#07: On building a second brain, and good systems
it's like magic, but better
Welcome to Nuclear Wisdom, a weekly newsletter of fresh ideas and mental models for your self-expansion and improved well-being.
Today at a Glance:
Idea: Building a second brain, an extension of mind
Quotes: On systems
Read time: 4 minutes
That means I can revisit any moment of my past with a simple search…
What I thought about life and work,
my attitude and mindset at that time,
how I felt in different chapters of my life,
practically any experience, relationship, or idea from the past…
Holy s**t!
My friend’s reaction was something along these lines when I told him about the idea of a second brain.
A concept he heard for the first time in 29 years.
Organizing or “systematizing” personal knowledge is nothing new.
But the idea of building a second brain (a.k.a. BASB) has found its way into the conversation among curious learners, professionals, and creatives in recent years, primarily thanks to Tiago Forte, who coined the term.
Tiago is one of the world’s foremost productivity experts and founder of Forte Labs, an education and coaching company dedicated to helping people organize their lives and unlock their creative potential.
Just two weeks ago, I went down rabbit holes on productivity, organizing my creative work, and managing my personal education.
When contemplating where to save my notes, whether on Notion, Evernote, or Google Drive, I had a Eureka moment:
I could build a second brain!
What is a second brain, and why should you care?
Your brain has been trained by millions of years of evolution on recognition.
This ensured your ancestors’ survival and is why you came to see the light of day.
Congratulations! But, contrary to that, your brain is terrible at recall.
Don’t take this personally. Mine isn’t better.
No brain is. Except your name is Mike Ross.
That’s why a second brain comes in handy.
“Building a Second Brain is a methodology for saving and systematically reminding us of the ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections we’ve gained through our experience. It expands our memory and our intellect using the modern tools of technology and networks.”
- Tiago Forte
The idea essentially centers around using a smart notetaking system to help you organize your projects or a series of ideas and thread them into the larger mesh of your digital life.
It’s designed to save these ideas and systematically remind you of those whenever you need them.
Or whenever you’d like to peek into the thoughts and feelings of your old self, as my friend pointed out when the concept of the second brain blew him away.
I myself heard about it before, but I never gave it a shot until recently.
Given the kickoff of projects such as my newsletter or a Google UX Design course I started taking, building a second brain suddenly became a no-brainer.
“What if I currently don’t have any projects?” you might ask.
You don’t need any. Your life itself is a project if not the greatest of all.
Anyone who cares about organizing their digital lives and decluttering their brains can and should at least have a look into it.
It can provide you with a useful answer to “How to organize your life?”
Skip the Google search – read on!
Why should you care?
Here‘s what Tiago says:
How many brilliant ideas have you had and forgotten? How many insights have you failed to take action on? How much useful advice have you slowly forgotten as the years have passed?
We feel a constant pressure to be learning, improving ourselves, and making progress. We spend countless hours every year reading, listening, and watching informational content. And yet, where has all that valuable knowledge gone? Where is it when we need it? Our brain can only store a few thoughts at any one time. Our brain is for having ideas, not storing them.
I’m still taking baby steps in organizing my digital life.
But the clarity and “free working memory” I gain from delegating anything that’s not immediately actionable to my second brain feels like a cognitive holiday.
Take a look at the screenshot below.
You can see that I started building my Second Brain using the PARA Method.
PARA is a framework you can use to organize your life and information into four simple categories:
Projects
Areas
Resources
Archives
This is the path of least resistance for keeping your life in order, so you can actually spend your time living it.
At some point, I probably will share a few more insights on my progress with building a second brain, but for now, I’ll stick to my promise of keeping this Newsletter sweet and short.
To make things actionable and useful, I handpicked a short YouTube video series for you that you can implement immediately.
If you‘re a pragmatic person and would like to start building ASAP, it could be a good starting point:
Building a second brain: the PARA method, by Tiago Forte ⏯
On building systems
Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.
– James Clear
The way to build a complex system that works is to build it from very simple systems that work.
– Kevin Kelly
Instead of reacting to an error with, “I need to be more careful,” we can respond with, “I can build a better system.”
If it matters enough to be careful, it matters enough to build a system around it.
– Seth Godin,
Systems are the boundary between success and error.
They form the foundation of society.
And dictate life every single day.
Build good systems.
Thanks a bunch, and happy building 🧠
Mete
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Regarding systems: have you ever looked up the definition?
It's one of the words everybody uses but nobody knows what it means exactly :D
Thanks for the video link, I've been on the fence about implementing a second brain for a few years now but will take action now 🙏