How to actually use your editorial learning with an ‘insights jar’

Too often, course materials and notes from our editorial learning moulder in a forgotten sub-folder. So how do we make sure we remember and apply this editorial learning? Adding key takeaways, notes and ideas from courses, books and conversations to an ‘insights jar’ helps us actually remember and put key lessons into practice.

Immediately after completing a training course, reading an interesting blog post, hearing from an inspiring speaker or having a great conversation with an edibuddy, we might feel fired up. We can see how to apply the lessons to our editorial work and we’re excited to get started.

And then… we just move on.

A new source of editorial learning grabs our attention or client work gets in the way. Several months later, we realize that we haven’t opened up our notes even once. They become just another sub-folder in our professional development files or just another page in our notebook.

What we need is an easy way to remember the central idea that got us so excited.

Repurposing the ‘win jar’ for editorial learning

The ‘win jar’ is a popular idea among editors. The idea is to collect together testimonials and other snippets that make you smile and remind you of your successes. You can then dip into your ‘jar’ (or digital equivalent) whenever you’re feeling demoralized or experiencing a touch of impostor syndrome.

I’ve been adding to a digital win jar for years: as of May 2026, mine has 325 entries. These mostly consist of client testimonials and lovely comments from fellow freelancers.

But I also keep a second ‘jar’ focused on actionable ideas and insights.

I call it an ‘insights jar’, and here’s how it works.

My win jar contains lots of comments from editors who’ve taken my training courses on editorial handovers and large projects. The courses are constructed around memorable frameworks, which serve as great summaries to add to your insights jar!

Building your insights jar

I’m pretty good at keeping notes on the courses I take and the books I read for my professional development. But the editorial world is full of amazing and inspiring voices. Even with the best of intentions, there are only so many ideas we can keep in our heads or find time to review.

To combat this, I’ve got into the habit of extracting the most useful, meaningful and powerful insights into a single location.

The idea is that every item I add to my insights jar is significant. I might only add five to ten things every year, but this means that every one is meaningful to me.

I also add a few notes on my thought process at the time and why I found the insight so helpful. This means that when I review my insights jar (much more realistic than reviewing whole reams of past course notes!), I’m catapulted back to my emotional and mental state when I added the insight. This helps me to viscerally remember why each one mattered to me – and ensure that I’m continuing to benefit from the heightened level of inspiration that prompted me to add the insight in the first place.

I also indicate where I’ve saved my full set of notes for the course, book or meeting that prompted the insight, so I can dig back into the details if I want to.

My insights jar ensures that I maximize what I get out of my professional development in a way that’s manageable.

Where to keep your insights jar

I keep my insights jar in Notion. I have a central page that lists my insights, with links to the pages that contain my detailed notes (where applicable).

But there are all sorts of ways you could construct your insights jar, both digital and non. Here are some other ideas:

• A Word document that lists your key insights and reminds you where you’ve filed your detailed notes
• A Word document with hyperlinks that jump to your detailed notes
• A digital folder of shortcuts to your folders of detailed notes
• An index at the back of your notebook with the page numbers of your detailed notes
• An actual jar where you keep insights recorded on bits of paper

I start a new ‘jar’ (page in Notion) each year, to avoid my insights jar becoming too cluttered or overwhelming. But you can have one long list if you prefer.

Reviewing your insights jar

Once you’ve constructed your insights jar, don’t forget to set up a regular reminder to actually look at it! Without this key step, all you’ve done is burden yourself with a fresh set of notes to feel guilty about ignoring.

I have a weekly reminder to look at my insights jar (although in practice I don’t look every single week).

Doing this regular review gently keeps the most useful ideas top of mind, so I can go back to them in more detail when it’s most helpful.

A caution: stay focused on the very best sources of editorial learning

Beware of bloat.

The secret to a powerful insights jar is to keep it brief and punchy. If it becomes tedious to review, the chances are you’ll stop using it.

But this need for brevity can present a new problem: how do you know what’s important enough to add to your insights jar?

You’ll probably get a feel for it over time. But, if in doubt, have a ‘holding area’ where you add potential additions. If you find yourself naturally thinking about one of them repeatedly, add it to your insights jar.

Then ruthlessly abandon the others to epistemological purgatory.

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Do you have an insights jar or similar? If so, what do you call it (I used to call mine a ‘journal’) and where do you keep it?

If you’re looking for editorial learning that offers you something a bit different, check out my courses Handling Large Editorial Projects and Perfect Handovers for Editorial Projects.