Steal Sam Altman's Genius Note-Taking Method (Pocket Notebook Power!)

I just wanna say I am five seconds in and I am in love with your set the colors visuals. OK now back to the rest of the video.

using this approach from the ages. It's simple, straight-forward and handy to use.

Leaders are readers and note-takers.

Just rewatching this again - it's an excellent video Bill that's got me buying more spiral notebooks that I love :) Many thanks!

I’ve been using the bullet space pen for decades , it’s great because you can always have it in your pants pocket and it will never leak nor put holes in your pocket.

Eye opener to me such 19 min content can be done talking about stuff like using one’s note pad (and trying to fit in different size pens for 2 mins that was a highlight). I got click baited assuming that he is going to tell about some path breaking notes taking method.

Question? Isnt genious note taking more about the organization, but about which pen to use and explain that again and again.

Brand ?

Pentel EnerGel .07 needle tip

Wow! SamAltman knows his pens. Good choices. ❤

Surely not ideal for me. Everybody is unique. I am more visual so not possible to take any notes with such a simple notebook and simple pen. He is i guess a KISS type.

Napoleon hill, a great author indeed, exceptional wisdom you can observe in his writings. If we only learn from the perfect then we learn nothing, as thee perfect never exists! I will try the notes, I was looking for something like that, thanks.

I took notes with pocket spiral notebooks for decades. Primarily because they were cheap, portable, fit in my shirt pocket and easy to search. I retired a year ago and kept my most important notebooks until recently. It was fun to review my career flipping through them.

I compile some of the notes as freely as possible, some with the precision of a clock. In its smallest pocket, there is an A7 notebook that is weatherproof and resistant to ink pens. There are scattered comments if it is not possible to write in an A5 folder. I have in the backpack (EDC) one folder: 1) A5 leather folder with an A5 size annual calendar (pre-printed). 2) Self-printed note pages (Cornel principle) adapted to your daily needs. Each day consists of its own page exactly like the clock. 3) For free narration (BUJO) and ideation, Cornel pages in A5 size. Pages with folder perforation, so they are archived monthly in an A4 folder. Most of the notes are unnecessary afterwards, so I don't carry useless papers with me. Bujo pages are composed continuously according to the need and content. For archiving important and memorable things, a diary number to facilitate later checking. Examble Bil Rice Strategy 328b.20242311.0935 eka

Lochby works for me. Pages rip out easily. Holds stuff like a tracker so I can locate when misplaced. Great at holding pens. Water resistant. And it fits in my back pocket.

Really good note taking system 😮❤

I would never give up that leather pack for Sams kak idea. Let him throw away his pages, probably not much of interest anyways 😅. Also, he probably doesn't move around much with that horrible ring thing in his pocket. Can't imagine digging a hole with that in my pocket. Just put a moleskin in that leather pack and get going. I am going to make one of those leather magafties for my belt.

I hate spirals. But I’m all in on getting the pages I no longer need out of the way. My solution is to tear the corner of the pages I’m done with.

I use a medium sized spiral notebook with any of a few favorite pens and mechanical pencils. At the end of the week I scan every page of the notebook with the camera of my smartphone. From there I upload those digital pages onto my laptop project oriented computer directory structure.

Try an OHTO G501. A good slim pen

His house cleaner should sell the crumpled papers in the black market.

Sorry.... "writing utensils and appliances " - Pens!

Can you give us a list of pens you have tried that fit inside the spiral? Particularly Sam mentioned he has the Uniball 0.5 micro but there are many versions with that spec so I cannot tell which model he actually uses.

Like the pen holding aspect.
Next global electronic/ data failure, your gonna wish you hadn’t crumpled up and thrown away those valuable hand written notes though 😅

The thing that stroke me the most is that he seems unable to use a bin at his own house.

why not use a digital tool though? everyone has a smartphone in the pocket.. why add a whole notebook ? really curious..

It nearly brings tears to my eyes when a see I someone promoting and using a paper/notebook-based system.

Do you know that an iPhone will fit it a shirt pocket?

How do you people ever find a note that you created over a month ago?

Do you know you can create notes by talking to your iPhone?

Do you know you can draw something in a note on your iPhone?

Yes, some people like the feel of a physical object, but the advantages of using an electronic note taking app far outweigh it.

I’ve been doing this and not even realizing it was a thing. I have been using an A5 graph notepad while at home or in the office to do this but I think I will try the pocket notebook because it is so much more portable than the A5 I have been using. I started looking for notebooks with ring binding in my stash but only found two reporter style notebooks. I don’t really like ring binding but if this works out, I can overlook that. I have the Lochby journal cover that you have and the two notebooks I have fit perfectly in it. The first one is a Kleid Kraft Work Memo in A7 and the second is a Maruman Mnemosyne 192 notepad that is the same width as the Kleid notebook but is a bit taller. I like these notebook because the paper is fountain pen friendly. So if you want to use your Lochby journal, then maybe pick up one or both of these notebooks. They will even fit into the Lochby Quattro with two full size pens. I am sure other companies make the A7-ish size, like Rhodia (also fountain pen friendly and they usually have a higher page count), so maybe find the one that you like and works for you. Thanks for making this video, this might be what helps me elevate my note taking and idea making skills to the next level.

Did you think about a note taking channel?

Great video Bill! Definitely interesting to hear how Sam takes notes, and it doesn't surprise me he carries a pocket notebook. Also was great seeing your index card/notes organized into the various topics. Thanks for sharing!

Link for 🗒️ notebook is in description

Do you have any note taking methods for people who never have any ideas?

If you don't care about the "cool gear" then how about a simple pad of paper? No spirals, no extra small pieces of paper caught in the spiral binding, just one end glued. Inexpensive, many sizes etc.

Sam forgot the most important thing... You have to hold the pen in you left hand 😮

Apologies, I didn't hear Sam Altman describe what he does with with his torn-out pages, which I think is key. I did hear you describe what you do with your torn-out pages.

Good ideas. 👍🏻. 🇧🇷

My understanding is that writing notes down is very important to improve the learning and thinking process but it looks quite unorganised for me.

Wait a moment, I wrote it down, ehm, ehm... may on the 4th floor?
^_^

Yikes! The guy (Altman) throws his crumpled papers on the floor and leaves them for the housecleaner! I'm sure she/he/they don't appreciate that! Why not throw his trash of crumpled papers in a trash bin? The psychology around that scenario is a bit disturbing. Just saying...

How do you manage your “to-do list” also in your pocket note book or in another system?

Would it be just as efficient to use 3x5 index cards that can be carried in your Lochby? Maybe perfect bind a top or side edge of a stack of index cards with some glue. Captured autonomous note cards can then be torn from the stack like a notepad and indexed.

I can see that this has already been mentioned, but I am writing this for the algorithm also - A link for the spiral notebook, please. ;)

I don’t see a link to the notebook you selected to replicate Altman’s technique. Did I miss it?

Can you please add the link to the spiral notebook you are using? It's missing in the video description.

Thank you.