You are the One (building a second brain)
Read to the end for the first music pirate in History
Hi everyone! I can't believe it's already the 6th issue of Mind the Gap, your newsletter about Personal Knowledge Management
These past few weeks, I tried to be as much tool-agnostic as possible in my explanation of how to build a second brain with the C.O.D.E framework. You could follow my instructions using analog solutions, writing note cards that you would then file into physical folders, or go digital with softwares like Notion or Obsidian. While I love the feeling of pen and paper, I find that using digital solutions make life a bit easier, especially for things like copy-pasting and searching. But I am conscious some people feel a bit intimidated about how to start so I am working on an Obsidian Starter kit. It will contain everything you need to build your own digital garden so stay tuned for the release date!
Before closing our series about the C.O.D.E framework, here are the previous steps if you need a refresher:
week 1 : overview of the C.O.D.E framework
week 2: C for capture ideas
week 3: O for organize information
week 4: D for distill information
Today, let's talk about what happens after an idea is captured, filed into a relevant folder and distilled into its essence. The final step is E for Express. And the most adapted way of expression for a second brain is writing. That's how ideas you encountered take brand new forms. After all, writing IS thinking.
For example, Mind the Gap is a direct result of me expressing my ideas on personal knowledge management, ideas that went through the CODE process. In the last 6 issues, I wrote around 4500 words. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Most of my writing is for my eyes only and over the last 5 years, I wrote a little bit over 700 000 unpublished words. That's the equivalent of 8 full novels!
Writing helps me find connections between ideas. That's where the search bar is useful to enter keywords and find other relevant notes in your personal knowledge management system. Here are the connections I made when I wrote about the Fear of death in Videogames:
Some of these connections are with entries in my daily journal or notes about people I met, medias I consumed, etc ... Other notes are their own ideas I am also working on at the moment. And the more I write, the more connections I make between the ideas I write about.
You often saw me referring to a second brain as a digital garden. I tend to use both terms equally. And what does a garden need? Dirt. In this metaphor, "dirt" doesn't mean bad writing at all. It only means most of my writing is random thoughts or explorations of my own interests. But this dirt is vital for the plants (big ideas) to grow. I'll then upcycle a lot of these ideas into personal essays.
Quite often, exploring my digital garden inspires me to try new things. One day, I captured a tip about being a good storyteller. It was a really simple idea: we all have good stories, we just don't remember them. Since then, I have been consciously collecting little stories of my own life in a big note.
I am also interested in the creative process. After seeing how illustrators flex those creative muscles by drawing in their sketchbooks, I decided to make my own creativity sketchbook where I jot down creative ideas I would like to explore. I let them simmer there and refine them often. I can already see some patterns emerging and they may result in short stories or little videogames later on.
There are many other way to express ideas you get from your digital garden. Some people use it to outline their next novel, they create character sheets, make notes about the fictitious world they are building. Maybe a note they captured about pottery could help flesh out a believable hobby for the protagonist. Other people (myself included) make notes on people they meet and log whole conversations. This is the most personal part of your system. So sky is the limit.
Also, the beauty of it is that you can write pretty much anywhere when inspiration hits you. Proof: I am writing these words at the gym between two sets of lateral raises.
So hopefully, you'll start using what you learned these last few weeks to build your own second brain. And for those who already have a system, please reply to this email with a short message about how you use it. I am super curious to learn about your PKM system.
And see you next week!
P.S here is the first music pirate in History