The Importance of Taking Notes

Even after "school" you will need to continue to take notes and write stuff down.  The minute it will take to write something down and get it out of your head can save you much heartache later on.  I often get many ideas when I am about to go to sleep and use to ignore them, but now I take 5 minutes to write them on a piece of paper to review when I wake up.  I had a few blog posts fell apart because I did not write them down and figured I would remember them when I wake up or even in 30 minutes.  I didn't remember, and many good ideas have been lost because of this.

Thoughts and ideas are constantly racing through our heads, and dismissed so we can focus on the current task.  Many great ideas are lost during this time, these ideas are worthless.  This can be avoided by taking a minute to write the idea down.  I take a few minutes everyday, usually when I am running, where I can focus on my thoughts.  When I get an idea I stop and get out my mini notebook and write it down.  This is when I often get ideas for what I am working on, or blog posts.  The times when I can let my thoughts develop are rare and I now make sure I take advantage of them.  Everyone should take a few minutes every day to let their thoughts develop and devote their attention into that.  

You should take notes more than just when you have an idea or a spark of genius.  I take notes now to aid in my continual education after I read a marketing blog post or watch a Webinar.  I do this because with how much I read and how many different topics it becomes hard for me to keep them separate.  I also do this because it is a handy notebook with the main points and ideas of many posts all in one place.  When I finish I ask myself what have I learned by reading this, what were some main points.  If I can't think of anything I wait a minute and try again if still nothing I reread it.  I know that their is valuable information in what I just read, and sometimes after reading for a while it stops sinking in or I stopped reading and started skimming.

Without looking or scrolling up, what do you remember about the photo at the beginning?

I would be willing to say nothing other than it was a notebook, your mind went to focusing on the text of this post and you dismissed the image as just a thumbnail photo.  By the time you finish your task (reading the blog) the idea (image) is already vague and mostly gone.  That is just another example of how important note taking can be.

Some other great posts on this subject of note taking include:

Jim Raffel's post: Idea Factory

Mitch Joel's post: Take Notes

What main points did you take away from this post?  Do you take notes, how often?  How many ideas have you forgotten because you were too busy to write it down. 


Photo Credit to Brenderous who has a great idea about organizing notes which I will try to use from now on.

An Open Letter to Perspective Employers

This post is a continuation of my blog post I am a Position Player.

Disclosure this is very much a rant blog post to get out my frustrations of not being where I expected or wanted to be almost one year after I graduated. 

Finding that perfect job or any job right now is frustrating.  To help understand some of the frustrations I recommend you read this post about the Young, Educated, and Unemployed. You are looking for an entry level employee who can do a lot more than any entry level can and 3+ years experience be realistic, that is not entry level.  I understand there are people who have this experience and are out of work, but try to make the posting for them not a recent college graduate.  Also experience isn’t everything; sometimes it is better to have no experience.   I am able to do a lot but not everything in your job requirements, and I am aware of the hassle of hiring an entry level employee who doesn’t know everything… but that is what makes me entry level.  My experience and education has taught me a lot.  And my continual education has taught me even more.  I don’t want to be micro-managed but would like to have someone I can go to for advice or help.  As mentioned in, My Promise to Myself I have many areas of expertise in which I am comfortable working in.  I am also trying to add a My Resume to my blog… but honestly it’s not turning out good and still needs a lot of work.  In the mean time you can see it here on my LinkedIn.  Soon I plan to go into the two marketing agencies in Appleton I would love to work for and give them an offer they can't refuse.  I have done my research on the companies and know what they do and that I can do that.  I am almost to the point of working for minimum wage just so I can get more experience and get a relationship with the agency.  I am close to the point of no longer waiting for a job to open and going and make the job.

Thanks for sitting through my rant.

Raymond Lutzewitz

Continual Education: Always Learning

I graduated in December 2009 and I am learning MORE now that I am out of college. All being self taught for my enjoyment and to stay on top of the changing trends in the business world. I am putting more time and effort in now than I did during college.  I am also having to absorb a lot more because of how much information I am taking in daily.  Honestly I am not sure how long I will be able to go at this pace.  I am currently teaching myself about SEO, proper social media use for different brands and other topics.  My class load is huge right now and it is getting harder for me to retain this information.  To help aid myself in this task I am starting to teach myself like this was a class and taking notes to review later and less like a hobby.

How am I continuing my education?

• Watching numerous webinars on topics that interest me including social media, marketing, and engagement. 
• Reading numerous books on marketing. Some books I recommend are UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging (affiliate link if I did it correctly) and Twitter Works.
• I read numerous blogs every day a quick list of my top 5 because of the content, quality, and consistency are:

1. Social Media Examiner
2. The Brand Builder
3. Jim Raffel
4. UnMarketing 
5. Translator Digital Cafe

• Writing blog posts talking about marketing and getting my ideas out onto the web.
• Conversing with other marketing professionals on Twitter and Linkedin.

Photo credit: ZadorSpain

What webinars are you watching and participating in?  What books are you currently reading or would recommend that I and others read?   Which are the blogs you read daily, I read more than those 5 but they all offer consistent quality posts.