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💡 The Big Idea: Want More "A-Ha!" Moments? Try Sketchnoting.

The goal of personal knowledge management is to make sense of the information you are capturing, curating, cultivating, and connecting so you can create something new with it.

But sometimes words just aren’t enough.

In this newsletter, we’ll be looking at how sketchnoting can benefit the sensemaking process.

Why You Should Consider Sketchnoting

In 2014, Pam Mueller (Princeton) and Daniel Oppenheimer (UCLA) conducted a series of studies that showed definitively that students who took notes on their laptops were retained less and often performed worse on conceptual test questions.

Despite taking an average of 65% more notes, the digital notetakers had trouble reframing ideas in their own words when compared to their analog colleagues.

In their published paper (The Pen is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking), they explain why this is the case:

While the digital note-takers could often type fast enough to take notes word-for-word, the analog note-takers had to process what was being said and reframe it in their own words.

The result? Greater comprehension of the material being taught.

But then I started wondering — could sketchnoting actually take this concept even further?

The Consumption Problem

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make with their PKM systems is that they collect a lot but don’t do anything with it.

What good is all that information if it just sits in an archive until you dig it up again?

As I started digging deeper into the study linked above, it reminded me of all the digital notes I had taken over the years.

Notes that I had forgotten about.

But then one day, I was talking to a friend from church and he asked me what I thought of my Pastor’s message on Sunday.

And I couldn’t remember what he preached on!

It had only been 3 days, but I couldn’t remember a thing. And I was more than a little bit frustrated with myself.

That’s when I remembered the Oppenheimer study. I thought to myself:

“If analog note-taking helps you synthesize the information and retain it better, then I bet sketchnoting would have an even bigger impact on my ability to recall information!”

So I started taking sketchnotes. I have sketchnotes for every sermon, every conference, and every talk I’ve attended since 2017.

For example, here’s a sketchnote from a talk by Bonnie Christine at the Craft + Commerce conference last summer:

And I proved my theory true: I do remember significantly more when I have to codify the message with an image.

In The Sketchnote Handbook, author Mike Rohde explains why.

The Dual Coding Theory

In the 1970s, Allan Paiviosuggested that the brain processes information using two primary channels:

• Verbal (concepts like words)
• Visual (concepts like images)

And when you sketchnote, both modes are active.

Your whole brain is used for absorbing and synthesizing ideas.

It’s a lot like building a mental map. But here’s the thing with maps:

Every map you have ever looked at has been the result of what the map maker decided was important enough to include.

When it comes to PKM and sensemaking, YOU get to assume the role of the cartographer and build your own maps.

And sketchnoting, it turns out, is a great way to do just that.

“But I’m Not an Artist!”

The truth? Neither am I 😂

Want proof? Here you go, this is an image of my very first sketchnote:

I told you I’m not an artist.

But that’s okay because the quality of the image almost doesn’t matter. What you’re after is the encoding of the image in your brain.

As Mike Rohde (the Sketchnote Guy) says, Ideas, not art.

When I started sketchnoting, I didn’t show or tell anyone what I was doing. It took me several years to feel comfortable sharing my sketchnote images online.

But I noticed the retention benefits of sketchnoting right away. And after about 1000 sketchnotes, I’ve gotten a lot better.

But it’s not about the quality of the image. It’s about the quality of the idea.

Don’t sketchnote because you want to show off. Sketchnote because you want to remember more.

And the more you remember, the more likely you are to make connections and unlock deeper levels of understanding.

Some Sketchnoting Tips

If I’ve convinced you to give sketchnoting a try, here are a few tips to help get you started:

1. Use basic shapes to make your sketchnote. Most sketchnotes are comprised of just a few simple shapes: circles, squares, triangles, lines, and dots. Use these basic elements and building blocks when composing your sketchnote and it’ll make the process much easier – especially at the beginning.
2. Use dot grid paper. Dot grid gives you enough reference to help you in using the basic shapes that comprise a sketchnote, but does’t force you to be as rigid as solid lines.
3. Don’t go too crazy with detail. Try to find the flow with what the speaker is saying. You can always come back and add more detail and color later if you want.
4. Stick with it! Your beginning sketchnotes might look just as bad as mine. That’s okayI Remember, you’re creating ideas, not art. Keep with it. Before long, your sketchnotes will evolve and eventually you’ll find your style.

Analog vs. Digital

Remember, we started this newsletter with a study that showed the benefits of using analog instead of digital forms of note-taking.

But here’s my dirty little secret: I do all my sketchnoting on my iPad mini.

That’s not actually where I recommend you start, though.

I recommend you start sketchnoting with analog tools. The reason is that you have to experience making a mark on the page and feeling like it’s wrong. I had to learn the hard way to just keep going instead of trying to fix my mistakes. Using pen and paper was essential to me developing my sketchnote style.

Now, I use GoodNotes. It’s the perfect blend of power and simplicity, IMHO. Yes, you can do more with apps like Procreate, but that’s kind of the beauty of GoodNotes: it’s simple. I’ve now got over 800 sketchnotes in GoodNotes, and I bring them all into Obsidian as well.

Give It a Shot!

Before you completely dismiss the idea of sketchnoting, I encourage you to give it a shot. Don’t worry about the quality; just try to capture the essence of the ideas.

You might just find (like I did) it’s the perfect tool to help you better make sense of things.

😎 Something Cool: Writing Examples from David Perrell

David Perell is the guy behind the insanely successful Write of Passage cohort, and he just launched a really cool website at writingexamples.com. It’s one of the most beautiful websites I’ve ever seen and provides some great resources for understanding what makes writing great through a combination of excerpts, articles, and videos.

You really need to see it to experience it. There are currently 12 different “books” in the library, which is plenty to get started, but I do hope more get added over time.

If you’re at all interested in writing better, you should check out writingexamples.com.

📚 Book Notes: The Art of the Idea by John Hunt

If you’re at all interested in the ideation process, you should check out The Art of the Idea by Jonathan Hunt. This is a great book about recognizing, developing, and leveraging big ideas. The whole description of ideation is important for creatives who know the struggle all too well.

This book came to mind when writing this newsletter because I know that sketchnoting will be an uncomfortable topic for some people. But that’s why you should give it a shot 😉 I particularly like this quote from page 64:

Bottom line? You get out of it what you put into it. If you want to increase the quantity and/or quality of your ideas, you have to put in the work.

If you want to download my mind map book notes for this book, click here.

— Mike

P.S. Last week, I did a free workshop just for Library members on mind mapping. As a Library member, you can view the replay here (but you might have to log in first).