Illusion of Competence & Smart Note-Taking

Understanding Illusion of Competence

Definition: The illusion that you're learning new things while your brain is not actively engaged.
Symptoms: Highlighting, underlining, and passive note-taking give a false sense of learning.
Example: Inability to explain what you just learned.

Active Notes: Restructuring other people's thoughts into your own structure.
Atomic Notes: Each idea stands alone; allows thinking in 3D.
Connected Notes: Linking new ideas to existing knowledge.

Q/E/C: Question, Evidence, Conclusion.
Origin: Developed by Professor Cal Newport.
- Question: Identify the main questions the author addresses.
- Evidence: Highlight supporting details or examples (use a dash).
- Conclusion: Summarize the main idea or implication (use a dot).
Application Example: James Clear’s Atomic Habits
- Headings as questions
- Dots for new ideas
- Dashes for examples
- Combine to create Q/E/C notes.

Problem with Giant Documents: Difficult to remember isolated facts.
Benefits of Atomic Notes: Each piece of information stands alone, enabling multi-dimensional thinking.
Example: Linking disparate ideas using atomic notes.
Quote: Charlie Munger: “If the facts don’t hang together on a latticework of theory, don’t have them in a usable form.”

Compass Directions: A technique for expanding on ideas.
- North: Origin of the idea.
- West: Similar concepts.
- East: Competing or missing elements.
- South: Future applications or extensions.

Idea: “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
- North: Comes from goal-oriented thinking.
- West: Systems thinking.
- East: Importance of goal setting.
- South: Break bad habits, apply to larger organizations.

Combating Illusion of Competence: Engage actively with the material.
Smart Note Benefit: Becoming a powerful thinker and retaining learned information.
Next Steps: Explore Zettelkasten guide.