Want to take better, more helpful notes? Try adding color.
Color is a great way to organize your thoughts and make important information easy to go back and find.
Some different ways you can use color to your benefit:
1. By category. Choose a few different colors for different pieces of your project. (ex: action items, preliminary issues, questions, etc.)
2. By person. This is really helpful when you are taking notes in a meeting in which you need to keep up with who said what. One idea could be to use black for general notes, blue for what your team adds, and red for client comments, questions, and requests. This will help make sure the important things don’t get lost and fall through the cracks.
Avoid overdoing it. Using too much color will defeat the purpose because then nothing will stand out. Be selective, develop your own system, and continue perfecting it.
It may seem like a hassle to carry around different color pens all of the time, but the results could be more than worth it. If that is what is keeping you from trying this, try a note taking app that allows for this type of system. A great app for iPads is called Paper by 53 and it has lots of color and tool options. And hey, an app is all in one! So there is no reason for you not to give this a shot. Thrill your clients, coworkers, and boss with your reliability and attention to game-changing details.