Meet my second brain
Demands for changing the life
Meet my second brain
Demands for changing the life.
After watching this video ( I learned a productivity system for organizing life - YouTube ) with Tiago Forte and his book “Build a second brain” I just decided to share the current state of my second brain as well. I believe, It is a really good approach especially in the era of constant productivity and knowledge races.
My way
So for me it started from the point when I come to my first work after graduation from university. I had to learn a new programming language and at the same time I didn’t like digital conspects at all. All the time at university I was writing my conspects in the copibooks despite the fact that I was studying on computer science.
First demand in terms of developing a second brain was to save all things just for myself.
In time, it became to complicated to find something in big amount of paper pages. Besides that I started to be like a mentor and I had a necessity to share something that I’ve found or done with my colleagues and mentees. Second demand - to share something with others. It’s time to move shift the mind to digital notes. I’ve chossen evernote. And it was actually great (apart from the fact, that I needed to type all my handwritten noted into app) because it has a beatiful interface, and even if you write a simple text with a couple of screenshots it looks already great because of interface itself.
Here is an example, how it looked for me:
First demand in terms of developing a second brain was to save all things just for myself.
In time, it became to complicated to find something in big amount of paper pages. Besides that I started to be like a mentor and I had a necessity to share something that I’ve found or done with my colleagues and mentees. Second demand - to share something with others. It’s time to move shift the mind to digital notes. I’ve chossen evernote. And it was actually great (apart from the fact, that I needed to type all my handwritten noted into app) because it has a beatiful interface, and even if you write a simple text with a couple of screenshots it looks already great because of interface itself.
Here is an example, how it looked for me:
I think I could use it forever, but unfortunatelly Evernote closed payments from my country and without some features free version was not convenient for me.
This time I tried to Notion. Thanks developers, it is possible to move all your data from one to another app. However all styles of pages was broken, I should not copy every single page separately. All of a sudden, in Notion free version is enough for my purpouses, so till now I’m still using it completely for free.
Next step was actually to make it more attractive (and it is actually the third demand). In the past, whyle I was using Evernote, I didn’t want to switch to Notion, because examples that I’ve seen was like an almost empty white paper with a thin list in the middle of page. It was sad… And in coparing with evernote, which already was colorful and beautiful Notion didn’t look preaty. So after moving to Notion I started to look for videos and tutorials, how to organize it better. And finally come to current version.
This time I tried to Notion. Thanks developers, it is possible to move all your data from one to another app. However all styles of pages was broken, I should not copy every single page separately. All of a sudden, in Notion free version is enough for my purpouses, so till now I’m still using it completely for free.
Next step was actually to make it more attractive (and it is actually the third demand). In the past, whyle I was using Evernote, I didn’t want to switch to Notion, because examples that I’ve seen was like an almost empty white paper with a thin list in the middle of page. It was sad… And in coparing with evernote, which already was colorful and beautiful Notion didn’t look preaty. So after moving to Notion I started to look for videos and tutorials, how to organize it better. And finally come to current version.
Building a second brain
At the same time I watched and read much about second brain and like tips for better learning, memorization and so on. And here we come to the forth demand - I need a system, not just a library with independent facts, but like a real brain with connections between different parts, I need a habit to maintain it and use when it is needed. So I was excited by the title of book by Tiago Forte. Here are some sources that you ca check:
The ULTIMATE Second Brain Setup in Notion - YouTube
Confronting my Productivity Guru - Tiago Forte - YouTube
How to Organise your Life - Building a Second Brain - YouTube
But sorry, spoiler, I was a little bit disappointed with this book. I should say that it is great for someone who just started to think about some system for own knowledges, notes, plans etc. And in this case Tiago will give you hundreds of reasons to create and customize a second brain. But unfortunatelly, I read it too late. I went almost the same way as he went, so it is not needed for me to argue, why second brain is great feature. And practical part was so small and simple that I just think that youtube video in my case would be enough.
However, there are some great point anyway which I’ve learnt from this book (in details you can read about them in the Tiago’s book).
The ULTIMATE Second Brain Setup in Notion - YouTube
Confronting my Productivity Guru - Tiago Forte - YouTube
How to Organise your Life - Building a Second Brain - YouTube
But sorry, spoiler, I was a little bit disappointed with this book. I should say that it is great for someone who just started to think about some system for own knowledges, notes, plans etc. And in this case Tiago will give you hundreds of reasons to create and customize a second brain. But unfortunatelly, I read it too late. I went almost the same way as he went, so it is not needed for me to argue, why second brain is great feature. And practical part was so small and simple that I just think that youtube video in my case would be enough.
However, there are some great point anyway which I’ve learnt from this book (in details you can read about them in the Tiago’s book).
Take aways from the book
First of all PARA method - is the main point of Tiago’s book, videos and the whole approach. It is just like a structure of your brain which should be devided on for main parts: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archieves. I thought that I don’t need to change anything in that way, because I already have similar structure, but with more categories and a little bit different approach to dividing. If I change it to PARA system, it will add more complexity, and extra click to find anything. More over, currently I have like a mindset in term of my categories and changing it will take some time without, as I think much impact.
Second thing from the book is CODE framework. And this is actually a greate approach, how to work with your second brain. First of all you need to Capture new information, Organize it, Distill and Express in further using. Great idea is that this steps should be divided in the timeline, to have a chance to asorb and digest information, to decide, where it can be used.
As for further working with captured data I like archipelago of ideas and Hemingway’s bridge points. You just need to gather some facts and points before work, to not start with a black page and stop only when you know what should be next in your work (to be sure, that next time it will be easier to start working with knowing what to do). In terms of writing of working on some project these two approach I think should be crucial.
Second thing from the book is CODE framework. And this is actually a greate approach, how to work with your second brain. First of all you need to Capture new information, Organize it, Distill and Express in further using. Great idea is that this steps should be divided in the timeline, to have a chance to asorb and digest information, to decide, where it can be used.
As for further working with captured data I like archipelago of ideas and Hemingway’s bridge points. You just need to gather some facts and points before work, to not start with a black page and stop only when you know what should be next in your work (to be sure, that next time it will be easier to start working with knowing what to do). In terms of writing of working on some project these two approach I think should be crucial.
Conclusion
As I started to think about my Notion account as about my second brain, and as I’m getting used to capture all my life here, I just regret that I haven’t done it earlier. Sometimes I think about all staff which is lost for me (even if these things were done by me personally it is really hard to remember and repeat them after so much time). But the only thing that I can do, just prevent these losses in future.
Apart from that, now there is one more demand for changing (or enhancing) the whole approach - sharing something in English. Some time ago I had to share my experience with my colleague, but I couldn’t do it just right on the way because it was on my native language, which my colleague don’t know. So this is like a new level, when you need to translate your expertize to English (instead of or along with native language). But this is a story for maybe future posts.
Apart from that, now there is one more demand for changing (or enhancing) the whole approach - sharing something in English. Some time ago I had to share my experience with my colleague, but I couldn’t do it just right on the way because it was on my native language, which my colleague don’t know. So this is like a new level, when you need to translate your expertize to English (instead of or along with native language). But this is a story for maybe future posts.
