Building A Second Brain Summary

Building A Second Brain Summary: Have you ever had a great idea while taking a shower or riding your bike, something that felt truly valuable, but then, moments later, it completely slipped your mind? And even after trying a lot, you are not able to remember them. To date, you must have consumed a lot of information from the Internet, but when the time comes to use it in real life, a lot of information gets skipped from your mind.

So, how will it be if you have a second mind, which captures all these things for you, keeps them organised, and provides them to you immediately when needed? American author and productivity consultant, David Allen, has written in his book “Getting Things Done” that your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.

According to research, your mind has to deal with up to 34 GB of information daily. YouTube videos, Newspapers, Shorts, Reels, etc. It is a little difficult for the human mind to manage this information. That is why, after consuming too much content, you get tired and are unable to think properly.

CODE

That is why the author created a four-step system to create a second brain, which is called CODE. This is an acronym whose full form is Capture, Organise, Distil and Express. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, scientists, philosophers, writers, and many intellectuals used to keep a personal commonplace book to understand this fast-changing world. It was used to compile knowledge at an individual level. In it, they used to note down new ideas, sketches, life lessons and all the information they found interesting. All you have to do is digitise that system.

You can do this work offline in a notebook as well, but keeping in mind today’s information sources and future access, you should maintain this digitally. So that the information you have stored can be useful to you even after years.

First Letter C: Capture

So the first letter of the CODE is C, i.e., “Capture”. When you close the Nintendo game, a message is displayed that everything that hasn’t been saved will be lost. Which is a very deep message for . Naval Ravikant had tweeted that inspiration is perishable; act on it immediately. Whenever you get a new idea, write it down. If you see a useful website, bookmark it. Add good videos to your playlist. Capture everything that resonates with you. By grasping the information in mind and putting it on paper, the mind remains free. And you can work comfortably with deep focus and higher-level thinking.

The best example of this is the 14 Grammy Award-winning American singer Taylor Swift. Whose world tour is believed to bring $5 billion to the American economy. She also captures her lyrics and rhyming of words on her phone. So you can also use Evernote, Microsoft’s OneNote, Notion, Apple Notes or any digital note-taking app to capture your ideas.

Second Letter O: Organised

The next letter of the CODE is O, which means Organised. By collecting information, you do not have to become a digital junk dealer. Anything will be useful only when it is easily available at the time of need. You may have all the knowledge in the world, but if it is not organised and accessible, then it is of no use.

The author suggests the “PARA Method” for keeping information organised. In childhood, you used to create folders like games, movies, photos, and songs on the computer, but instead of organising folders by topic, it is better to organise them by actionability.

So first, create four folders: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. You can create these folders in your Note app, browser, and computer. And all the things will come inside these four folders. In the PARA Method, the first folder will be for projects. Keep all those things in it that have a clear endpoint. For example, if you have to complete an assignment, then that is a project. If you have to file ITR for this year, then that is a project. Whenever you get any data related to these projects, keep it here.

How It Works in Real Life

For example, I had to write an article about this book summary. So I created a folder named “Building a Second Brain Summary”. And I kept capturing all the information related to the book in it. The next folder will be of Areas. In this, all your long-term goals and never-ending responsibilities will come.

You can understand this entire PARA method by relating it to the kitchen. From a hut to a five-star hotel, all kitchens are organised by actionability. Projects mean the food you are cooking right now. The area is your refrigerator, which will have never-ending and necessary things. Resources are your kitchen cabinets, which contain the things you need for the day. And the Archives are the upper cupboard of your kitchen, where only those things are kept that are used once or twice a year. By implementing this same concept in your digital space, your day-to-day productivity will increase a lot.

Third Letter D: Distil

The Third letter of the CODE is D, which means Distil. You didn’t waste your time for nothing. Distil means making a summary of the things you have captured. So that it can be useful to your future self. You have to find the essence of the information you have organised. That is what the things are matters. Just like Einstein found the essence of his Theory of Relativity and summarised it in just one equation, E=mc². Similarly, you also have to write down the things you have learned by summarising them in short form in your own words.

Last Letter E: Express

The last letter E means to express. Your mind may be a storehouse of knowledge, but if you cannot create anything from it, then everything is useless. At this stage, you convert the things you have learnt into reality. Your mind should be a factory and not a warehouse. The raw material put in it should be used to make something. There is a requirement to express your knowledge in every work, from small to large.

American neuroscientist Nancy Andreas says that intellectual people are experts in finding connections between things. They connect different dots. My thought process is made up of connections of many small pieces of information. There are many things in it that you will find mind-blowing, but there will be some posts that you may not like. But I don’t mind because the dots are connected like this. Ideas are formed like this.

Improvement and innovation do not happen accidentally. There is a robust system behind it, which is often not visible to normal people. And the second brain is a part of that robust system. Building your second brain can be valuable in any profession or creative field. It will work like a backup version of your original brain.

As you keep using the second brain, your mindset, self-awareness, and focus will increase. You will feel more accomplished and will be able to handle any situation comfortably with emotional control. Organise your life by organising your thoughts.