Newsletter issue #5: Productive Second Brain

This is an important one.
Make sure to take some notes.

In today’s issue, you will learn how to do exactly that productively.

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Big Idea #1: A Second Brain 🧠 Can Be Your Productivity Superpower

You already have a second brain if you use:

🗓️ a calendar
📙 a note-taking app or notepad
☁️ cloud storage or a file organizer

It's an extension of your brain storage, making life more convenient.

The next level is to make it your superpower.

In the productivity world, the number one skill is not time management, but how to direct your attention and focus.

Anything not moving your projects forward is a distraction.

5 benefits of an optimized digital second brain:

1. Boost productivity and achieve more with less effort because you retrieve relevant information easily and minimize your research time.
   
   

2. Make confident, informed decisions by avoiding the influence of recency bias that happens when we don't have easy access to older information.
   
   

3. Streamline your second brain to swiftly access critical data and reduce time spent searching. Say goodbye to digital clutter.
   
   

4. Foster innovative thinking by seamlessly connecting ideas and capturing creative breakthroughs.
   
   

5. Cultivating a lifelong learning mindset, effortlessly acquiring and retaining knowledge.

Big Idea #2: Optimize your consumption of information using C.O.D.E. method

This newsletter issue is inspired by the work of Tiago Forte summarized in his book “Building a Second Brain”.

Tiago came up with a brilliant modern approach to consuming and storing information.

Introducing the C.O.D.E. method:

C - Capture
O - Organize
D - Distill
E - Express

C - CAPTURE

When:

• As soon as you come across information, and no later than within the first 2 hours because you will forget it.

• I share 3 tools to capture information, other than notes, below (Big Idea #3).

What:

• NOT everything. Only capture what will be useful for the Future You.

• Helpful ideas, inspirational quotes, and surprising data.

• Outside lessons, insights, ideas, questions, opinions.

• Inner breakthroughs, reflections, personal things.

Pro tips:

• Keep only what resonates. Beware of digital hoarding. Capture 10% max. You can always add a link to the source.

• Beware of confirmation bias. Capture ideas that are unusual, interesting, and counter-intuitive.

• Trust your intuition to know what to capture.

Examples:

• Breakthroughs about solving a problem you came up with in the shower.

• Opinions from your colleagues regarding the project you are working on.

• Ideas from TikTok on what to do during the Jamaica trip.

• Insights from listening to an audiobook.

• An interesting article to read later.

O - ORGANIZE

What:

• The notes and files that you captured.

When:

• NOT at the same time when you capture.

• Capture and organize are separate activities.

• It is best to have space between the two tasks.

• Schedule a recurring weekly time slot to organize notes.

Pro tips:

1. Do NOT fall into a trap of organizing according to subjects, such as Personal Growth, Business, Health, etc.

2. Organize by NOT where it is coming from, but according to WHERE it is going.
   More on that later → Big Idea #4.

D - DISTILL

When:

• In most cases, distill only when you know which project the note will go to.

• No need to distill notes earlier because you never know for which purpose you may use them later. Without that clarity, it is hard to know what to keep and what to cut.

How:

• In school, it may have served you well to include as many details in your notes as possible, but I want you to challenge this habit.

  If your book summary is 10 pages long, you will never look at it again.

• How can you distill your notes to a few key ideas instead?

• Enhance the discoverability of your notes.
  The more notes you collect, the less discoverable they become.

• Remember this quote from Lao Tzu:
  “To attain knowledge, add things every day.
  To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”

Pro tips:

• Pretend you are sending an email to the CEO of your firm.
  What’s the essence of what you need to convey?
  What are the few key brilliant ideas?

E - EXPRESS

Why:

• Information becomes knowledge only when you put it to use.

• Inputs that don’t produce outputs are distractions.

• You can inspire, educate, and entertain others.

When

• Beginning a new project, you never have to start from scratch. You can retrieve relevant information from your second brain.

How:

How to retrieve information when you need it?

• Search 
  The beauty of the digital second brain → the search function.

• Browsing
  Storing notes according to P.A.R.A. method allows you to navigate them manually and dig as deep as you want. (See Big Idea #4)

• Tags
  Just like websites, your note-taking app may have tag functionality.

• Serendipity
  You cannot plan for it.
  But keeping your focus broad, you may come across random insights that could connect some dots within your new project.

How to show your work?

• Post

• Book

• Story

• Video

• Critique

• Drawing

• Newsletter 😉

• Presentation

• Performance

Pro tips:

• Don’t chase perfection. Release versions if needed.

Big Idea #3: 3 Tools To Capture Other Than Notes

A digital note-taking app is a must. My choice to capture information is a simple Notes app on iOS. It syncs between all my devices and is easy to use.

Here are 3 lesser-known tools that will take your capturing of insights to the next level:

1. A tool that can transcribe your voice.
   You can dictate notes while on a walk or driving, and the app will transcribe them.
   My choice is Otter AI.
   

2. A tool to highlight articles, posts, and ebooks and save them.
   Readwise is one of many great options to effortlessly store, organize, and revisit my highlights.
   What I particularly love about this app is that it employs spaced repetition to send you daily emails featuring your top highlights, helping you reinforce key concepts and lessons from books.
   

3. A platform to save articles to read them later.
   One of the most popular options is an app called Later.

Big Idea #4: Introducing P.A.R.A. Method To Organizing Information

P.A.R.A. is a great method to organize every note app, desktop, drive, library, or any other information-organizing platform.

It helps you sort your information in accordance to WHERE it is going.

P.A.R.A. stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive.

📂 Projects are multi-step processes that have a defined end goal and/or a deadline.

📂 Areas represent ongoing areas of responsibility or interest that don't have a fixed end date (e.g. Finances, Work, Personal Development)

📂 Resources encompass reference materials, documents, and information you want to keep for the long term.

📂 Archives house information that is no longer actively used but is worth retaining for historical or reference purposes.

When it is time to organize your recently captured information, follow these steps:

1. Will this note/file help you progress in relation to any of your current or future Projects?
   If yes, move this note into that project folder.
   If no, go to question 2.

2. Does this note/file relate to any of my life Areas where I will easily find it when needed?
   If yes, place it in that life area folder.
   If no, go to question 3.

3. Is there a Resource library that I’d rather have this note/file in?
   If yes, store it in that resource folder. Pro tip: Use tags.
   If no, go to action 4.

4. Everything else goes into the Archive folder.
   It will still come up in searches if you need it.
   For now, it is "out of sight, out of mind".
   Nothing is ever lost.

Big Idea #5: How To Start Optimizing Your Second Brain

Do not overwhelm yourself by going through each and every file you have and trying to find a “perfect” place to store it.

Instead, start using these principles only with the new information coming in.

This way, the only thing you should do now is to create a folder named “Archive - September 2023” and drag everything there.

Why is it important?

1. The mess in which your notes currently are - should be out of your sight.

2. You can retrieve these files through a simple search or browse anytime, they are not going anywhere.

This action + a P.A.R.A. file & note management system + using C.O.D.E. method to capture information - all will help you progress on your current projects much faster and with more joy.

Tiny Habit: Write a short story every day

Recently I started this practice, and I invite you to join me in making it a daily habit.

Each day, take a moment to journal about something that occurred either that day or the day before.

Craft a brief narrative.

This practice will enhance your storytelling skills and ensure you never run short of tales to share.

You'll begin to uncover stories in the everyday, not necessarily grand adventures.

For instance, my most recent story emerged from a 10-minute conversation and a chain of thoughts, yet I gave it significant meaning and had over 500 words of story to convey.

This practice will help you become a masterful storyteller, capturing the beauty and magic hidden within the seemingly ordinary.

The Productivist Question

We’ve been focusing on the power of note-taking and organizing your own second brain.

But what could take you even further is if you ask for help.

Think about your most important project or objective for this week and ask yourself…

Who can help me?

We often forget about our network.

People often enjoy helping others and being of service. Do not deprive them of that.

Not to mention they will like you more after helping you, it is a no-brainer thing to do.

Ask yourself this one every week.

This was a long one, but you finally made it!

If you loved these actionable tips, I highly recommend checking out the book “Building a Second Brain” by Tiago Forte to dive deeper.

I appreciate you!

Until next week,

Valeriya

Two more ways I can help you:

1. Download your free copy of Success Secrets if you haven’t already.

2. If you want to work 1:1 with me, you can book a session here. Let’s get you your dream lifestyle.