Tiago Forte is a productivity guru (my opinion) and has developed a system, Build A Second Brain (BASB) that he promotes and explains through his websites, Asian Efficiency and Build A Second Brain. He is a well-known speaker, consultant, and author in productivity circles, having been featured in Forbes, FastCompany, The Guardian and more publications.
We are all inundated with information that we think may be useful, we try to keep up with to-do’s, emails, tasks assigned to us, texts, projects we’re working on and so on. The list seems overwhelming and endless some days.
Basically, he suggests capturing, organizing, and sharing your knowledge using a digital note. There are many ways to do this of course, but he seems to have a practical, scalable, and easy system that works for many. Like David Allen (Getting Things Done), Tiego says our brains are for creativity and having ideas not for storing them. We can use modern tools to save ideas and inspirations by not just archiving them but turning them into reality. Using his methods, we can turn our experience and knowledge into actionable insights.
All this “stuff” flying around needs to be corralled and managed so that we can use it again and again by offloading it into a place where it can be found – the second brain.
I’ll summarize an article on this technique and you can find more information on the websites mentioned at the end and subscribe to his newsletter.
His methodology is:
- Consistently move projects and goals to completion
- Transform personal knowledge into income
- Uncover unexpected patterns and connections between ideas
- Reduce information overload
- Develop expertise, skills, and knowledge
- Cultivate a collection of valuable knowledge, and
- Unlock the wealth of learning resources around you.
Part 1: Remember
Capture the ideas and insights you think are worth saving. Ask yourself, what themes and questions keep recurring? What information do I already have? Which knowledge do I want to interconnect with and have resurface to stimulate future thinking?
You’ll need to put it in a central place such as Evernote, OneNote, Bear, Notion, Obsidian or other apps. Hopefully you’ll use one that syncs across devices so you will capture that great thought on the fly. To do this you’ll need three things to capture the most relevant: Think like a curator by making conscious decisions about what we consume; Organize your content by project rather than category, then you consume with a purpose. His P.A.R.A system describes using (Projects, Areas (of responsibility that are recurring), Resources, and Archives). Finally, keep only what resonates with you, not just all you read.
Part 2: Connect
Once you start putting things in one place and see them again, you’ll start to see relationships. Try to distill what you consume into bite-size summaries. Make your notes for “your future self”. Save these packets of knowledge so you can find them again. Certain apps have the ability to link notes together such as Obsidian, Roam, and to a lesser extent, Evernote. This is very helpful to connect and build relationships.
Progressively summarize what you create. Save the best ones and create layers of the main ideas.
Organize opportunistically, little by little. Don’t be a perfectionist but keep working to add value to a note each time you read/use it. Add value to the note. Ensure that the most valuable ones surface when we need them.
Part 3: Create
The entire purpose of this exercise is to create tangible results in the real world. Turn your knowledge into effective action. Creativity comes from others. You can build what you know from what others have learned. Your BASB, as it grows, will inspire you, remind you and guide you. Here are three more guidelines to create better output: Don’t just consume passively, put it to use. Don’t just collect information and never use it. Information becomes valuable when we create something useful and that can have a positive impact on others; Create smaller, reusable units of work. Your “intermediate packets” can be from numerous sources such as team meeting notes, research, a slide deck, etc. Think about what you can draw from this and keep it small and insightful and of high quality; and finally, share what you are doing with others. Don’t wait until it’s perfect or “ready”. Continually curate it and see what others think. You can publish it in a blog, podcast, self-publish, or email it to associates. Benefits will materialize from what you do.
Conclusion –
As your notes grow, you will see more and more connections. Be more objective, start to see a map taking shape and learn that your notes mirror what you think and do. Every experience becomes an opportunity to learn and grow.
This is just a brief overview. Take some time to look at the websites and even purchase his book for a nominal cost. You may not adopt all that he suggests ,but I think he has some very good ideas that you may want to adopt.
Websites:
https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com
https://www.asianefficiency.com
He produced BASB in a paper back you can order from Amazon. Short and very readable.
You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.