Why I swear by note-taking

My relationship with note-taking in one sentence: having access to ink and paper is like having access to water and oxygen.


I started taking notes regularly when I began working a desk job. Before that, I was in field sales at Red Bull and retail at iCentre (now Amac), an Apple Premium Reseller. Before that, I used pen and paper to write songs, learn, and study. So you could say I’ve had a pen between my fingers for much of my life.


It wasn’t until I had regular discussions with the CEO at my previous company that I realized note-taking was absolutely critical in my professional life. At the time, he was giving me lots of advice on marketing and laying out a path forward. I asked if I could get a piece of paper to write things down, and then I let him talk while I wrote. On these scrap pieces of paper, I had the freedom to connect thoughts with lines and graphs. I could look at it to recall the entire conversation in one piece. I could also revisit it and ask specific questions about the parts he mentioned earlier.


But my love affair with pen and paper isn’t exclusive to professionalism. That magic pair has also helped me develop my songwriting, yes I also write and record music. My last album was written entirely on paper before going to the studio to record.


Professionally, roadmaps and ideas always start on paper with me. The next ten years and the steps we needed to take to get there were on paper before I went back to the team to pitch my ideas. Note-taking has improved my life, helping me remember things better and turning ideas into reality. To me, there’s nothing faster than ink to paper. Boom. Your idea is out there. I don’t want to seem too woo-woo, but there’s something tangible about expressing your ideas to the world, even if it’s just writing them on paper. Manifesting, musing—call it what you want, it works. After a few years of doing that daily, the habit has become so strong that I get a lot more out of my day and stay focused on my dreams.


It’s handy in sales and partnership calls because I can still look someone in the eyes and listen while writing down important information. That's hard to do with a laptop. While working for a SAAS company, I attended a meeting with Red Bull’s marketing team. I was quite young and nervous about this meeting, but thanks to my notebook, I remembered the number one problem they wanted to solve. In a way, I use my notebook as a comfort blanket: it keeps my ideas safe when my mind is full, and provides a sense of peace and control.


There are loads of note-taking methods; I don’t use any of them. I print out a time sheet every day where I write my to-dos. On the back side, I have a clean slate to write down my ideas if I don't have time to open my notebook to the right page. Essentially, my note-taking habits come down to speed. Pen and paper are there whenever inspiration strikes or a solution needs to be found.


Over the years, my note-taking has gotten more to the point. By no means am I perfect, but I'm getting better. If I’m on a call, I don't write a minute-by-minute report. Nowadays, I use software that records the calls. Instead, I focus my pen on the main points.


I don’t use any software to help me take notes, but using the Nuwa Pen and its app in-house has saved me time searching for notes. Although it is only a fraction of what it will be, I see the enormous potential already.


I use a journaling app to track the things I love about any given day. It helps me track self-measurements about my well-being over time. I’m positive we [Nuwa] can do that in our app, but that would require moving from note-taking to journaling, which I see as two different universes. It requires a completely distinct focus. We’re looking at developing APIs in the future to enable great journal apps to integrate with our smartpen. For example, customers have been requesting integrations with one of my favorite apps, Stoic.


I often get asked, "Marc, how can I integrate note-taking into my life?"

Though I don’t want to admit it, sometimes my relationships come second to my professional ones, and that’s a challenge I’m working hard to address. Simple things need to happen in the household to keep it happy, so I’ve also bought another pen to keep at home. It’s a reminder to myself to give equal effort at home. Now I make sure to make daily notes for household chores and events. I also occasionally write small poems for my girlfriend, which she seems to appreciate (I'm a hopeless romantic at heart).


Still not convinced? Give it a try.


If you’re skeptical about note-taking, take a piece of paper out of a printer and a pen, any pen (in a few months Nuwa Pen). Draw a line straight through the middle. See it as a timeline. On the left end is where you are today, and on the right end is when you die. Now try to fill in what you’d like to do during that time or what you’d like to accomplish. I hope you’ll experience the joy of putting your ideas onto paper like I do. That feeling you get when you bring your thoughts to the real world is why I swear by note-taking.