# books - Building a Second Brain  ## Metadata - Author: [[Tiago Forte]] - Full Title: Building a Second Brain - Category: #Source/books ## Summary - it is important to use a second brain - This can have many benefits, including as a thinking tool - There is too much information in the world - save things that resonate and connect them together - Avoid biases including recency bias and confirmation bias. - Bring things together into projects using searching, tags, serendipity (including sharing via digital gardens) and browsing - ==It’s easy to try to be perfectionist in the establishment of a second brain. Avoid this.== - Just try to establish better saving and creation habits. ## Progressive summarisation - "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention" - Herbert Simon - We tend to favor the ideas, solutions, and influences that occurred to us most recently, regardless of whether they are the best ones. This is called recency bias. - Save things that resonate. Often, the ideas that resonate are the ones that are most unusual, counterintuitive, interesting, or potentially useful. Don’t make it an analytical decision, and don’t worry about why exactly it resonates—just look inside for a feeling of pleasure, curiosity, wonder, or excitement - Everything not saved will be lost. —Nintendo “Quit Screen” message - Your Second Brain shouldn’t be just another way of confirming what you already know. This is another type of bias. - To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. —Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher - Those four retrieval methods are: Search Browsing Tags Serendipity. Links to [[My Second Brain Workflow]] - sharing our ideas with others introduces a major element of serendipity. When you present an idea to another person, their reaction is inherently unpredictable. Links to [[digital garden]] - It’s not enough to have inner discipline. We also need to follow an outer discipline—a system of principles and behaviors—to channel our energies, thoughts, and emotions productively. Links to [[Habits]] - we are not building an encyclopedia of immaculately organized knowledge. We are building a working system. Both in the sense that it must work, and in the sense that it is a regular part of our everyday lives. For that reason, you should prefer a system that is imperfect, but that continues to be useful in the real conditions of your life. Links to [[Perfectionism]] - It takes courage and vulnerability to stand up and deliver your message. It takes going against the grain, refusing to be quiet and hidden in the face of fear. Finding your voice and speaking your truth is a radical act of self-worth: Who are you to speak up? Who says you have anything to offer? Who are you to demand people’s attention and take up their time? ## Highlights - Research from Microsoft shows that the average US employee spends 76 hours per year looking for misplaced notes, items, or files.3 And a report from the International Data Corporation found that 26 percent of a typical knowledge worker’s day is spent looking for and consolidating information spread across a variety of systems.4 Incredibly, only 56 percent of the time are they able to find the information required to do their jobs. ([Location 242](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=242)) - a note is a “knowledge building block”—a discrete unit of information interpreted through your unique perspective and stored outside your head. ([Location 321](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=321)) - You withhold judgment, seeking to gather the widest possible range of feedback before deciding on a course of action. ([Location 376](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=376)) - Herbert Simon, an American economist and cognitive psychologist, wrote, “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention . ([Location 424](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=424)) - There are four essential capabilities that we can rely on a Second Brain to perform for us: Making our ideas concrete. Revealing new associations between ideas. Incubating our ideas over time. Sharpening our unique perspectives. ([Location 457](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=457)) - recency bias.4 We tend to favor the ideas, solutions, and influences that occurred to us most recently, regardless of whether they are the best ones. ([Location 498](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=498)) - the jobs that are most likely to stick around are those that involve promoting or defending a particular perspective. ([Location 510](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=510)) - “It’s not that I’m blocked. It’s that I don’t have enough research to write with power and knowledge about that topic. It always means, not that I can’t find the right words, [but rather] that I don’t have the ammunition.”7 ([Location 517](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=517)) - The second way that people use their Second Brain is to connect ideas together. Their Second Brain evolves from being primarily a memory tool to becoming a thinking tool. ([Location 564](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=564)) - the third and final way that people use their Second Brain is for creating new things. They realize that they have a lot of knowledge on a subject and decide to turn it into something concrete and shareable. ([Location 571](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=571)) - “CODE”—Capture; Organize; Distill; Express. ([Location 584](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=584)) - Often, the ideas that resonate are the ones that are most unusual, counterintuitive, interesting, or potentially useful. Don’t make it an analytical decision, and don’t worry about why exactly it resonates—just look inside for a feeling of pleasure, curiosity, wonder, or excitement, and let that be your signal for when it’s time to capture a passage, an image, a quote, or a fact. ([Location 611](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=611)) - The best way to organize your notes is to organize for action, according to the active projects you are working on right now. Consider new information in terms of its utility, asking, “How is this going to help me move forward one of my current projects?” ([Location 627](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=627)) - Organizing for action gives you a sense of tremendous clarity, because you know that everything you’re keeping actually has a purpose. ([Location 631](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=631)) - There is a powerful way to facilitate and speed up this process of rapid association: distill your notes down to their essence. ([Location 640](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=640)) - All you need is a slightly more intentional, more deliberate way to manage that information, plus a few practical habits to ensure it gets done. ([Location 685](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=685)) - Everything not saved will be lost. —Nintendo “Quit Screen” message ([Location 712](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=712)) - Software engineers build “code libraries” so useful bits of code are easy to access. Lawyers keep “case files” with details from past cases they might want to refer to in the future. Marketers and advertisers maintain “swipe files” with examples of compelling ads they might want to draw from. ([Location 770](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=770)) - The more economical you can be with the material you capture in the first place, the less time and effort your future self will have to spend organizing, distilling, and expressing it. ([Location 919](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=919)) - a simple definition for “information”: that which surprises you. ([Location 949](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=949)) - Your Second Brain shouldn’t be just another way of confirming what you already know. We are already surrounded by algorithms that feed us only what we already believe ([Location 955](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=955)) - capture key information about the source of a note, such as the original web page address, the title of the piece, the author or publisher, and the date it was published. ([Location 992](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=992)) - One of the most cited psychology papers of the 1990s found that “translating emotional events into words leads to profound social, psychological, and neural changes.” ([Location 1055](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1055)) - how much content to capture in your notes, ==I recommend no more than 10 percent of the original source==, at most. ([Location 1094](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1094)) - Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work. —Gustave Flaubert, French novelist ([Location 1108](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1108)) - the Cathedral Effect.2 Studies have shown that the environment we find ourselves in powerfully shapes our thinking. ([Location 1166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1166)) - putting a note into a folder (or tagging it*) for a specific project, such as a psychology paper you’re writing or a presentation you’re preparing, you’ll encounter that idea right at the moment it’s most relevant. ([Location 1215](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1215)) - “A project is identified; a team is assembled; it works together for precisely as long as is needed to complete the task; then the team disbands . . . The Hollywood model is now used to build bridges, design apps or start restaurants.” It ([Location 1253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1253)) - Resources: Things I Want to Reference in the Future ([Location 1297](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1297)) - gave me a piece of advice that has served me ever since: move quickly and touch lightly. ([Location 1464](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1464)) - Researchers have called it the “Magic Number 4” because it is the highest number that we can count at a glance and hold in our minds without extra effort. ([Location 1506](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1506)) - To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. —Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher ([Location 1512](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1512)) - notetaking is like time travel—you are sending packets of knowledge through time to your future self. ([Location 1570](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1570)) - Your job as a notetaker is to preserve the notes you’re taking on the things you discover in such a way that they can survive the journey into the future. ([Location 1583](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1583)) - Distillation is at the very heart of all effective communication. The more important it is that your audience hear and take action on your message, the more distilled that message needs to be. The details and subtleties can come later once you have your audience’s attention. ([Location 1608](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1608)) - For only the very few sources that are truly unique and valuable, I’ll add an “executive summary” at the top of the note with a few bullet points summarizing the article in my own words. The best sign that a fourth layer is needed is when I find myself visiting a note again and again, ([Location 1654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1654)) - I often use Progressive Summarization to summarize my notes after phone calls to make sure I’m extracting every bit of value from them. ([Location 1740](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1740)) - Progressive Summarization is not a method for remembering as much as possible—it is a method for forgetting as much as possible. ([Location 1781](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1781)) - Remember that notes are not authoritative texts. You don’t need to and shouldn’t include every tiny detail. They are more like bookmarks peeking out from the pages of a book on the shelf, signaling to you, “Hey! There’s something interesting here!” ([Location 1795](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1795)) - rely on your intuition to tell you when a passage is interesting, counterintuitive, or relevant to your favorite problems or a current project. ([Location 1821](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1821)) - stigmergy—to leave “marks” on the environment that make your future efforts easier. It is a strategy used by ant colonies to find food. ([Location 1879](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1879)) - Professional creatives constantly draw on outside sources of inspiration—their own experiences and observations, lessons gleaned from successes and failures alike, and the ideas of others. ([Location 1954](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1954)) - The challenge we face in building a Second Brain is how to establish a system for personal knowledge that frees up attention, instead of taking more of it. ([Location 1963](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1963)) - [[Intermediate Packets]] are the concrete, individual building blocks that make up your work. ([Location 1992](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=1992)) - There are five kinds of Intermediate Packets you can create and reuse in your work: ([Location 2006](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2006)) - Distilled notes: Books or articles you’ve read and distilled so it’s easy to get the gist of what they contain ([Location 2007](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2007)) - Outtakes: The material or ideas that didn’t make it into a past project but could be used in future ones. ([Location 2009](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2009)) - Work-in-process: The documents, graphics, agendas, or plans you produced during past projects. ([Location 2010](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2010)) - Final deliverables: Concrete pieces of work you’ve delivered as part of past projects, which could become components of something new. ([Location 2011](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2011)) - Documents created by others: ([Location 2012](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2012)) - If you’re writing an essay and decide to cut a paragraph, you can save those outtakes in case you ever write a follow-up. ([Location 2015](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2015)) - you’ll have so many IPs at your disposal that you can execute entire projects just by assembling previously created IPs. This is a magical experience that will completely change how you view productivity. ([Location 2033](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2033)) - Those four retrieval methods are: Search Browsing Tags Serendipity ([Location 2093](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2093)) - studies5 have found that in many situations people strongly prefer to navigate their file systems manually, scanning for the information they’re looking for. Manual navigation gives people control over how they navigate, with folders and file names providing small contextual clues about where to look next. ([Location 2113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2113)) - serendipity is amplified by visual patterns. This is why I strongly suggest saving not only text notes but images as well ([Location 2158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2158)) - sharing our ideas with others introduces a major element of serendipity. When you present an idea to another person, their reaction is inherently unpredictable. ([Location 2161](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2161)) - Instead of thinking of your job in terms of tasks, which always require you to be there, personally, doing everything yourself, you will start to think in terms of assets and building blocks that you can assemble. ([Location 2253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2253)) - Thoughts are fleeting, quickly fading as time passes. To truly make an idea stick, you have to engage with it. ([Location 2266](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2266)) - If you look at the process of creating anything, it follows the same simple pattern, alternating back and forth between divergence and convergence. ([Location 2342](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2342)) - Convergence forces us to eliminate options, make trade-offs, and decide what is truly essential. It is about narrowing the range of possibilities so that you can make forward progress and end up with a final result you are proud of. ([Location 2356](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2356)) - The first two steps of the [[CODE model]], Capture and Organize, make up divergence. ([Location 2370](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2370)) - The final two steps, Distill and Express, are about convergence. ([Location 2371](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2371)) - When you distinguish between the two modes of divergence and convergence, you can decide each time you begin to work which mode you want to be in, ([Location 2378](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2378)) - convergence is where most people struggle. ([Location 2383](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2383)) - Archipelago of Ideas note ([Location 2409](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2409)) - Note: Map of content treasurr map? map of questions? Mpre granular MOC - choosing ideas (known as selection) and arranging them into a logical flow (known as sequencing). ([Location 2432](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2432)) - Instead of starting with scarcity, start with abundance—the abundance of interesting insights you’ve collected in your Second Brain. ([Location 2440](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2440)) - Divergence and convergence are not a linear path, but a loop: once you complete one round of convergence, you can take what you’ve learned right back into a new cycle of divergence. ([Location 2522](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2522)) - an Archipelago of Ideas—an outline of the main questions, considerations, desired features, and constraints ([Location 2530](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2530)) ### The Essential Habits of Digital Organizers #### The Mise-en-Place Way to Sustainable Productivity - Chefs use mise en place—a philosophy and mindset embodied in a set of practical techniques—as their “external brain.”1 It gives them a way to externalize their thinking into their environment and automate the repetitive parts of cooking so they can focus completely on the creative parts. ([Location 2623](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2623)) - It’s not enough to have inner discipline. We also need to follow an outer discipline—a system of principles and behaviors—to channel our energies, thoughts, and emotions productively. ([Location 2636](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2636)) #### The Project Checklist Habit: The Key to Starting Your Knowledge Flywheel - treat your attention—as an asset that gets invested and produces a return, which in turn can be reinvested back into other ventures. This is how you can ensure your knowledge grows and compounds over time like a high-yield asset. ([Location 2658](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2658)) ##### Checklist #1: Project Kickoff - This is where the Project Kickoff Checklist comes in. Here’s my own checklist: Capture my current thinking on the project. Review folders (or tags) that might contain relevant notes. Search for related terms across all folders. Move (or tag) relevant notes to the project folder. Create an outline of collected notes and plan the project. ([Location 2674](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2674)) - Answer premortem* questions: ([Location 2721](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2721)) ##### Checklist #2: Project Completion - Here’s my checklist: Mark project as complete in task manager or project management app. Cross out the associated project goal and move to “Completed” section. Review Intermediate Packets and move them to other folders. Move project to archives across all platforms. If project is becoming inactive: add a current status note to the project folder before archiving. ([Location 2738](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2738)) - review the notes you’ve created over the past week, give them succinct titles that tell you what’s inside, and sort them into the appropriate PARA folders. ([Location 2804](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2804)) - There is no “correct” location for a given note, and search is incredibly effective, so I put it in the first place that occurs to me. ([Location 2831](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2831)) - There’s no need to clear your inbox frequently; unlike your to-do list, there’s no negative consequence if you miss a given note. ([Location 2928](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2928)) - we are not building an encyclopedia of immaculately organized knowledge. We are building a working system. Both in the sense that it must work, and in the sense that it is a regular part of our everyday lives. For that reason, you should prefer a system that is imperfect, but that continues to be useful in the real conditions of your life. ([Location 2934](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2934)) - An idea wants to be shared. And, in the sharing, it becomes more complex, more interesting, and more likely to work for more people. —adrienne maree brown, writer and activist ([Location 2947](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2947)) - it is never a person’s toolset that constrains their potential, it’s their mindset. ([Location 2962](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=2962)) - Delegating a job you’ve been doing for a long time is always intimidating. The voice of fear creeps up in the back of your mind: “Will there be anything left for me to do?” “Will I still be valued and needed?” ([Location 3024](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3024)) - As your information environment changes, the way your mind operates starts to be transformed. You leave behind one identity and step into another—an identity as the orchestrator and conductor of your life, not its passenger. ([Location 3028](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3028)) - An Abundance Mindset tells us that there is an endless amount of incredibly powerful knowledge everywhere we look—in the content we consume, in our social network, in our bodies and intuitions, and in our own minds. ([Location 3048](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3048)) - You will transition from doing things primarily out of obligation or pressure to doing things from a spirit of service. ([Location 3061](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3061)) - “Your singular perspective may patch some small hole in the vast tattered fabric of humanity.” ([Location 3077](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3077)) - “Polanyi’s Paradox.” It can be summarized as “We know more than we can say.” ([Location 3089](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3089)) - It takes courage and vulnerability to stand up and deliver your message. It takes going against the grain, refusing to be quiet and hidden in the face of fear. Finding your voice and speaking your truth is a radical act of self-worth: Who are you to speak up? Who says you have anything to offer? Who are you to demand people’s attention and take up their time? ([Location 3137](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3137)) - If at any point you feel overwhelmed, take a step back and focus on what is immediately necessary: your most important projects and priorities. Scale back to only the notes you need to move those priorities forward. ([Location 3158](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3158)) - Are you hoping to connect ideas and develop your ability to plan, influence, and grow in your personal and professional life? Experiment with consistently distilling and refining your notes using Progressive Summarization and revisiting them during weekly reviews. ([Location 3165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3165)) - Get inspired by identifying your twelve favorite problems. Make a list of some of your favorite problems, save the list as a note, and revisit it any time you need ideas for what to capture. Use these open-ended questions as a filter to decide which content is worth keeping. ([Location 3180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3180)) - incredible power of writing in public through my partnership with David Perell, who teaches people how to do it via his online writing school Write of Passage, which you can learn more about at writeofpassage.school. ([Location 3216](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3216)) - You can download this chapter at Buildingasecondbrain.com/bonuschapter. ([Location 3226](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09MDNDYYF&location=3226))