III.
The Case for a Second Brain.
Sönke Ahrens’ book How to Take Smart Notes outlines something called a “second brain.” Odysseas lays out the pros of having a note-taking process like this:
1. It forces you to slow down. Everybody’s all about “do it faster, do it faster, do it faster,” but when it comes to learning and curiosity and creativity, you’ve got to go slow to go fast. I think that going fast is why I don’t know the names to anything.
2. Instant feedback. If you cannot put your notes into your own words, that’s a pretty clear signal that you actually don’t have a good grasp on that concept yet. You should probably revisit the primary source.
3. You can present your ideas in a way besides just chronologically.
Say that you’re taking notes in just a notebook; you only really look at it from front to back. You might have a table of contents that points you towards a certain page, but thinking about a Digital Garden or a Second Brain in comparison, this way of note-taking is like creating a network or a web that interlinks your ideas together.
Suddenly, you can have a note from four months ago that connects to a note that you took today. And if you connected the two of them, suddenly you have an essay. Suddenly, you have a speech. Suddenly, you have the idea for the pilot of your first show.
Without a way of connecting those two ideas, you might have completely lost that first note to the timeline of your life.
Sönke Ahrens’ book How to Take Smart Notes outlines something called a “second brain.” Odysseas lays out the pros of having a note-taking process like this:
1. It forces you to slow down. Everybody’s all about “do it faster, do it faster, do it faster,” but when it comes to learning and curiosity and creativity, you’ve got to go slow to go fast. I think that going fast is why I don’t know the names to anything.
2. Instant feedback. If you cannot put your notes into your own words, that’s a pretty clear signal that you actually don’t have a good grasp on that concept yet. You should probably revisit the primary source.
3. You can present your ideas in a way besides just chronologically.
Say that you’re taking notes in just a notebook; you only really look at it from front to back. You might have a table of contents that points you towards a certain page, but thinking about a Digital Garden or a Second Brain in comparison, this way of note-taking is like creating a network or a web that interlinks your ideas together.
Suddenly, you can have a note from four months ago that connects to a note that you took today. And if you connected the two of them, suddenly you have an essay. Suddenly, you have a speech. Suddenly, you have the idea for the pilot of your first show.
Without a way of connecting those two ideas, you might have completely lost that first note to the timeline of your life.
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