re warming up before a real problem set
“If you’re bleeding ink and don’t know what the fuck is happening — it’s rough.”
Capture Sheets (A5 folded pages)
My template: https://files.catbox.moe/q7cdsu.pdf; print and enjoy.
Use when:
- You understand something and want to make it future-you friendly
- A concept/step/shortcut is clearly useful beyond just today
- It’s from a trusted source: teacher/notes/book
- You want to mark it for transfer (to Obsidian / flashcard)
“If you’d explain it to a clone of you who’s weaker and sleepier — it’s capture.”
The ‘Hybrid’ Moves
- Solve in rough → Summarize on capture
- Perfect for hard questions, error analysis, exam prep
- Discover something in rough → Transfer to capture (then Obsidian)
- Shortcut, pattern, general insight = golden.
- Learn from teacher → Capture directly
- Don’t filter wisdom through mess. Log it clean while it’s hot.
Supplementary
- Learning a shorthand like Stone Optimised Shorthand
April 6, 2025