[Music] I recently read building a second brain by Thiago Forte when you build a second brain you have a trusted system for managing information and a thought partner who reliably provides you with good ideas when you feel stuck your second brain is a reliable thought partner because it's organized by action ability instead of topic Source or time frame when you organize a note by topic like psychology or Source like the conference you went to or time frame that note doesn't have a purpose and is likely to get lost in the abyss of your note-taking application
and never seen again but when you organize information by actionability you make it easy for your future self to find actionable information when they're ready to work towards the goal in other words organizing by action ability is like packaging up valuable information and sending it through time to your future self at the moment they need it start sending valuable information to your future self by creating the following four sections of action ability inside your favorite digital notetaking application projects areas of improvement resources and archive if a baseball coach were to build a second brain in
the hopes of becoming the greatest coach he could be he would have notebooks in the project section of a second brain for each upcoming game inside his game 12 versus Seattle notebook he'd have notes about the opposing team's pitcher and different defenses he plans to use to secure a win in the areas of improvement section of his second brain the coach would have digital notebooks for each player in those notebooks he'd have player postgame evaluations and tailored plans for each player to improve their performance throughout the season in the resources section of a second brain
the coach would have a digital notebook called best batting practice trails with images and descriptions of drills he'd seen over the years the coach would scroll through this notebook when planning upcoming practices and the coach's archive section of a second brain he would have notebooks from past games notebooks on players who left his team and notes of practice drills he no longer uses this example is intended to give you a quick overview now let's go over the four parts of the par actionability organization system in more detail first projects projects include anything you're working on
in Life or at work that has a clear endpoint example project notebooks include 2022 taxes website redesign and quarterly team meeting if an idea you have or information you encounter can help you complete a project it goes into a project folder each time you work on a project you open the folder SL notebook for that project and scroll through the latest notes most people sit down to work on a project and trust their best ideas will magically come to mind but that rarely happens you be better off if you gradually captured good ideas in your
second brain and reviewed those ideas when you sit down to work on a project when you start a project work session by scanning ideas and information you previously captured you quickly re-engage with that project and kill procrastination now let's talk about the areas of improvement section of your second brain the areas of improvement section of your second brain contains digital notebooks on all the things you're trying to actively improve or maintain the instant you're ready to seriously improve a skill or level up an area of your life you visit the areas of improvement section in
your second brain some areas of improvement notebooks in your second brain might include Fitness investing Home Maintenance your business colon marketing or your business colon sales areas of improvement are long-term and open-ended like running a successful business while projects are short-term and finite like launching a new product in my areas of improvement section I have a notebook for my productivity game premium membership called PG colon membership that notebook was a project when I was creating my membership but since the membership launched I'm now trying to continually improve my membership based on emails I get from
customers and random ideas I have I now put customer emails and random ideas in my PG Co and membership notebook inside the areas of improvement section in my second brain often times notes in your areas of improvement will morph into a project notebook when I first thought of building a goal setting course inside my membership ideas for that course went into my PG colon membership notebook but the instant I decided to build and release that course I made a project notebook titled PG colon goal setting course in the project section of my second brain and
moved all the notes on the course to that notebook now let's talk about resources the resources section in your second brain is your personal library of references facts and inspiration you will use to start future projects and improve an area of your life if a project is like a meal you're cooking up on the stove and planned to have for dinner and an area of improvement notebook is like a big meal you're cooking in a slow cooker that you plan to consume during the week but don't know when you'll finish a resource is like a
spice or type of pasta in your pantry you can use to make your next meal the resources section of your second Brin contains examples you've collected and can use for inspiration for instance you might have a resources notebook titled YouTube video thumbnails with images of thumbnails you've seen over the past few months you can reference this notebook when you're ready to start making videos on YouTube your resources section also includes actionable insights from the books videos and articles you've encountered that you might use when you commit to a project later for example you might be
interested in trying the ketogenic diet one day so you have a resources notebook titled going keto where you capture strategies and meals you might try that folder stays a resources notebook until you commit to going on a ketogenic diet and lastly your resources section contains checklists and data from past projects you know will be helpful for future projects now let's talk about the archive any information you don't want to forget but does not Advance a project or area of improvement and will not be used to Kickstart a future project goes into your archive the archive
contains completed projects inactive projects areas of improvement you no longer care to improve or maintain and resources you don't plan to use anytime soon the archive is a Dumping Ground that will allow you to keep your system clean and have your projects areas of improvement and resources notebooks reflect who you are what you're committed to doing and where you want to go moving completed or inactive notebooks into your archive breathes life into your second brain because you stop suffocating it with notes you'll probably never need again now you're probably afraid of putting something into your
archive and not being able to find it later but don't worry I promise that you can find almost any note in under a minute using keyword searches and scrolling through your notes Thiago Forte has found over and over again that people who build a second brain rarely go back to their archive all right now that we've gone over the system let's get started structuring your second brain first determine what meals you are cooking on the stove that is what project notebooks should be in your Project's section of your second brain ask yourself what have I
committed to to finishing this year and what work assignments do I need to complete then determine what meals you have in the slow cooker that is what areas of improvement notebooks should be in your areas of improvement section of your second brain ask yourself what must I do exceptionally well to have a successful career or what parts of my business need constant attention for my business to be successful long term and what areas of life need constant attention for me to be happy now determine what you want in your pantry that is what resource notebooks
you want in the resources section of your second brain ask yourself what do I want to research and understand better what examples can I collect to Kickstart a project soon and what general lists do I frequently use in update like a meal and grocery list or a read watch recommendations list after you've built your notebook structure of projects areas of improvement and resources that accurately depict who you are and what your priorities are go through your existing notebook system and move the notes you use most and notes from the past month into your new second
brain then put the remaining notes in your archive when you capture new notes and are unsure where to put them throw them into an inbox notebook folder at the top of your notetaking system and move on with your day then develop the habit of organizing the notes in your note inbox immediately after you check your emails in your email inbox don't be afraid to delete or archive most things in your inbox the last thing you want is to clutter your second brain with notes that don't Advance your projects improve an area of your life or
provide inspiration or guidance for future projects your second brain is not meant to hoard information it's meant to put information and ideas into practice after all what's the point of knowledge if it doesn't help the people around you and help you produce work you'll be proud of that was the core message that I gathered from building a second brain by Thiago Forte I was blown away by how well this book was written it's sure to be a book I go back to again and again I highly recommend it if you would like a onepage PDF
summary of insights that I gather from this book just click the link below and I'll be happy to email it to you if you already subscribe to the free productivity game email newsletter this PDF is sitting in your inbox if you like this video please share it and as always thanks for watching and have yourself a productive week
