Hi all 👋! We consume a vast amount of content that our brains struggle to keep up with. To make the most of valuable information, we need to organize it in a way that allows us to access it in the future. I spoke with Tiago Forte (🎧 Ep85) on this topic. He is the author of the fantastic book Building a Second Brain, a proven framework for managing, organizing, and retrieving relevant digital information. It aims to increase productivity, reduce overwhelm, and enhance creativity. I'll break down our conversation so you can incorporate the framework into your daily life. I'm amazed by how much simpler it has made work, and I'm confident that you'll feel more motivated and engaged too.
Here is what you can expect to take away from this newsletter:
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Today’s newsletter is brought to you my favorite Second Brain app… Notion
Notion is my main Second Brain app and I use it every day for notes, trip planning, managing our family and even running All the Hacks. And it’s only gotten better with Notion AI, which can help you automate tedious tasks and streamline your workflow. For example, save time and write faster by letting Notion AI handle the brainstorm and first draft, or turn your messy notes into something polished.
I've been using it for a few months and it can absolutely help you work faster, write better, and think bigger — doing tasks that normally take you hours in just seconds.
And the best part? Try Notion AI for free right now at allthehacks.com/notion
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Building a Second Brain (BASB) is a system developed by Tiago Forte to remember and organize all the good ideas, inspirations, and other things we learn.
It uses technology to remove the burden of remembering everything and offloading this information to a suite of applications to help us think clearer and better. It's about keeping things in one place and using them to make things happen.
The goal is to help you become more creative, regardless of your profession.
Creativity is the fuel for content creation. The term "content creation" is often misinterpreted to refer to full-time TikTokers, podcasters, and social media managers. Yet, content creation is part of many professionals' day-to-day jobs (e.g., delivering a sales pitch, creating a presentation, or writing a cold email.)
Creativity is often blocked by the unnecessary information stored in your brain, making it harder to produce such content.
Most people's minds have stuff they can offload.
That offloading leaves space in the first brain for creativity, intuition, relationships, and the ability to learn new things. It can also save you as the capacities of your first brain diminish, whether caused by kids, age, or in Tiago's case, a chronic illness.
When you optimize your Second Brain, you enable your first brain to follow curiosity and spontaneity.
Let’s walk through the journey of implementing a Second Brain at a high-level and the benefits at each stage.
Think of it as an ecosystem of applications.
I wish I could say, "Here is a single app that does everything,” but unfortunately, that doesn't exist. Here is how you can build it:
The ecosystem of applications will change.
If you want some inspiration, I’d suggest reviewing Tiago's curated list of established tools and recommended apps.
Here are the specific apps I use to collect, store and process information:
You may also enjoy checking out the post I wrote last year on My Top Apps/Products for a Productive and Optimized Life.
It is important for your Second Brain only to contain information you have read, reviewed, and evaluated as valuable or actionable.
To best achieve this, use inboxes as the gatekeepers of your Second Brain.
The email inbox is the most common. Here's a 4-step process to filter inbound emails (and cut the reading of that email many times):
The read-later app is another valuable inbox. Here's a 3-step process to filter articles and other content:
The quick-notes inbox is for jotting down half-baked thoughts (i.e., digital post-it notes). Write it down now, and go through the process of filtering later.
Often times you’ll notice things you believe are important at the moment aren’t worthy of your time in the future.
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The CODE framework is a proven model for organizing your creative output into four distinct steps:
Following these steps can streamline your creative process and increase your productivity.
Here's how to apply the CODE framework to your daily life:
To capture information, you must set a higher standard for what enters your Second Brain. Instead of trying to capture everything, focus on ideas or concepts that will change your life in the future. This will help you solve the discoverability problem and make it easy to find and use the content you've read before. Use your capture system (i.e., notes) to write down or document valuable information.
It’s not about hoarding all pieces of information. As the expert on the system, Tiago shared just how much he captures:
Our minds are conditioned to organize through wide-ranging subjects (like a library does), but a more helpful structure is narrow and focused. Tiago believes "projects" are most relevant to how we work, so he developed the PARA organization to structure your Second Brain:
To get started, archive everything you have in a folder (date today) and then identify your current projects.
To make information easy to discover and understand for your future self, develop a structure allowing you to communicate and build on your past experiences and knowledge. This will help you avoid trying to decipher the value of old notes or articles. The information is boiled down to its key takeaway, action steps, or punchline.
The previous three steps aim to finish your work faster and with less effort. Use your creativity to put the distilled information back into the world. Express the information through a creative medium, such as writing, drawing, or presenting.
Applying the CODE framework to your Second Brain lets you manage, organize, and retrieve relevant digital information. Start implementing the framework today and watch how much easier it is to manage your work and personal life.
You can learn more about Building a Second Brain by checking out the book, the course, and Tiago's blog.
If you have built your own Second Brain, please tell me about it. I’m interested to hear how you’ve implemented it, the apps you find useful, and the hacks to save time.
If you found this post enjoyable, you’ll love my post on productivity. It’s all about optimizing your work and life and getting more done!
Thanks,
Chris
The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired.
Editor’s Note: Special thanks to our partners: Trustworthy, Notion and CardPointers. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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