2nd brain
digitising your thoughts
Did you know average person consumes 174 newspapers or 34GB of data per day? From your inbox, to meetings, phone calls , conversations, endless Facebook likes Podcasts and views on the Gram. It’s extraordinary how much information we try to absorb. Unfortunately our brain is not equiped to handle this volume of data and recall it. Instead we fall victim to information overload.
Our brains are dumb…Well mine is! I think i’ll remember that idea, or that conversation and I don’t! Oops!
So how can you fix this issue? Is it possible to improve your lives and retain the information that your future self might find useful?
The answer is yes, using your 2nd Brain!
It’s a concept I discovered recently to help you remember those memories or quotes, ideas, inspirational books and passages, creative plans and so much more. You won’t forget and you can recall all your thoughts at a moments notice. You all have a tool that can help you in this task. Your smart phone.
Im sure you capture photos and take basic notes, you just don’t have a system to organise them for easy retrieval…yet! You’ll need a note taking app, like Apple notes, Evernote, or Notion to name a few, but these simple apps can drastically change your lives once you know how.
I use a system developed by Tiago Forte, who wrote the book, Building a Second Brain, a proven method to organizing your digital life and unlocking your creative potential. Alternatively check out Ali Abdaal’s YouTube video if you want a quick summary, he’s a mentor on the subject.
Tiago developed the acronym CODE. Capture, Organise, Distill, Express.
I use this daily in my 2nd brain system. Using apple notes to capture every thought, well most of them, to quotes from my latest book i’m reading. Currently Atomic Habits by James Clear, a must read if you want to improve something in your life and make it stick. More on that in a future post.
You can then Organise those random thoughts into folders:
Projects
Areas of responsibility
Resources
Archives
From their you can Distill or summarise those thoughts down into your fundamental learnings, or key ideas. Keep it simple, and make sure you right down what you were feeling or thinking about that topic as you do this, or your future self will be like what on earth did I mean by that statement? And keep it succinct.
Lastly and most importantly Express. Of course there is no point in having a system to reference information if you aren’t going to use it. Show your Work, share it , start a You Tube channel, a Newsletter or a blog! We all have something to give and share, and there is loads of people who are like minded out there that may find what you have to say interesting. Check out Austin Kleons book Show your work if you want to know more.
Once I implemented the system, I could quickly find information on any topic or thought, using searchability. The search functions are getting better and more reliable making finding information so quick and easy. Using tags or hashtags in relevant notes, helps put things in order and allocates notes to Smart Folders automatically.
It’s amazing how much information you digest and think of each day. From work tasks to personal things to do at home, shopping lists, car parts and chores around the home. 2nd Brain helps you manage this by creating smart lists, and notes. Freeing your 1st Brain up to concentrate on being creative and developing ideas.
I started using 2nd brain to help develop my newsletter content and manage the myriad of thoughts I have each day. I wish I discovered it earlier as its been enlightening and eye opening how much information I have collated in the past few months, and now I’m sharing my thoughts with the world.
Lastly there’s the hope that there might be something in my stories or experiences that others will find useful or inspiring. I had some feedback from a friend just this week saying how one of my posts made a big difference to how they started their day. Like what?! How cool, I had an impact on someones day? Im not used to hearing that kind of feedback. It was awesome! Even though it might have been small, this one comment made me more determined and driven to continue showing my work and sharing my thoughts. So I passed that positivity on, as its infectious and can be life changing.
Even if no-one finds this or future topics useful or thought provoking, I don’t mind, I’m immortalising my thoughts for my kids, my friends, and loved ones. Now anyone can go back and read my ramblings, and digest what I had to say …forever!
You know what they say put it on the internet and it’s out there for everyone to see.
So give it a go, have fun, be creative, develop your 2nd Brain and Show your Work who knows where it might lead
Until next time
Live long and prosper ;-)