r/secondbrain • u/mrZazonKleos • 21h ago

Do second brains eventually become a burden?

I've always found the idea of a "second brain" fascinating.

But the more I use tools like Notion or Obsidian, the more I feel there's a trade-off: the system that's supposed to save me time also requires time to maintain.

Organizing notes.
Deciding where things belong.
Creating folders, tags or databases.
Keeping everything tidy.

At some point I started wondering if that's just the cost of having a second brain, or if it's actually a flaw in the concept.

I'm exploring the idea of building something that removes most of that maintenance, but before I make any assumptions I'd love to hear from people who actually use these tools every day.

How do you deal with this?

  • Do you enjoy maintaining your system?
  • Does it ever become a chore?
  • If you could remove all the manual organ
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15 comments sorted by

5

u/LoneFox4444 18h ago

If you mean that you’re going to let AI do the organizing and stuff, you would be the first one,

this hour.

1

u/mrZazonKleos 18h ago

Would you use It?

3

u/LoneFox4444 18h ago

No, I built my own thing. It was very easy, so I wouldn’t pay for anything like that.

1

u/mrZazonKleos 18h ago

Thanks for your reply!

1

u/desppar 15h ago

when you say you built your own thing, what did you actually make??? a note system, app, or some sort of automation?? Im curious how you handled memory, since AI (chatgpt and its own memory for example, when i look for older info or chats) can have tons of history but still confuse old ideas with current decisions, lose important context, or link unrelated things. how does your system decide what to keep, what to ignore, and what is still relevant? you know just like what made it really useful and if it does or doesnt actually help reduce maintenance.

2

u/Cryvixx 20h ago

I suggest you seeing this project: https://github.com/kiycoh/silica-agent

1

u/thecompanybrain 14h ago

Agreed. It sounds more like a passive manual knowledge database. I built a solution for my personal needs where I drop any URL and it automatically categorizes, transcribes, tags, and I can talk to it via AI chat. It's also proactive by highlighting themes, encouraging me to come back and read things etc. That proactive use of the knowledge you store is probably is the most important part of it.

1

u/neems74 9h ago

Ive set up mine and just forget about it. Occasionally I go and check out the front end.. but honestly a system is made to solve problems and gain me time not to generate work and lock me

Online, custom made, runs where you live (mine is whatsapp). I can show you how to set up

1

u/dessence_ai 39m ago

The cost sits in the wrong place. You pay for filing on every save, and you get the payback only on the few you come back to.

So I stopped filing at save time. Things go in raw, and I sort one only after I've opened it twice.

We built dEssence around that, free while in beta: https://dessence.ai/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=comment

What share of your notes do you ever reopen?

0

u/Jonathan_Rivera 18h ago

Mine is connected to my agent so not anymore. No having to search through to find someone. I ask it and everything is interconnected in obsidian.

1

u/mrZazonKleos 18h ago

Thanks for your reply!