My Powerful Note-Taking Workflow That Turns Information Into Insight ⚡️

I read a lot of articles. In a previous life I would go crazy highlighting and saving quotes that would live in a database in Notion and I convinced myself this was note-taking.
Today, my process looks very different. Rather than put the emphasis only on reading & highlighting. I take it one step further and take the time to think & write about the things I highlight. In that way, I turn the information I collect into real knowledge.
In this video I show you through my workflow and the three apps I use to make it happen: Matter for reading & highlighting, Readwise for collecting notes, and Tana for thinking & writing.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:03: Spark Highlighting With Matter
05:29 Saving With Readwise
06:12 Spark Writing With Tana
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[@dameanvil]

00:13 📚 EV emphasizes the importance of a powerful note-taking workflow for personal growth and development, particularly for articles. 01:36 📝 EV's workflow relies on three apps: Matter for reading and highlighting, Readwise for organizing highlights, and Tana for writing, thinking, and organizing notes. 02:57 🖊️ EV emphasizes reading articles immediately if they're worth it, rather than saving them for later, to ensure engagement and meaningful note-taking. 04:05 💡 EV's "Spark Highlighting" process focuses on moments of inspiration in articles, which are highlighted and accompanied by context-rich notes for future reference. 05:41 🗃️ Readwise is EV's chosen app to gather notes from various sources (articles, books, podcasts) and centralize them in Tana for review. 07:13 🧠 EV recommends a daily writing practice to process and expand on highlighted notes, turning them into personal insights and knowledge. 09:04 🤔 EV encourages starting with curiosity in note-taking, focusing on exploring ideas and writing about them, rather than getting caught up in categorization and organization. 11:16 🗂️ EV distinguishes between informational notes and atomic ideas, emphasizing the importance of transforming highlights into insights and knowledge through thoughtful reflection and writing.

[@Stephanie-Bonnet]

I really like how you keep reminding us to come up with our own ideas instead of trying to come up with a perfect PKM.

[@MeneerSpaghetti]

I find your speaking style incredibly captivating. The way you effortlessly articulate your thoughts and ideas keeps me focused, unlike the majority of KZbin videos where I tend to zone out easily due to my ADHD.

[@EvChapman]

Ah that is so kind! And I'm always happy when I can serve the ADHD community!

[@giepc8887]

Thank you for this video. Much of it is inspiring and helps in organizing my own workflow within PKM.

[@ItsDavideGiannotti]

Awesome video Ev! Thanks for sharing your workflow. I didn't know about Matter, so I'll definitely give it a try 😍

[@vicp5111]

I am always inspired by your process!!

[@jessvoneuw5313]

Great video with tons of insights into actually producing content from what you consume! I would absolutely love to see a video on your Matter process. I can't decide between Reader and Matter at this point.

[@EvChapman]

OK. I'll pop it on the list. To be honest they are really similar, but there are just tiny things that make me like Matter more : )

[@eusouoleonardo]

I'm curious to know more about #atomicidea supertag configuration and the sparking inbox filter: Is it just readwise highlights? Or another supertags?

[@EvChapman]

I wrote a little more about the system here: medium.com/@evchapman/the-reading-workflow-that-helps-me-turn-information-into-knowledge-5ed0d622803e But in general my spark inbox filter is made up of both readwise highlights and my own notes that I capture. I find just having one single inbox means I don't have to think too much about where to find things again. Literally any new idea is in this spark Inbox.

[@MagpieCrafter]

Thank you Ev - that was a topic I asked about. I appreciate you coming back with a video containing your workflow. I think next logical step would be showing us what you do with all your atomic notes sometime :-)

[@EvChapman]

Yes I remember you asked! Will put the atomic notes video on the list 😃

[@ScottWilsonPEI]

As usual Ev - brilliant job breaking down your process and system of analyzing your content - and turning into something actual useful! Great to see your videos - such a wonderful job of highlighting your energy and spark! *lol*. Keep up the great work! Personally I'd love to see why you use matter instead of the Readwise Reader App - curious!

[@EvChapman]

OK will pop it on the list!

[@edferrigancoaching]

Ev, in your Tana Fast Track do you teach how to build a system like above or is there a place I can buy the template you use above? Awesome insights and suggestions!

[@EvChapman]

I do go in depth in Tana Fast Track. I also have a standalone template The Knowledge Hub here: evielync.gumroad.com/l/qzgfn And in February I’m going to be running a community sprint where we build our atomic ideas together for 30 days. I’ll keep you posted about that.

[@sallychurch6277]

RIP 40K clips or papers saved to Evernote and rarely read again! I too like Matter and Tana but was wondering how to get them from one side of town to the other. Now I know - thx Ev! 🎉

[@DingoBingo4000]

Hey Ev, I'm encouraged by your video to download both Matter and Readwise and give both solutions a go. I was a previous power user of Pocket, but I dropped off for the same issues that you've described in this video of just ending up with a graveyard of great content. I'm a little confused about the overlap that seems to exist between Matter and Readwise, and I'm interested to know why you use both and when you make a choice between each application. Is that because Readwise is only focused on written content? FYI, I came to your content as a new user of Tana, and searching for KZbin content related to Tana.

[@EvChapman]

I guess the most simple answer is that I was already a matter user before readwise reader. So it’s just a matter of preference for me. I also like that I can listen to podcasts on Matter as well as read articles. It’s solved a solution for making highlights from podcasts.

[@marketingpower]

👋 interested in the matter video! I think Readwise is amazing

[@AntonioLopez-rn4to]

+1

[@giepc8887]

Hi @EvChapman, I'm still thinking about your workflow. You mentioned that you sit down with your notes every day and pick the three that resonate the most. You then work on those three notes. But what about the rest of the notes? For example, if you make 10 notes in a day, after three days, you'll have worked on 9 notes and have 21 accumulated in your inbox. What happens to those? Soon, you'll have hundreds of them and never get around to addressing them :) ?

[@EvChapman]

Yes, I have over 900+ notes currently that I haven't processed. I don't really worry about them. I take the mindset that I have a limited amount of time & can only do what I can do. It helps to take the pressure of having to 'process' through an inbox and puts it onto enjoying the process of creating knowledge from notes. Now I think about my Spark Inbox more as a lucky dip that will never run out of interesting things to explore. It's definitely a mindset shift - but it's been the best one I've ever made.

[@giepc8887]

@@EvChapman 😲😲😲

[@alexanderschwarz8951]

How does stuff get from Matter into Readwise?

[@EvChapman]

In the settings in the Matter app you can connect it to your readwise account.

[@alexanderschwarz8951]

Thx. I'm mostly using the web app and couldn't find it there. @@EvChapman

[@AntonioLopez-rn4to]

More importantly, why not skip Matter and go straight to Readwise Reader? The separate Matter video is critical in this sense.

[@EvChapman]

@AntonioLopez-rn4to I think the most important part is to choose tools you like using. I like Matter, I used it long before reader came out. I still like it. But as I said, you can accomplish the same thing with readwise reader. Choose the tool that works for you.

[@AntonioLopez-rn4to]

@@EvChapman Ok, thanks Ev.

[@MattScofield]

took 4 min and 10 s till she got to the point...