Second Brain this, Second Brain that...

But what exactly makes up your Second Brain?

This edition will answer that question!

As I mentioned at the end of last week's edition, I was selected as one of the 8 Facilitators for the Building a Second Brain Cohort 17.

Now, I am preparing myself to provide the best possible experience for students by diving deep into the concept of a "Second Brain".

This means I will use the next ±5 editions of the Fis Letter to go for a Deep Dive into "What is a Second Brain", building up on what I'm learning with the BASB Cohort 17, following Tiago Forte's methodology.

That said, let's start with an Overview.

But before we start, I want to make a distinction between 'A Second Brain' and the 'Building a Second Brain (BASB) Methodology'.

A Second Brain is unique to each and every person. There is no universal definition for it. Whereas the BASB Methodology is a trademarked course and method to go through the process of building a Second Brain.

Here I will provide an Overview of "What is A Second Brain" using concepts and techniques from the BASB Methodology, which I'm now studying even deeper.

I gave a couple of definitions for a Second Brain before, so let's keep things simple and collapse to one definition:

• A Second Brain is a set of Digital Tools that permanently holds information for you, acting as an extension of your cognition, to support you in creating more, with higher quality and less effort.

The Digital Tools will help you achieve these goals by moving you through the CODE Framework, which is a depiction of the creative process and is part of the BASB Methodology.

CODE Framework, by Tiago Forte

CODE is a representation of the creative process. Historically, most kinds of creation go through these 4 stages before manifesting as a real-world output.

The 4 quotes will go into each of these stages, and the notes will provide more context and explanations.

💬 Quotes

Quote 1

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

– David Allen

Capturing is using your mind the right way.

• Not as a pen drive or an idea database.
• Yes as a thinking machine or an ideas antenna.

The creative process starts with capturing your ideas.

You are a genius.

What happens is you may have never channeled that inner genius into action.

It starts with capturing your great ideas.

"Capture" is where you collect those great ideas, so you can later remember them and act on them.

Quote 2

“In reality, information that cannot be reliably retrieved is not really being stored.”

– David Deutsch

Capture is useless if you can't find your knowledge.

"Organize" is the step that helps you remember.

Organizing has two main objectives:

• Find ideas
• Make sense of those ideas

You make sense of ideas by looking at them together.

You can only look at ideas when you can find them.

"Organize" is to make sure you can find the ideas you capture.

Quote 3

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

– Leonardo da Vinci

Distilling is when you go deeper.

The better you understand something, the simpler you can explain it.

Simplicity.

This is the driving concept behind the Feynman Technique.

Try to explain a complex concept to a 12-year-old. For the child to understand, you have to provide a simple explanation.

To Distill is to simplify.

It's understanding the essence of an idea.

Quote 4

“We only know what we make. | Verum ipsum factum.”

– Giambattista Vico

Expressing is where ideas come to life.

This is Tiago Forte's favorite quote.

For a good reason.

In the end, a Second Brain is about action.

It doesn't matter all the books you've read, the knowledge you learned, and the complex concepts you understand.

What are you doing with it?

Express yourself.

Make something great and share it with the world.

📄 Notes

Note 1. CODE Framework Overview

Now that we've looked at the 4 components of the CODE framework in isolation, it's time to put it all together.

The magic happens in the big picture of the CODE framework.

I'm going to make things easy for you and bring the diagram here again.

The magic is looking at CODE in cycles.

The starting point is an endless stream of information. Which is a pretty accurate representation of the internet in 2023.

The final delivery is a piece of creation.

The creative process described by CODE is a cycle that happens multiple times between these two scenarios.

You don't create something once and then stop creating.

Instead, you create new things every day, or every week.

And the endless stream of information is always there (after all, it's endless 😉).

This means you have to work through the CODE framework many times. It's a cycle. You are constantly going through it.

Starting again, gathering more knowledge, then organizing and distilling it, to finally express something new. Then do it again.

And again, and again.

The magic behind CODE doesn't stop there.

There is a last beautiful possibility that CODE opens up.

The 4 letters in CODE represent the entire cycle.

But the beauty of a digital Second Brain is that you are not limited to completing the cycle in order every single time.

Your knowledge is reliably saved.

You can start at any stage of the cycle.

And also call it a day at any moment.

This is an image of how CODE might look in everyday life:

Cycles of CODE

Just like in a video game, your progress gets saved.

A Second Brain has multiple checkpoints.

You have the flexibility to work in whatever order you like.

• You can complete a full cycle
• You can start a new one
• You can use the same information you've already distilled to express something new.

You make up the rules.

Your Second Brain is here to help you.

Note 2. CODE vs. PARA

You're pretty familiar with CODE now.

Let me briefly explain PARA before I show you the biggest mistake with PARA for notetaking apps.

PARA corresponds to the O in CODE, the Organize part.

It's a method to organize files by Actionability, and it stands for:

• Projects
• Areas
• Resources
• Archives

Projects are the most actionable things you're working on, so that should be the priority for retrieval. That's why you separate them from the rest.

Areas are responsibilities, areas of your life.

Resources are your general knowledge and interests.

Archives are what's not part of your life at this moment.

I will explain PARA better in another edition.

For now, let's jump straight into the biggest mistake with PARA (for notetaking apps).

As you'll see in the next note, the notetaking app is the place to cover all 4 stages of CODE, Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express.

But most people only have a place to Organize in their notetaking app. Maybe there is also a place to capture.

But where is the place to Distill, and Express (Converge)???

If it's missing, how do you expect to reliably Distill knowledge and Create using your ideas?

Most people's notetaking apps are designed for divergence.

The convergence element is missing.

This is why so many people have a hard time actually creating.

My solution for this is to structure your notetaking app using CODE, instead of PARA, which means PARA will also be there, but in an inner layer!

This is how I would structure my Tana workspace using CODE.

CODE in Tana

Note 3. The Anatomy of a Second Brain

This is a repost and I'll briefly explain why this is a great thing.

A huge aspect of the BASB Methodology is to work more effectively.

An important way to do this is by using Intermediate Packets.

Intermediate Packers are pieces of knowledge you've created once that you can recycle into the next projects.

Each edition of The Fis Letter is a new project.

What I'm doing here is I'm recycling a valuable piece of knowledge I've created before (a note), and inserting it into another edition, where it provides value (maybe even more than before).

This saves me (the author) time and is a way to provide you (the reader) with value: ↓

Just like your Biological Brain has several different Parts (Lobes), your Second Brain is composed of several different Tools.

Here is a diagram and a breakdown of the different tools that make up a Second Brain.

📝 Note-taking app - Control Center

The central component in any Second Brain.

Your Note-Taking app is where the magic happens.

It's where you:

• Save your knowledge.
• Set goals and make plans.
• Create and maintain projects.
• Share knowledge with a team.

🤔 Here, you can cover all of Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express.

⏳ Read Later app - Gatekeeper

A Read Later app has two purposes:

1. Filter what you consume
2. Protect your attention

Every day, the world creates 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of information.

1. You'll never consume everything. A Read Later app filters what you actually consume.
2. If you stop and read everything you find online, you will get easily distracted. A Read Later app protects your attention.

When you find something interesting, save it to a Read Later app (I would suggest Reader by Readwise).

Then, read it when you have time (and real interest).

🤔 Here, you are preparing for Capture.

🕸 Capture System - Entry Point

How knowledge enters your Second Brain.

This is a system where you capture information from several different places. Some examples are:

• Ideas you have
• Meeting notes
• Emails you receive
• Highlights from books
• Notes on online courses

It's great to draw a diagram to understand what places your knowledge comes from.

You guessed it. Here you Capture.

🗓 Calendar - Your Map

This one is very simple and super important.

A calendar is used to track your events and to see your schedule.

Not having a digital calendar in 2023 is unacceptable.

🤔 Here, you can schedule any session. The most powerful ones are Distill and Express.

📁 Files & Folders - Storage

Your files are a very important part of your Second Brain.

A note-taking app is where you put projects, plans, and knowledge. But there is more to life than that.

Folders are important to organize files:

• Images
• Videos
• Code
• Documents
• Presentations
• Spreadsheets

The best file structure I know of is PARA.

🤔 Here, you Organize.

🤾‍♂️ Task Manager - Take Action

A Task manager is where you organize the next actions.

Some note-taking apps have powerful task management functions. Others not so much.

Either way, keeping track of tasks and actions is essential to move your projects forward.

Mapping out and managing your tasks also leads to peace of mind, by having your obligations (and desired actions) in life under control.

🤔 Here, you plan out any action.