Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. - Gene Fowler
Staring at a blank page before starting to write is a very interesting, surreal feeling. There is obviously an idea or at least a sketch of one floating around in your head, but turning that into something coherent is not trivial.
I think this is a good point to introduce this book. The title was very catchy to me. Who would say no to a second brain. Double the computing power, double the productivity, less maintenance hopefully.
My experience reading this book might be more practical and interesting to go through. So, my mind has a way of making random connections between different domains. It tries to squeeze out nuggets of wisdom from seemingly regular contents. Prior to the book, I write down (type) a few of it in note apps on my phone. The whole approach was very random and a bit haphazard. I get to review notes I took years later and look at it with fondness but there was no continuity, no coherence, no flow.
Jump to the first few chapters of the book, I learnt about this CODE approach. CODE means Capture, Organize, Distill and Express
CAPTURE
In this digital era, there is an overload of information to the extent that it feels overwhelming sometimes. We get drowned with newsfeeds, social media contents, Netflix shows and more.
However, there are things that resonate with us on a visceral level. It is very helpful to have a place to dump everything that resonates in a place where it can be reviewed later.
This frees up the mind to be a bit more curious about things because it knows that there is a place to offload information and check it out later.
ORGANIZE
This was a very important point for me. Over the years, I had written notes all over the place (both handwritten and digital). This made reviewing them very difficult and the benefits very limited. I was working on a team that just migrated from Linear to Notion for the project management and to delegate tasks. I enjoyed the flexibility and it fit my use case perfectly so I created a personal one for myself.
I learnt that organized information is a lot easier to remember and interact with. These are skills that will make learning easier and fun.
The book talked about the PARA framework which helps sort notes out for actionability. PARA (Project,Areas, Resources, Archive) guides the way I categorize my notes now. Project category keeps track of immediate goals and makes it easier to build on previous projects. With the areas category, I am able to keep better track of all my interests (AI, Economics, Neuroscience etc). I am not always ready to do a deep dive into each of the areas but it allows me to continue seamlessly whenever I want to resume learning about it. The Resources and Archive categories keep track of things I might need in the later future.
DISTILL
There is something personal about reading and learning generally. The way a content resonates with people can be surprisingly very different depending on their experiences. Distill helps one to find the essence of whatever content he is consumning. This condenses it into smaller, more accessible chunks of information.
EXPRESS
This can be difficult for various reasons depending on the person. But this may just be the most productive skill to pick. The attempt to share your experience and understanding of a particular content gives a stronger grasp of the information.
This book motivated me to start my own personal notion to keep track of all the chaos in my head. It also pushed me to write more and connect my ideas as much as possible. This all happened before I even finished the book because he preaches actionability more than anything.
The book was a wonderful read. You might enjoy it too. Let me know what you think.