“Your brain is for thinking of ideas, not holding them,” says Tiago Forte, the author of the book “Building a second brain.” Before knowing about this book, I’d already used some productivity tools for years, such as Evernote, and I think Google calendar also counts for scheduling events more effectively.
However, I was wondering how we could really implement the concept of “building a second brain” that is not only designed to keep information we need as a data reservoir, where we organize data and making it a data warehouse. But we further digest data with diversified approaches to provide advanced viewpoints and useful analysis, which we may also see as data mining on ourselves. At that point, we could truly call it a brain rather than merely a digital storage. Trying to explore this concept, I found that many practices are related.
* Save favorite websites to My favorite in the browser and sync all devices by our accounts.
* Copy lines from articles and save them in local storage or as documents on the public cloud.
* Private knowledge base for ourselves or for teamwork with software like mediawiki, Confluence.
* project management tools such as Jira, Notion, and Monday.com. ，
* Tools to boost up or unleash creativity such as Obsidian, Xmind and Roam Research. Roam Research does not offer a free version and charges $165 USD annually.
* Fitness bracelets capable of monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, walking distance, running speed, GPS tracks and so on, and providing the host a useful insight to improve sleeping quality or exercise performance.
* Account Apps such as CWMoney or FortuneCity that I am using now
* Strategies and methodologies like Evergreen note to optimize the way to organize knowledge base, and Atomic Habits to help evolve the way we cultivate good habits and improve life quality.
Some of them act in a spoon feeding manner while some need users’ self-reflection first before utilizing them. Some just require persistence to keep simple records while some are more complicated to get familiar with before making them useful. Some of the information you already know but need to record manually while some are automatically recorded for you through applications. I believe more or less, we all have experience on these, so let’s all gain by sharing our thoughts and experience in the meeting.
Session I. Experience sharing
1. What productivity software are you using now?
2. Among multiple software tools for the same or similar purposes, why did you pick the one you are using?
3. Do you have the paid version or free version and what is the reason you paid for it? Is it worth the cost?
4. As time goes by, does any one of those tools become more important and record much more information than in the beginning?
5. Are all the software tools you are using working independently or some of them can work together?
Session II. The second brain concept
1. Based on the quote, “Your brain is for thinking of ideas, not holding them,” how would you define the second brain? And do you think you need to build one too, or it is just an analogy?
2. To unleash your brain power, in addition to leveraging modern software, applications and methodologies mentioned above to save effort from recalling details all the time, what else should be considered necessary to achieve that?
3. Should we be concerned that we rely on smart utilities and software tools too much, that rather than becoming smarter, we are turning more stupid?
4. If you believe cultivating a second brain is great, is it practical for everyone or does it also need a certain level of intelligence to implement?
5. If you were in a position to educate our next generation such as a parent or teacher, or like what my older sister does, making me a role model for her children in some aspect, what effort would you like to make to serve them better?
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agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:45pm Discussion Session (35 mins)
7:45 ~ 8:00pm Summarization (15 mins)
8:00 ~ 8:05pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 5 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:05 ~ 8:40pm Discussion Session (35 mins)
8:40 ~ 8:55pm Summarization (15 mins)
8:55 ~ 9:00pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements
Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $80)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘
Important Notes:
1. We advise participants to print out the discussion questions and bring them to the meeting for reference. As for the supporting articles, feel free to print them out, as well, according to your preference.
2. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
3. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion. The host may also ask you to give brief feedback about the meeting at the conclusion of the meeting.
4. We conduct the entire meeting in English. All participants should have at least moderate English-conversation skills and be able to articulate your ideas for each discussion question.
5. We welcome newcomers and other guests to attend the meetings and join the discussion freely for two times. After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1500 lifetime membership fee, or NT$1000 for students.
5/23 [Tue] How to build a second brain and benefit from it?
Re: 5/23 [Tue] How to build a second brain and benefit from it?
Move to the top.
Re: 5/23 [Tue] How to build a second brain and benefit from it?
I am traveling and I realized that I needed a second brain to store all the memories of the countless cathedrals and Roman ruins one after another.
However, my plans were disrupted when I discovered that my trip notes had vanished from OneNote a couple of days ago. I frantically searched through the app and even checked the OneNote recycle bin on Microsoft OneDrive, but to no avail. I couldn't recover anything.
After doing some research online, I found out that others had experienced similar issues, suggesting that an unstable network connection during the editing or saving process could be the culprit.
In that moment, I really hated OneNote. My second brain had crashed, and my first brain couldn't compensate for the loss.
But as time passed, I started afresh with my trip notes. It made me question, what am I obsessed about? traveling, photos or the notes?
Life is a journey, and while having a second, third, or fourth brain can be helpful, it makes me ponder what exactly we're trying to hold in our lives.
However, my plans were disrupted when I discovered that my trip notes had vanished from OneNote a couple of days ago. I frantically searched through the app and even checked the OneNote recycle bin on Microsoft OneDrive, but to no avail. I couldn't recover anything.
After doing some research online, I found out that others had experienced similar issues, suggesting that an unstable network connection during the editing or saving process could be the culprit.
In that moment, I really hated OneNote. My second brain had crashed, and my first brain couldn't compensate for the loss.
But as time passed, I started afresh with my trip notes. It made me question, what am I obsessed about? traveling, photos or the notes?
Life is a journey, and while having a second, third, or fourth brain can be helpful, it makes me ponder what exactly we're trying to hold in our lives.
Re: 5/23 [Tue] How to build a second brain and benefit from it?
Indeed, what are the things we want from life? I believe the notes is important, but the note-taking moments are precious, too. I seldom take photos when I travel. My life partner, and many people I know, always busy taking photos whenever they are at a spot. But our brains are already a storage with lenses, it is more powerful, certainly more important, than the device in our hand. We can have our 2nd and 3rd brain; they are suppose to support our first brain, not weaken it or even replace it. To me, I see Iris's note-taking skill as something incredibly amazing. It's better than all the notes taken.
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.