Part 1: The Foundation
Chapter 1: Where it all started
- Tiago Forte — the author — began to feel a pain in the back of his throat but his doctors couldn’t recognize his illness.
- He then took notes of his personal health records, and with the help of his doctors, was able to discover that he had a functional voice disorder - which included problems with any of the more than fifty pairs of muscles required to properly swallow a food.
- Moreover, he did a research on how he can improve his lifestyle which made his disorder more manageable.
- Collections of notes and files could be a business asset as well.
Chapter 2: What is a second brain?
- Commonplace Books
- diary or journal of personal reflections
- intellectuals and artists recorded interesting ideas
- “As you begin to see all the knowledge you’ve gained in tangible form, it dawns on you that you already have everything you need to strike out toward the future you want. There’s no need to wait until you’re perfectly prepared. No need to consume more information or do more research. All that’s left is for you to take action on what you already know and already have, which is laid out before you in meticulous detail.”
- Notes as Knowledge Building Blocks
- a discrete unit of information interpreted through your unique perspective and stored outside your head.
- discrete blocks that can be combined into something much greater — a report, an argument, a proposal, a story.
- By your definition, what is a second brain?
- May
- Brain Dump
- Wil 2. personal notes/notebook
- Josh
- personal knowledge bank
- we use it to actively remember stuff
- May
- Among the superpower of super brain, which one are you looking forward to the most? 4. “Second Brain Superpower #1: Make Our Ideas Concrete” 5. “Reveal New Associations Between Ideas” 6. “Second Brain Superpower #3: Incubate Our Ideas Over Time” 7. “Second Brain Superpower #4: Sharpen Our Unique Perspectives”
Part 2: CODE
Chapter 4: Capture — Keep what resonates
- A Second Brain gives us a way to filter the information stream and keep only the very best ideas that we encounter in a private, trusted place.
- Building a Private Collection of Knowledge
- The world’s most successful creatives need support systems (note-taking system) to pursue their craft
- Taylor Swift uses her phone to write her songs
- Talent needs to be channeled and developed in order to become something more than a momentary spark
- The world’s most successful creatives need support systems (note-taking system) to pursue their craft
- Creating a Knowledge Bank: How to Generate Compounding Interest from Your Thoughts
- What kinds of information are worth preserving when we don’t know exactly how we’ll be putting it to use?
- Twelve Favorite Problems: A Nobel Prize Winner’s Approach to Capturing
- “You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind.” - Richard Feynman
- Basically, maintain a list of twelve open questions.
- When you come across a solution/insight, test it against each question to see if it shed any new light on the problem.
- Capture Criteria: How to Avoid Keeping Too Much (or Too Little)
- Once you have identified the kinds of questions you want your Second Brain to answer, it’s time to choose specifically which pieces of information will be useful
- Four Criteria to identify which nuggets of knowledge are worth keeping
- Capture Criteria #1: Does it Inspire Me?
- Capture Criteria #2: Is It Useful?
- Sometimes, we come across pieces of information that aren’t necessarily inspiring, but you it might come in handy in the future.
- Example: Keeping a folder of stock photos, graphics and drawings (for powerpoint presentation/to spark new ideas)
- Capture Criteria #3: Is It Personal?
- One of the most valuable kinds of information to keep is personal information — your thoughts, reflection, and memories
- Capture Criteria #4: Is It Surprising?
- Confirmation bias
- Sometimes, we come across ideas that are neither inspiring, useful, nor personal, but there is something surprising about it
- You may not be able to immediately know why, but it conflicts with your existing point of view in a way that makes your brain perk up and pay attention.
- These are the ideas that you should capture.
- Read Logical Fallacies
- Ultimately, Capture What Resonates
- The Surprising Benefits of Externalizing Our Thoughts
- You are much more likely to remember information you have written down in your own words.
- This is known as the Generation Effect
- You are much more likely to remember information you have written down in your own words.
Session with Jason February 10, 2025
- Create a set of questions that matter to us/resonate with us (Similar to
- Personal
- How can I achieve financial health without actively working?
- Lois:
- How do we live a more fulfilling life?
- How do we minimize regret when we die?
- How can we use science to improve quality of life on a daily basis?
- How might we solve poverty in the midst of corruption?
- Work-related
- How can I connect better with other people so that it’s easier for us to understand each other?
- For example, when reporting to clients, how do I make sure that we are all in the same page?
- Lois:
- How can I connect better with other people so that it’s easier for us to understand each other?
- Personal
- Be ready to share
- How do you plan on practicing capture this week?
- I plan to be more open with the ideas that I encounter, especially those that are in conflict with my current knowledge?
- Pag may ideas, Lois wants to write it down immediately.
- Saving 10% of the original source.
- Whenever we read things, gusto ni Lois malaman yung buong context
- So she copies and pastes a paragraph word-per-word.
- Whenever we read things, gusto ni Lois malaman yung buong context
- How do you plan on practicing capture this week?
- Next Chapter: Organizing
- Reflect back if you were able to practice capture
Chapter 5: Organizing
How PARA Works: Priming Your Mind (and Notes) for Action
- Projects: Short-term efforts in your work of life that you’re working on now
- Example: Create slide deck for conference, complete data modeling
- Areas: Long-term responsibilities you want to manage over time
- Example of areas: Health, Work, Personal, Finances, Product Design,
- Resources: Topics or interests that may be useful in the future
- Archives: Inactive items from the other three categories
It’s important to separate capture and organize into two distinct steps: “keeping what resonates” in the moment is a separate decision from deciding to save something for the long term.
Creating an “Inbox” folder where new notes will be captured is a good idea. This is like a waiting area where new ideas live until you are ready to digest them into your Second Brain.