A 2ndBrain is a stack of technologies and processes; mainly software apps to manage all of your knowledge, tasks and productivity inside and outside your work. It can also include hardware devices such as a physical digital notebook.

However since the majority of software apps are free or cheap they are usually the focus and the backbone of first building a 2ndBrain.

If you are anything like me then school and work never taught you ,among the many many things they should have, how to manage your productivity in relationship with technology. Moreover the school curriculum is based on paper note taking and writing.

Although still valuable it utterly ignores the digitisation of everything in the outside world. Even essential and basic things such as payments, dentist appointment booking and reminders; buying and using event tickets; personal and business banking, public transport passes, government forms and census and business documentation have gone digital over the last 30 years.

Almost always using a smartphone or laptop/desktop and utilising things like websites, QR codes, NFC chips, digital calendars etc it puts these devices at centre of our palm in daily life. So how much potential is being left on the table when schools and conventional education hardly includes how to use these devices above and beyond these essential tasks. If we cannot live conveniently without these devices we might as well leverage them to the fullest.

Unfortunately big billion technology companies are the ones who made this digitastion happen and since they are profit driven above all else. The devices which are now portable and can run far more advanced programs are designed to drain our attention and harvest our purchasing instincts to fulfil those quarterly profit targets.

However over the last decade there has been a surge in productivity apps and content. So if you can find a good app and make a system for your notes, reminders, tasks this can transform your ability to do and manage new endeavours.

Things such as making a plan for a new business; taking notes on books you read so those hours reading are never wasted; journaling; tracking investments and investment leftovers; recipe database. I have even seen someone make a database of gifs of video transitions and animations they see on YouTube for video editing ideas.

The reason mega businesses like McDonalds are so efficient and consistent is they have documentation and processes on everything from how many grams of sauce goes on a BigMac to fries cooking time.

This is what enables it to scale, be consistent in over 100 contries and can measure and therefore improve efficieny.

So having a central place and processes to manage essentially your life provides you with a lot of clarity and will mean you actually get a lot of value for those devices we sometimes fork out thousands for.

For example as shown below, in my course I set up a browser extension 'Save to Notion' that copy pastes an article I wanted to read later at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aaai.12064 to my Notion note taking app. It has various properties like the note category , whether the information is actionable and automatically generates a ‘summary’ and ‘actionables’ section to fill out on my first read. So if I read it again in the future I do not have to re-read the entire thing word for word. I can just read the ‘summary’ and ‘actionables’ and skim my eyes over the rest.

Reading the article in my note taking app also ensures I won't get distracted by other clickbait articles or ads. I minimise the time I expose myself to these by choosing which articles to read once and not needing to go back to the site unless I have an intent to learn something that I want as opposed to having attention grabbing yet time wasting content pushed on to me.

Over 80% of the benefit of a 2ndBrain is done just by following the principles of Eliminating and Defending against noise and Capturing, Organising and Storing valuable information. Choosing the perfect apps and optimizing the 2ndBrain to your circumstances is a after understanding and developing the habits of a 2ndBrain and is a dangerous road to the paradox of choice.

That’s why I made the 2ndBrain course to save you the couple of years I spent reading and experimenting on how to build one. More details here !

0 comments

My evolution into a productivity champion using a 2ndBrain

3 free apps to master producitivity by building a 2ndBrain

See all posts from 2ndbrain