Building a Second Brain, page 20
The opposite of a Scarcity Mindset is an Abundance Mindset. This is a way of looking at the world as full of valuable and helpful things—ideas, insights, tools, collaborations, opportunities. An Abundance Mindset tells us that there is an endless amount of incredibly powerful knowledge everywhere we look—in the content we consume, in our social network, in our bodies and intuitions, and in our own minds. It also tells us that we don’t need to consume or understand all of it, or even much of it. All we need is a few seeds of wisdom, and the seeds we most need tend to continually find us again and again. You don’t need to go out and hunt down insights. All you have to do is listen to what life is repeatedly trying to tell you. Life tends to surface exactly what we need to know, whether we like it or not. Like a compassionate but unyielding teacher, reality doesn’t bend or cave to our will. It patiently teaches us in what ways our thinking is not accurate, and those lessons tend to show up across our lives again and again.
Making the shift to a mindset of abundance is about letting go of the things we thought we needed to survive but that no longer serve us. It means giving up low-value work that gives us a false sense of security but that doesn’t call forth our highest selves. It’s about letting go of low-value information that seems important, but that doesn’t make us better people. It’s about putting down the protective shield of fear that tells us we need to protect ourselves from the opinions of others, because that same shield is keeping us from receiving the gifts they want to give us.
The Shift from Obligation to Service
There is a second shift that occurs when you begin to use your Second Brain not only for remembering, but for connecting and creating. You will transition from doing things primarily out of obligation or pressure to doing things from a spirit of service.
I believe most people have a natural desire within them to serve others. They want to teach, to mentor, to help, to contribute. The desire to give back is a fundamental part of what makes us human.
I also notice that many people put that desire on hold. They are waiting for a future time when they will have “enough” time, bandwidth, expertise, or resources. That day seems to get continuously postponed as they get new jobs, start new careers, have kids, and simply try to keep up with the demands of life.
You are under no obligation to help others. Sometimes it’s all you can do to take care of yourself. Still, I’ve noticed time and again a phenomenon that happens as people collect more and more knowledge in their Second Brain. That inner desire to serve slowly comes to the surface. Faced with the evidence of everything they already know, suddenly there’s no longer any reason to wait.
The purpose of knowledge is to be shared. What’s the point of knowing something if it doesn’t positively impact anyone, not even yourself? Learning shouldn’t be about hoarding stockpiles of knowledge like gold coins. Knowledge is the only resource that gets better and more valuable the more it multiplies. If I share a new way of thinking about your health, or finances, or business, or spirituality, that knowledge isn’t less valuable to me. It’s more valuable! Now we can speak the same language, coordinate our efforts, and share our progress in applying it. Knowledge becomes more powerful as it spreads.
There are problems in the world that you are uniquely equipped to solve. Problems in society like poverty, injustice, and crime. Problems in the economy like inequality, educational deficits, and workers’ rights. Problems in organizations like retention, culture, and growth. Problems in the lives of people around you that your product or service or expertise could solve, helping them communicate, learn, or work more effectively. As Ryder Carroll says in The Bullet Journal Method, “Your singular perspective may patch some small hole in the vast tattered fabric of humanity.”
There are people who will be reached only if they are reached by you. People who have no other source for the kind of guidance you can provide. People who don’t know where to look for solutions to problems they might not even know they have. You can be that person for them. You can pay forward some of the immense care that has been poured into you by a lifetime of parents, teachers, and mentors. With mere words, you can open doors to unimaginable horizons for the people around you.
Your Second Brain starts as a system to support you and your goals, but from there it can just as easily be used to support others and their dreams. You have everything you need to give back and be a force for good in the world. It all starts with knowledge, and you have at your disposal an embarrassment of riches.
The Shift from Consuming to Creating
The practice of building a Second Brain is more than the sum of capturing facts, theories, and the opinions of others. At its core, it is about cultivating self-awareness and self-knowledge. When you encounter an idea that resonates with you, it is because that idea reflects back to you something that is already within you. Every external idea is like a mirror, surfacing within us the truths and the stories that want to be told.
In a 1966 book,I the British-Hungarian philosopher Michael Polanyi made an observation that has since become known as “Polanyi’s Paradox.” It can be summarized as “We know more than we can say.”
Polanyi observed that there are many tasks we can easily perform as humans that we can’t fully explain. For example, driving a car or recognizing a face. We can try to describe how we do these things, but our explanations always fall far short. That’s because we are relying on tacit knowledge, which is impossible to describe in exact detail. We possess that knowledge, but it resides in our subconscious and muscle memory where language cannot reach.
This problem—known as “self-ignorance”—has been a major roadblock in the development of artificial intelligence and other computer systems. Because we cannot describe how we know what we know, it can’t be programmed into software.
The curse of computer scientists is our blessing, because this tacit knowledge represents the final frontier on which humans outperform machines. The jobs and endeavors that rely on tacit knowledge will be the last ones to be automated.
As you build your Second Brain, you will collect many facts and figures, but they are just a means to an end: discovering the tacit knowledge that lives within you. It’s in there, but you need external hooks to pull it out and into your conscious awareness. If we know more than we can say, then we need a system for continuously offloading the vast wealth of knowledge we’ve gained from real life experience.
You know things about how the world works that you can’t fully put into words. You understand human nature at a deep intuitive level. You see patterns and connections in your field that no other machine or human can see. Life has given you a set of experiences that provide you with a unique lens on the world. Through that lens you can perceive truths that can have a profoundly positive impact on you and others.
We are constantly told that we should be true to ourselves and pursue our deepest desires, but what if you don’t know what your goals and desires are? What if you have no idea what your “life purpose” is or should be? Self-direction is impossible without self-knowledge. How can you know what you want if you don’t know who you are?
The process of knowing yourself can seem mystical, but I see it as eminently practical. It starts with noticing what resonates with you. Noticing what seems to call out to you in the external world and gives you a sense of déjà vu. There is a universe of thoughts and ideas and emotions within you. Over time, you can uncover new layers of yourself and new facets of your identity. You search outside yourself to search within yourself, knowing that everything you find has always been a part of you.
Our Fundamental Need for Self-Expression
In Chapter 1, I told the story of my unexplained medical condition and how it led me to start organizing information digitally.
There was a period a few years into that journey when I was at my lowest point. I had seemingly exhausted every avenue that modern medicine could offer me. The doctors were suggesting that it must be all in my head because their diagnostics couldn’t find anything wrong. I was in more pain than ever before, waking up with so much tension in my neck that it felt like a vise clutching me by the throat.
I started withdrawing from my friends and social circles because I was so consumed by the pain I was experiencing. My attention was so focused on the pain in my body that I found it difficult to hold a conversation. I started spending more and more time by myself, on the Internet, where I could communicate and connect without speech. My view of life darkened as I slowly spiraled into depression and despair. It felt for a time like I had no future. How could I date or make friends without being able to speak? What kind of job could I hold down with unpredictable, chronic pain? What kind of future could I look forward to as my symptoms continued to worsen, without any treatment or even diagnosis on the horizon?
It was around this time that I made two discoveries that changed, and saved, my life. The first was meditation and mindfulness. I began to meditate and discovered a whole realm of spirituality and introspection that I never knew existed. I learned, to my astonishment, that I am not my thoughts. That my thoughts were the constant background chatter of my subconscious mind, and that I could choose whether to “believe” what they were telling me. Meditation gave me more relief from my symptoms than anything the doctors could prescribe. My pain became my teacher, showing me what needed my attention.
As I started having deep, profoundly moving experiences in meditation, I wanted to share what I was learning with others. This led me to my second great discovery: writing in public.II I started a blog, and my very first blog post was about my experience at a Vipassana meditation retreat in Northern California. I still had trouble speaking, so writing became my refuge. On my blog, I could share anything I wanted to, in as much detail as I wanted. I was in control, with no limits on my ability to express myself.
I discovered something through that experience: that self-expression is a fundamental human need. Self-expression is as vital to our survival as food or shelter. We must be able to share the stories of our lives—from the small moments of what happened today at school to our grandest theories of what life is about.
Your Turn: The Courage to Share
I’ve spoken with so many people about their stories, and I’ve noticed time and again how many of them have beautiful, moving, powerful things to share. They have unique experiences that have revealed to them deep wisdom, yet they almost always undervalue those stories and experiences. They think maybe one day they’ll get around to sharing them. I’m here to tell you that there is no reason to wait. The world is desperate to hear what you know. You can change lives by sharing yourself with others.
It takes courage and vulnerability to stand up and deliver your message. It takes going against the grain, refusing to be quiet and hidden in the face of fear. Finding your voice and speaking your truth is a radical act of self-worth: Who are you to speak up? Who says you have anything to offer? Who are you to demand people’s attention and take up their time?
The only way to discover the answer to these questions is by speaking and seeing what comes out. Some of what you say might not resonate with others or provide value to them, but occasionally, you will strike on something—a way of seeing, a perspective, a story—that blows people’s minds and visibly transforms how they see the world. It could be someone you’re having coffee with, a client or customer, or your online followers. In those moments, the vast chasm that separates us as humans is bridged. For a brief moment, you get to feel in your bones that we are all in this together. We are all part of a vast tattered fabric of humanity, and your highest calling is simply to play your part in it.
With the power of a Second Brain behind you, you can do and be anything you want. Everything is just information, and you are a master at flowing and shaping it toward whatever future you desire.
Final Thoughts: You Can Do This
There is no single right way to build a Second Brain. Your system can look like chaos to others, but if it brings you progress and delight, then it’s the right one.
You may start with one project and slowly move on to more ambitious or complex ones as your skills develop. Or you may find yourself using your Second Brain in completely unexpected ways that you hadn’t envisioned.
As your needs change, give yourself the freedom to discard or take on whichever parts serve you. This isn’t a “take it or leave it” ideology where you must accept all of it or none of it. If any part doesn’t make sense or doesn’t resonate with you, put it aside. Mix and match the tools and techniques you’ve learned in this book to suit your needs. This is how you ensure your Second Brain remains a lifelong companion through the seasons of your life.
Wherever you are at this moment—just starting a practice to consistently take notes, or finding ways to more effectively organize and resurface your best thinking, or generating more original and impactful work—you can always fall back on the four steps of CODE:
Keep what resonates (Capture)
Save for actionability (Organize)
Find the essence (Distill)
Show your work (Express)
If at any point you feel overwhelmed, take a step back and focus on what is immediately necessary: your most important projects and priorities. Scale back to only the notes you need to move those priorities forward. Instead of trying to architect your entire Second Brain system from scratch up front, focus on moving one project at a time through each step from capturing to expressing. When you do so, you’ll find that the steps are much easier and more flexible than you imagined.
You can also simplify things by focusing on just one stage of building your Second Brain. Think about where you are now and where you want to be in the near future:
Are you hoping to remember more? Focus on developing the practice of capturing and organizing your notes according to your projects, commitments, and interests using PARA.
Are you hoping to connect ideas and develop your ability to plan, influence, and grow in your personal and professional life? Experiment with consistently distilling and refining your notes using Progressive Summarization and revisiting them during weekly reviews.
Are you committed to producing more and better output with less frustration and stress? Focus on creating one Intermediate Packet at a time and looking for opportunities to share them in ever more bold ways.
As you begin your journey, here are twelve practical steps you can take right now to get your Second Brain started. Each one of them is a starting point to begin establishing the habits of personal knowledge management in your life:
Decide what you want to capture. Think about your Second Brain as an intimate commonplace book or journal. What do you most want to capture, learn, explore, or share? Identify two to three kinds of content that you already value to get started with.
Choose your notes app. If you don’t use a digital notes app, get started with one now. See Chapter 3 and use the free guide at Buildingasecondbrain.com/resources for up-to-date comparisons and recommendations.
Choose a capture tool. I recommend starting with a read later app to begin saving any article or other piece of online content you’re interested in for later consumption. Believe me, this one step will change the way you think about consuming content forever.
Get set up with PARA. Set up the four folders of PARA (Projects; Areas; Resources; Archives) and, with a focus on actionability, create a dedicated folder (or tag) for each of your currently active projects. Focus on capturing notes related to those projects from this point forward.
Get inspired by identifying your twelve favorite problems. Make a list of some of your favorite problems, save the list as a note, and revisit it any time you need ideas for what to capture. Use these open-ended questions as a filter to decide which content is worth keeping.
Automatically capture your ebook highlights. Set up a free integration to automatically send highlights from your reading apps (such as a read later or ebook app) to your digital notes (see my recommendations at Buildingasecondbrain.com/resources).
Practice Progressive Summarization. Summarize a group of notes related to a project you’re currently working on using multiple layers of highlighting to see how it affects the way you interact with those notes.
Experiment with just one Intermediate Packet. Choose a project that might be vague, sprawling, or simply hard, and pick just one piece of it to work on—an Intermediate Packet. Maybe it is a business proposal, a chart, a run of show for an event, or key topics for a meeting with your boss. Break the project down into smaller pieces, make a first pass at one of the pieces, and share it with at least one person to get feedback.
Make progress on one deliverable. Choose a project deliverable you’re responsible for and, using the Express techniques of Archipelago of Ideas, Hemingway Bridge, and Dial Down the Scope, see if you can make decisive progress on it using only the notes in your Second Brain.
Schedule a Weekly Review. Put a weekly recurring meeting with yourself on your calendar to begin establishing the habit of conducting a Weekly Review. To start, just clear your notes inbox and decide on your priorities for the week. From there, you can add other steps as your confidence grows.
Assess your notetaking proficiency. Evaluate your current notetaking practices and areas for potential improvement using our free assessment tool at Buildingasecondbrain.com/quiz.
Join the PKM community. On Twitter, LinkedIn, Substack, Medium, or your platform(s) of choice, follow and subscribe to thought leaders and join communities who are creating content related to personal knowledge management (#PKM), #SecondBrain, #BASB, or #toolsforthought. Share your top takeaways from this book or anything else you’ve realized or discovered. There’s nothing more effective for adopting new behaviors than surrounding yourself with people who already have them.
