Have you ever felt like your notes are just a chaotic collection of thoughts, scattered across notebooks, apps, or sticky notes, never quite coming together into something useful, like a second brain?

After trying several complicated note-taking tactics, I was attracted to the outline method's simplicity and effectiveness. Safe to say, it delivered on the promise. I write notes to plan my goals, ...

Note-taking can help in class or a meeting—and if you do them right, they'll help you afterward as well. Lindsey Ellefson is Lifehacker’s Features Editor. She currently covers study and productivity ...