How to Organise your Life

Building a Second Brain: Store Everything That Matters

If you're like me, you devour books, podcasts, and YouTube videos constantly.

But here's the problem: all that learning means nothing if you can't remember and apply it when you need it most.

This is where information overload becomes your enemy. You consume incredible insights, then watch them slip away because your brain simply can't hold everything.

Fortunately, Tiago Forte's book "Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential" offers a proven solution.

Let's dive in.

The Information Overload Crisis

According to Humology, the average person consumes 74 gigabytes of information daily. That's an overwhelming amount that clutters your mental bandwidth and reduces your brain's capacity for creative thinking.

Think about it: How many times have you heard something brilliant on a podcast, told yourself you'd remember it, then completely forgotten it by the next day?

We rarely write these insights down, and when we do, traditional note-taking falls short—you can't search through handwritten notes or easily organize them.

That's where your second brain comes in.

What Is a Second Brain?

A second brain is exactly what it sounds like: a digital extension of your mind where you can store information, tasks, and ideas. This frees up your biological brain to focus on what it does best—creative thinking and problem-solving.

As productivity expert David Allen puts it: "Your brain is for having ideas, not for holding them."

The first part of a second brain is having a to-do list and a calendar, so you don’t have to rely on memory to track what needs to be done and when.

This alone frees up a significant amount of mental space.

The second part is setting it up to capture your ideas as they come, so nothing valuable gets lost.

How to Build Your Second Brain

First you need to find a platform to store information. I personally use Notion because it offers an intuitive way to organize and personalize your knowledge base.

One of Notion's biggest advantages is its vibrant community—countless users share professionally designed templates that can make your pages look polished and functional right from the start.

If you're interested in getting started, there's a free Notion template specifically designed for second brain workflows available at notionsecondbrain.com.

Capture: What Goes Into Your Second Brain

Once you have your storage system in place, the next step is deciding what to capture. Your second brain should contain anything that resonates with you:

• Highlights from books you're reading

• Inspiring quotes that stick with you

• Thought-provoking articles or Substack posts

• Original thoughts and ideas

• Meeting notes and insights

• Interesting conversations or observations

The key principle is simple: if something feels important enough that you'll want to remember it in the future, capture it. Don't worry about whether it seems "worthy" enough—your future self will thank you for preserving these moments of insight.

Organize: Think Action, Not Source

Most people organize their notes by where they found them—all book notes together, all podcast notes in another folder. While this seems logical, Tiago Forte argues this approach actually limits the usefulness of your second brain.

Instead, organize by actionability. When processing information, ask yourself: "Where will I actually use this?" If an insight could improve your newsletter, file it with your newsletter materials. If it relates to a project you're working on, put it there. This action-oriented approach ensures your notes are ready to use when you need them most.

Distill: Clarity Over Clutter

Distilling means reducing your notes to their most essential insights. Rather than letting information accumulate into overwhelming piles, focus on:

• Highlighting the key ideas that matter most

• Summarizing concepts in your own words

• Removing anything that doesn't add real value

• Making notes scannable and easy to revisit

The goal is creating notes that your future self can instantly understand without having to reread everything. Think of it as leaving breadcrumbs for yourself—clear, concise markers that guide you back to the insight that originally caught your attention.

Express: Transform Knowledge Into Action

The final step is where your second brain becomes truly powerful. Express means taking your captured and distilled knowledge and putting it to work in the real world. This could involve:

• Writing articles or blog posts

• Creating presentations or courses

• Building products or solutions

• Brainstorming new ideas and connections

• Sharing insights with others

Expression transforms passive note-taking into active knowledge creation. It's how you turn the raw input you've collected into valuable output that benefits both you and others. Your second brain becomes not just a storage system, but a creative engine that helps you think better, create more, and share your unique perspective with the world.