Processing: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
Hi Zettlers,
I am currently processing Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte on my research days. I figured that some of the intermediary thoughts might be of interest to you.
But you can ask me anything or use this thread to debate this book if you like. This thread is part of the wild west. (but please keep your clothes on and refrain from any behavior that might cause the neighbors to call the police)
I am a Zettler
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
CODE is the workflow of his system. This is how CODE can be mapped to the value creation steps of the ZKM:
There is a heavy emphasis on excerpts and what my professors back in university called "use the source and don't read it". After the first reading, the workflow is very similar to what was teached to me in History.
I am a Zettler
Updated the image to remove the Germanlish.
I am a Zettler
Re: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
A good read I thought. See also Cal Newport's 'CCC' (Capture/Configure/Control)...
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@Mike_Sanders Thanks a lot. This is more useful then you might expect since each additional model will strengthen my meta-model on workflow for the creator. (See the later part of this post on what this is)
These are the notes that I put on cmd+2 (via saved search):
202211231246 forte2022. A note dedicated to the book. This is not a "literature note" since I mostly write about the book and not capture content of the book itself.
202211231105 Ü2 Tiago Fortes PARA. My note for his system. I like PARA way more than BASB (Building a Second Brain). But it will contain not just the system but also the the workflow (CODE) and everything I need to create a complete model on Tiago's approach.
202205171855 ZKM for [ANONYMISED]. I use a user-case to develop a prototype of a specification of the ZKM. The goal of the note is to provide the specification for one use-case first and then will be rebuild to a more generalised specification.
202203111050 Ü4 My self-organization. I use myself as a user-case as food for the more generalised Getting Things Created.
201709210920 Ü1 Self-Organization. My general note on Self-Organisation. I don't like the term self-management. It mostly is based on Getting Things Done.
201708260940 Ü2 Getting Things Created. Inspired by Getting Things Written. I created a rough spine back in 2017. Now, I pick it up. It will be finalised during my demonstration of how the ZKM can be used more publishing-centered, I think.
This are my goal statements for BASB as my current object of research:
I am a Zettler
This is how the full research project looks like in my project management:
The desired outcomes and the publishable material (like Getting Things Created) will be a byproduct of me using my Zettelkasten as an Integrated Thinking Environment. So, to achieve the desired outcome I need very little in terms of organisational complexity. It is just me, my Zettelkasten and the thinking in written form.
I am a Zettler
Re: PARA...
I like PARA too, makes sense in my thinking.
Re: These are the notes that I put on cmd+2 (via saved search)...
Bravo Sascha, Veni, vidi, vici! Outstanding work.
Soon you'll be building essays, papers, articles with a simple mouse-click or two. Keep up the good work. So much knowledge in this forum, thanks to everyone for the posts.
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Some day.
Building a Second Brain relates to me in a similar way that Deep Work related to me. It cannot think of a single idea that is unique or new that I learned. But it kind of resonates with me and invokes some way of change in my approach to work. The deep processing of Deep Work led to complete Deep Work Days. Building a Second Brain is leading to some restructuring of my overall work away from foundational research to a more project-centered way.
I am a Zettler
My current hypothesis is that PARA is not a second brain in a way that the Zettelkasten is or can be. It is logical form of storage and retrieval. It is a system of knowledge management.
This is affirmed by the main emotional driver of its promise: The reduction of information overload related anxiety reduction.
I am a Zettler
Hmm yes. Excellent summary. One point I took from Tiago's book was progressive summarization. For instance reading a book...
1st pass: get the big picture & 'lay of the land', a table of contents is good for this.
2nd pass: zoom in on the ideas that interest me & highlight passages with a marker.
3rd pass: annotate marked passages in my own words to help form definitive thoughts.
But you are very correct, Tiago Forte seeks to build a 2nd brain while Niklas Luhmann actually did...
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@Mike_Sanders You could've gotten this line of thought from this article: Barbell Method of Reading
2nd and 3rd pass are what the BMoR entails.
Saying that PARA is not a second brain doesn't take anything away from the actual benefits of adopting this system. People are using the system and reporting benefits. I am in the process of restructuring the management part of my setup - by taking some principles of PARA into consideration. (Mostly the orientation towards action)
I just do what I do with any work: I disassemble it and then putting it back together how I think that the parts are fitting better. When I do it with my work, I come to a similar result: I find an improved way. This is not surprising since transmission is one major way how thoughts are improved historically. (I didn't work out this idea. But if you are interested: I will use Evolution in Four Dimensions by Jablonka/Lamb as a starting point to flesh out the mechanisms of this idea)
The only part I am explicitely disagreeing is the progressive summarisation because it doesn't entail any engagement with the content aside from "what shines to you the most".
I am a Zettler
@Sascha Tiago Forte doesn't expound on this so I'm not exactly sure why he believes linking notes limits his thinking. I guess he may mean that it deters from forming new connections because of being predisposed to connecting ideas in a certain way. How would you respond to that?
@Roshan
I don't like to engage with other peoples mere statements, especially when those statements are hot/controversial/any "takes" on social media. Though, it is very tempting, especially for a disagreeable person like me, to throw my personal hot take against it, most of the time it result in more indirect and therefore inferior communication. ("Dad, mom said X'." "Go to your mom and tell her Y." "Mom, Dad said Y'."...)
Tiago states a personal preference as part of his marketing strategy and his content strategy (pre-filter promissing ideas by level of engagement on social media). This is not the mode of engagement I practice.
Additionally, it wouldn't be sincere since I'd engage with a lot of reasoning on the backend to a mere statement. There is no material I'd have to work with but just my assumption. I am long enough in the internet to be matured out of this.
So, there are the following conditions for me to engage with Tiago's position.
To me, it is a question of communication ethics.
I am a Zettler
The Feynman Technique "12 Favorite Problems" Tiago mentions is what I called indirectional work a couple of years ago.
I am a Zettler
@Sascha Thanks for the explanation. That's a solid principle. I'll try to assume the argument myself and post it on a new thread so you can engage with my argument instead of someone else's hot take.
Every note taking methodology has its advantages and drawbacks, and it seems to be a drawback I hadn't considered before. I've been using the Zettelkasten method for about two years and wouldn't stop because of it, but it's still good to know the trade offs and drawbacks that come with it.
There are some hiccups in the book. Example on page 66 and following:
Forte recommends on not keeping the whole source but only highlighted passages.
This is what you do anyhow when you read correctly (with a pen, physical or digital). So, you might save the whole pdf but with your annotations and therefore the invested work of filtering.
And what do you do with physical books? Rip out the pages? No, you do it like above. Add the book to the pile that you want to process and that's it.
This is an example of my main criticism of this book: It is sometimes theory driven where it should be more just description of practices with theory as an explanation, sometimes it is the other way arround: There are statements that should be supported by evidence.
However, this is a very minor criticism since we are not in the academic world in which you would nitpick every little detail. Many passages are still very useful for a beginner or even inspiring. It would be a grave mistake to criticise something on the grounds of your own background. I know very well that to make your work accessable to beginners you have to cover something that is very basic even to the intermediate.
And even for me, assuming that I am advanced student of knowledge work, it is not that important. Any part of the book should be judged within the context of the whole and its effect. As I mentioned above, I place this book in a similar category like Deep Work by Cal Newport. It is neither packed with new or surprising insights (for me), nor does it go very deep in the matter. But I took it as a starting point to improve my workflow and approach to some things. Examples are:
So, it could be very well that my (minor) criticism is not correct.
But, nethertheless, there are passages that could be cleaned up.
I am a Zettler
The quality of the book is a little bit to good for me. It is one of the very few books that got its spine broken.. I am very sorry.
I am a Zettler
Behind the curtain: All posts in this thread are part of the draft for my book review. So, I streamline my wordproduction.
I am a Zettler
Chuckle, my bad
(I'm still learning my way around your site).
Yes if you'd like, I can check in to read your thoughts a couple of times per week. It sounds very fascinating to me. But please remember I mainly think in terms of 'code' whereas you think in terms of 'knowledge management'. So I may not be able to add much, but I can certainly learn from the experience.
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@Mike_Sanders Right now, there is little chance that I produce something that you don't read here. But then you might be interested in becoming part of one of my planned additions to the zettelkasten project (something similar to a thinking tank).
This will be one of the building blocks for GTC (Getting Things Created).
How I will process this is a very representative example on how I process such items.
This is an example of the same process I presented in processing fiction. Each block of knowledge is an opportunity to engage the thinking machine (yourself), go to your thinking environment (the Zettelkasten) and perform value creating work.
From the notes in this thread, you can estimate that I am half way through the book. The process seems slow if you measure it by my progress through the book. But this is a very faulty metric since value created is not measured by the amount of your input but by the amount of actual value created. In this case, value is created by:
So, you see that I balance efficiency with effectiveness:
Both has up- and downsites. But the ongoing degotiation of effectiveness and efficiency in itself is value creating. So, my setup is antifragile by increasing chance for high upsides (more areas of my thinking environment is exposed to training stimuli, one stimulus is able to work on multiple sites) with limited or no downsides (there is just the opportunity cost of not being as effective which is balanced by my long-term horizon).
I am a Zettler
And in a single swoop…the nature of my social presence online has been diminished to nothing. I am both appreciative…and in crisis.
I changed one goal: I no longer pursue an acurate representation of PARA, but rather my iteration of PARA. I figured that there is enough material out there that summarises the system and Forte's book is very accessable (both: presentation of content and in pricing).
That means: I can reconstruct PARA as Forte just from my notes and I will for the article about PARA (and the connection to the ZKM). But the central structure note about PARA will not focus on representation of PARA with notes linked as supplementary material (commentary, critic, change proposals). Instead, the note will be focussing on my personal iteration of PARA (which I use both as a source for teaching material and writing material). If I change something, then the original module/item will be linked as supplementary material.
Since my Structure Note is in construction I state the goal at the top as a reminder for me. (I rarely need it. The act of putting the goal statement in itself is valuable)
Haha. I hope you will use the crisis to your benefit.
I am a Zettler
I cannot write a journal. It might be because of my personal approach to "capturing memories": I do not capture anything. To capture a moment, you have to perceive the moment as the past of the future. I practiced meditation for a long time and very intensly to get rid of such self-fragmentating clutter. Why would I throw away all the work I invested?
I actually could wittness my impulses to capture memories fading away the more I was able to just be. (I rarely record my training, for example, which is a lost benefit since I'd benefit from that footage for my online content on health and fitness)
But: I am a very extroverted (95th percentile) and have moderately high (70th percentile) enthusiasm. So, I use this to trick myself: I communicate readily (sadly in long monologues). So, I share with you what should be my journal.
I am a Zettler
This is an update of mapping CODE to the ZKM:
CODE as a workflow aims at high efficiency, but fails at the actual processing of information and knowledge. It is avoided altogether. This is unproblematic, especially for very accessible sources. But as soon as effort is needed to understand something, this understanding is postponed until later. This is an advantage if you want to organize input quickly, but it does not create a second brain.
- What is interesting to me is that this is another example of the recurring problem of negotiating between efficiency and effectiveness.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
I am a Zettler
Re: the recurring problem of negotiating between efficiency and effectiveness...
Yes excellent point, an issue we all wrestle with.
Back to reading for me.
Tinybase: plain text database for BSD, Linux, Windows (& hopefully Mac soon)
Think tank! Has been awhile since I last heard that phrase. Here's one for you The Hive-Mind.
Tinybase: plain text database for BSD, Linux, Windows (& hopefully Mac soon)
There is a difference between capturing a memory and capturing a (recent) moment/experience. A journal doesn't have to be a diary (capturing or recounting recent moments/experiences). My journal is basically a bunch of zettels capturing random memories (by definition, from the past) - some from a few years ago but most from 5 or 10 years ago, or even decades ago.
What prompts the "capture"? Something I'm reading or discussing with another person, some music, or even just a smell or taste or emotion. Up pops the memory and that memory goes into my ZK, along with some current thoughts about it. Over time, I've accumulated about 50 such zettels. They tend to be a bit longer than normal because I need 1000 or 2000 words to do the memory justice.
As an example, I was writing a blog post for our company intranet, targeted at young engineers, about learning (the title of the post was "It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts"). Right in the middle of writing, this word popped into my consciousness - "cockamamie". I haven't thought of or used that word for 50+ years - it springs from way back in my youth. The word was accompanied by a memory - something that could be captured in my ZK, if I thought it had value and added to the whole.
Then, I just follow the normal ZK practise of connecting these "memory zettels" - to each other and to other zettels. I believe that as those memories accumulate and become more inter-connected, I will reach something like a coherent personal history. We'll see if that occurs. But already some interesting connections are developing.
I want to emphasize the random nature of these memories - my brain serves them up without apparent rhyme or reason, but the more I capture, the more they make sense as a whole. I can start to see why I have certain values and why certain things are so important to me.
@GeoEng51 You are very right. Good clarification. This a very different thing, more similar to a writer you writes down inspiration to get a hold of it.
I am a Zettler
I am about to finish my processing: This diagram (partly in German, but you'll get the point since I showed the English version several times) shows my final concept of CODE (the workflow of BASB):
My final verdict is that BASB is indeed not about building a second brain. Ironically, I'd say that it is the exact opposite: You build something that organises and streamline everything exept the brain. This is not a criticism! I think BASB is an awesome system to assist with creating.
But you can still make the case that BASB is indeed building a second brain. It is just not a second brain that you use to think, understand and create. It is a brain that assist you with everything your brain did as well when you didn't use BASB.
From the arrows you can see that the ZKM and BASB are highly compatible because BASB does everything except what the core of the ZKM entails: Thinking, understanding, condensation of thinking and understanding, pre-production of usable text fragments etc.
This quote is more or less a direct confirmation of the above:
I personally will throw out anything that is not necessary because of my Zettelkasten (e.g. creating excerpts which is the endresult of Progressive Summarisation; I also need more powerful tools because I operate at the borders of my mental abilities). I additionally will replace some components with more powerful ones (e.g. the project kickoff with my personal iteration of the 29-items by Price (2021))
I moved the goals from the notes on the project out to their own sections:
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So, I finished processing the book.
I missed to track the total time I processed it. As stated above, the goal was not just to get the gist of BASB (I couldn't keep PARA as the name I use, like I planned..). This would have taken me less than 90 minutes. And if I wanted to create an article covering the basics another 30-60 minutes would be necessary.
But I'd missed a lot. I took the opportunity to overhaul my own system (the last step of value creation), built some tools that I can teach in conjunction with the ZKM, enriched my generalised theory of self-organisation etc.
Productivity is not measured by the material you can cross out of your inbox, but in the quality and quantity of thinking, understanding, writing and putting into practice. (My focus was the last)
I am a Zettler
The Problem of processing by the internets "creative" referencing style:
I am searching for additional material that the reader can benefit from. I encountered that video by an apparently big YouTuber. At 1:53min she quotes (without page number or link in the description) a number that Tiago Forte himself quotes from the New York Times that is behind a paywall. The article of the New York Times is itself quoting a study.
So, there is a lot of Chinese Whispering going on. Imagine if you'd encounter the video. Checking the source would be awfully annoying. But how could you trust the information in your Zettelkasten otherwise?
I am a Zettler