“A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” — Herbert Simon

What is a second brain?

using external tools to extend our first brain abilities, allow us to offload cognitive tasks into external second brain or personal knowledge management “PKM”

in simple terms. “just fancy note taking”

there are many systems & tools out there, like:

• GTD, PARA, Zettlekasten

• Notion, Obsidian

• Bullet Journal

But there is a catch ?!

it is just a big ineffective time waster "from personal experience", in this article I will discuss 2 big second-brain claims and my thoughts about it

if it works for you, keep doing it :)

Our brains are limited ❌

I’m not arguing that we can remember everything, but why should we in the first place, it’s FOMO

The fear of missing out

• FOMO drives us to capture every bit of information we encounter

• Especially, when you’re learning something new, and still don’t fully understand it, you tend to take more notes and finally, you rarely review those notes again

• If you understand something or have done it for enough time, you won’t find the need to memorize it, you can just explain it or do it

unconscious superpowers

the unconscious mind can process 11 million pieces of information per second, while the conscious mind processes only 40 pieces of information per second

There’s a lot of complex stuff you can do, and can’t explain how ?!! 🤔

you are just capable of doing it, this is called “Intuition” 😎

Did you hear about blind-folded chess, here’s a video of Magnus Carlsen playing 3 timed chess games blindfolded at the same time

We’re so hyped about AI, but AI is just a very bad replica of what our brains, for the sake of analogy how do we train AI Models

• Inputs ( and lots of it )

• Training ( on a specific problem we are trying to solve )

• Feedback Loop ( fine-tuning the output )

“If you want to be a writer,you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around there two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut” — Steven King

We should focus on developing our unconscious mental models “Algorithms” to solve specific problems through deliberate practice & passive immersion

in simple terms. “do more .. observe more”

Good Ideas time filter

“A writer’s notebook is the best way in the world to immortalize bad ideas. My idea about a good idea is one that sticks around and sticks around and sticks around.” — Steven King

Steven King, is a very productive writer, with over 60 novels and 200 short stories to his name, and this is his idea about capturing ideas & Notebooks

Stop allowing dust to accumulate on your ideas by storing them. Instead, pick the ones that persist over time and start working on them, right now!

Knowledge is everything ❌

No secret formula

• Excessive note-taking can stem from the persistent search for the “secret formula” for success, you don’t need all that knowledge

• it wastes a lot of time when you’re a beginner to know more than you need, knowledge doesn’t bring results, only actions do

• Basics & fundamentals bring 80% of results, master the basics, they will never change instead of chasing shiny trends of optimizations

• Learn just the bare minimum knowledge to start, pick tricks as you go

Attention is the new gold

• In, the world of knowledge, attention is your most valuable resource

• Everything is available online, knowledge comes in all sizes and shapes

• we have no shortage of knowledge, We have a shortage of attention & action

Embrace Minimalism: Less is More

Practice like Athlete

• Athletes constantly push the boundaries of human potential, in relentless pursuit of excellence in a very competitive environment

• All that magic happens in “Training”, they hone their skills & master their craft through sub-skills drills & game simulations

• Instead of building Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) Systems, Let’s build Personal Skills Gym, make games to master your craft

"Usain Bolt “Fastest Man Alive”, says training is the reality, not the competition, the work happens behind the scenes, and competition is the easy part

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I'm new to the article writing game, but rather than seeking a 'secret formula' for success, I embrace making mistakes and having fun :)

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