The Notes App

The notes app for a lot of people is forgotten on their phone or they only open it up when they are trying to scan a document for the first time or to jot down a order number. To me, that in itself is insane that I can scan anything I want but in reality I keep my brain in my pocket in the notes app.

Tiago Forte was one of the leading creatives to teach us about having a second brain because the truth is that its hard to keep everything floating around in their that we need. He said that the second brain was a way of packaging information for our future self.

I take anything that pops into my head, or something I may need later, sometimes a tune that I find enjoyable and I put it into my second brain. That's when the magic happens, I can forget it. I can move on from that piece of information and know that I can look it up at a later time. 3

This is the future equivalent of having sa harddrive for our brain that we can take out and store somewhere else and the best part is we won't forget where we put it. If you have ever been sitting somewhere trying to remember the name of a song or what your niece wanted for Christmas, now all of your memories are a searchable database. That is what makes me feel like I am living in the future.

Especially as someone with ADHD, this is extremely helpful while I am raising a disabled child, trying to keep all of my safe recipies tucked away and still being the thoughtful aunt that remembers the exact yo-yo my nephew wanted for christmas.

The second brain is a systems with sections in which we use the PARA: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archive all beginning with the inbox. The minute I have a new piece of information it goes in the inbox. I can decide where it goes later. Projects are short term efforts like planning a vacation or a specific blog post that I am writing. Areas are long term responsibilities like my sons medical information and needs or my finances. Resources are a place for my brains personal Wiki, recipies that I want to go back to, music, movies I want to watch, articles I want to read or book notes. Archive is anything from the first three areas that I no longer need access to regularly. This makes everything that weighs on my brain available to me to search anytime. I like to use my notes app because my phone is usually with me all of the time. Some people like to use Notion or The Notion App.

You can organize your second brain in any way that you want or that makes sense for you. The purpose is not to follow any strict sort of protocol. The purpose is to free up space in your mind to help overwhelm and for a lot of people even anxiety. I know that personally it helps mine. The reason that I find the idea of a second brain so futuristic is because it feels like I can go into my own personal memory archive at any time. I feel as though I can reach into the universe and pull out a thought or idea that I had years ago. I think that possibly this is how humans start to fully access more of our brain space by learning to free it up where we can. The mind is the most important thing that we have, it is our greatest freedom and any way that we can take the time to give it more space is time well spent.