I'm a life-long learner but also an Architect mind-shaped so I like to read and highlight, watch YouTube videos and online courses to take lots of super structured notes in Notion.

The thing is, in this age of mature social media and information overload I was not able to study and memorize every insightful quote, game-changer tip, master-mind artifact or ultimate infographic.

So, in 2021 I met the tools to build a "Second brain", this concept from Thiago Forte and his legendary course "Building a second brain (BASB)" was a big upgrade in my life. So I wrote about it and built the first version with these apps:

This combo was great to keep consuming content and make it findable in one-stop-shop: Notion. I thought that was the corner stone to revisit my notes, write more insightful posts in blog and share more clever stuff in social media.

In 2022, I pre-ordered and read the BASB book and It changed completely my digital life. I started using the PARA formula: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive. PARA was my organization criteria for my computer's folders and files, later in my Google Drive, and my Notion pages, even my email inbox, and browser bookmarks were now categorized by "actionability".

So, in 2023, as soon as I could, I signed for the premium "Building a Second Brain Cohort (18th) Course", and it blowed my mind. I finally was able to apply the CODE method: Capture, Organize, Distill and Express. Since college I didn't take so many personal and technical notes. And my stack of apps grew in complexity and ROI:

Today. In 2024's early days, my Second Brain is now refined by actionability or reference using a couple of questions:

About this thought or urgency I feel... is it something I need to do soon or not?

    • a) Do I know when is the best moment to do it?
      – Action: Task or Event
    • b) Do I want to keep it as-is or I just need an specific piece of it?
      – Reference: Storage or Notes

So far this year, these are my tools: