How I Started My Second Brain
Have you ever had a moment where you realize you’ve been doing something without even knowing what it’s called? That’s how I felt when I learned about the practice of building a “second brain.” I had been creating one for a while, without even realizing it.
So what is a second brain? It’s a concept coined by Tiago Forte, who defines it as “a trusted system external to your mind that captures, stores, and retrieves the ideas, insights, and information that are important to you.” In other words, it’s a way to organize and store all of the information and knowledge that we come across in our lives, so that we can easily access it later on.
When I first heard about the concept of building a second brain, I immediately related to it. I had always been a big note-taker and organizer, but I had never thought about doing it in a deliberate and intentional way. I realized that by building a second brain, I could not only be more efficient and effective in my work and personal life, but I could also become a better learner and thinker.
Here are the three first steps to start your second brain:
- Pick your weapon: There are so many tools and apps out there, and it can be overwhelming to figure out which one to use. After doing some research, I decided to start with Evernote. It seemed like a good all-around note-taking app that could handle everything from text to images to audio.
- Consolidate: I had information scattered all over the place — in Google Notes, screenshots, Google Docs, WhatsApp notes sent to myself, highlighted book sentences, and much more. I started by going through each of these sources and transferring the relevant information into my Evernote.
- Organize: I created a notebook system within Evernote that made sense to me, with different notebooks for work, entrepreneurship, personal, and creative projects. Within each notebook, I created tags to help me quickly find what I was looking for.
A benefit of having a second brain is that it allows you to offload some of the cognitive load of remembering things. By storing information outside of your brain, you free up mental space to focus on other things.
Building a second brain is not a one-time event — it’s an ongoing process. I continue to add new information to my Evernote on a daily basis, and I’m constantly refining my system. But the initial investment of time and energy has already paid off in big ways.
Of course, if you want to learn more about the process of creating a second brain, I recommend you to visit Forte’s website so you can get more detailed content on this topic.
