Do you really need a "second brain"?

I use a simple version of this and find it extremely helpful as a memory aid. Probably ‘Mental Junkroom’ would be a better name for it than ‘brain’.

I do not do all the indexing stuff people talk about. I use a simple text database with a few fields. Text, URL, dates, a couple of other things.

Things get into that database with tools I keep on my computers. I use the automation tool Alfred on my Mac to allow me to type, cmd-space bar, then “idea blah blah blah”. That grabs the URL from the frontmost browser, the page title and creates a record with those and the description “blah blah blah”. If I want to know about that later, it’s saved.

That particular mechanism has variations to allow non-browser ideas to be captured as well. I also have mechanisms on my phone and pad.

The usage? Once in a blue moon I think of something and search the list. I cannot tell you how great it is to be able to find a specific thing I kind of remember from awhile ago. I have, rarely, browsed the list for fun and edification, reading web pages that I didn’t bother with back then.

Mostly, however, it reduces my stress a great deal by giving me a way to let go of intellectual baggage. Before, I was burdened with trying to keep track of stuff. Now I can just throw it into my Mental Junkroom, knowing I can dig it out if I need it. The fact that I almost never do does not reduce the relief of getting it off of my plate easily and soon.

I think the key to my enjoyment is the creation of extremely quick tools to update. I can add a not to my record in seconds without interrupting my flow. That is huge.

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Would you be open to sharing what you do? MacOS I can easily imagine with KM. Details would still help/inspired.

IOS/iPadOS I would be especially useful.

Hi all, first post :slight_smile:

This really captures my feelings on ‘second brain’, that there’s this implicit/fomo-based assumption that if you capture everything, then you will understand everything. It’s kind of like the difference between writing something down to remember or archive it, versus writing something down to understand it right now.

Which reminds me of the old paper Field Notes slogan “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”

(Disclaimer: I’m also the author of a mindmapping/thinking tool. So I’ve thought about this maybe too much – although I feel I’m in good company here.)

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