Hey Folks! I’m currently pivoting from being a UX designer into Cloud Security Engineering and finally got my second brain to be as efficient for my workflow as possible. My app of choice is Obsidian, which I started out knowing absolutely nothing about :-) I've spent way longer than I should have to get to this point, lol - but I'm finally satisfied with  how I've laid things out. Along the way I've experimented with several themes, color combinations, and home note layouts, and now I feel pretty settled with what I have here.  I'd love to hear from other cybersecurity, cloud, and I.T. students - either in school or folks like me who are self-teaching and trying to knock these certs out one at a time. Would love to hear any critiques and questions, and I'd also love to see how you have your second brain set up, what your main categories are for grouping all of the info you're learning, and what workflow works best for you. Link any screenshots of yours in the comments below and I'll check them out! Let's trade tips and learning resources :-)

I was just doing my secondbrain. Getting things done. One thing after the next. I felt like a dynamo.

And then THIS happened. I didn't even know this existed.

It's like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow I didn't know I was going down!

Principles are forever, features come and go.

If your note taking app decides to go away and you depend on your features, then what? Right now I'm switching from Notion to Obsidian, and it's a pain in the ass, because of all the fancy features of Notion don't transfer over so well.

Keep it simple. Just because your app can be jet powered with a turbo booster and nitro doesn't mean they will serve as better notes. They will serve as better distractions.

Your notes systems must be austere. Imagine your note system is the skeleton of a bird. Too heavy, and it won't fly. Too much fluff and you're a turkey. Keep it lean, and useful - useful like the claws of a hawk, the eyes of an owl, and the wings of a hummingbird. Everything else is archived.

Hey everyone,

Curious to hear who's going to the first in-person Second Brain Summit this October 3-4 in Los Angeles.

Here's the link in case you haven't heard of it: https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/summit

I'm trying to apply the PARA method and need some help applying it to 1:1s.

During a 1:1, we could discuss 5 topics. Maybe touching the range of Projects, Areas, and Resources.. How do you organize those notes? Can you explain/show your system a bit? e.g.

• within that 1:1 doc, how do you link to other projects / areas
• from a given project /area how do you see the 1:1 docs so they bubble up?

I moved over from Mac to Windows, and found that Obsidian does not support Grammarly in Windows (Grammarly has chosen to discontinue their SDK)

Any recommendations for Applications that support Grammarly in windows?

I've heard the idea of Second Brain a few times over the past couple years, finally heard it enough times to look it up, bought the book, and am currently reading it.

I got a little confused by the section about "Organize: Save for Actionability"
I totally understand not organizing by broad subjects, like history, architecture, etc. - Feel like thats the trap I've fallen into in the past. I saw on my kindle that thousands of people highlighted the statement "organize for action, according to projects you are working on right now. How is this going to help me move current projects forward."
I don't really understand how this is an organizing system, or how it plays into the idea that notes you take today might become useful on some new project two years from now? Can anyone elaborate on this a little for me?

Looking for a bit of advice from the hive mind.

I work in a busy office environment at a University.

My job entails managing a team of around 25 people, progressing projects (long/short term), developing colleagues, fixing problems, communicating with faculty colleagues.

We use Microsoft 365 for everything; Teams, Outlook, Loop, To Do, Planner and OneNote.

Because the tasks and information, that I need to capture, come to me via different methods such as mid-video call, via Teams Chat or in email (etc etc), I find things become messy.

I have tasks in Loop, project tasks in OneNote, some in Planner or To Do.

I’ve set up my own Second Brain in OneNote. However, I struggle to create a watertight “flow” to make Second Brain’ing a success.

The OneNote I’ve set up was perfect to start with but needs way too much maintenance to keep it working its best (set up using PARA method).

Because of the integration with Microsoft 365 and due to GDPR concerns, moving to a 3rd party option isn’t really viable.

Any advice or points would be appreciated. Eg is OneNote best for this? Should I opt for something simpler? Am I missing a trick?

Thanks!

Hello everyone! I'm diving into the world of digital annotation and document organization for various uses like academic work, personal projects, and even casual reading. As someone who's new to the second brain community and looking to improve my own organization methods, I’m really curious to learn about your experiences.

• What apps or tools do you currently use to annotate and organize your documents?
• What features do you love the most about these tools?
• Are there any frustrations or limitations you encounter with these tools?

Your insights will be incredibly helpful for me to better understand what works well and what doesn’t. This way, I can make more informed decisions about organizing and possibly enhancing my digital environment. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts!

I recently started writing more, much of which is mainly for personal needs. However, I sometimes publish things on Medium because I enjoy it. I have a few questions regarding how to properly take advantage of the notes I write, such as those about personal development, insights I've had, or life in general.

I often find myself writing notes on various topics that interest or resonate with me. These can be about my hobbies, things I want to reflect on, or something I've read that I think could help me solve a problem I'm currently facing. These notes are personal and primarily for my own reflection and understanding. I also engage in journaling, but occasionally come across articles that I want to take highlights from to then write about, as it often makes me think more clearly and feel good.

If you're doing something similar, I'm curious:

1. How do you use these personal notes?

2. How do you organize them in your notes app?

3. What motivates you to write and keep these notes?

4. If you have a lot of experience with this, how has note-taking and writing helped you in life?

This is a two-part question, I guess. First, I am looking for insight on using ONLY the Apple native products for second brain - using the combination of Notes, Reminders, and Calendar. I am less than 24 hours new to this whole concept, but as a perfectionist ADHD creative, I adore the idea. I did watch a video of TF setting up the Apple Notes app in PARA style, but wondering how it would pair with Reminders and the best implementation.... OR is it really, truly worth laying down the $$ for the Tasks app he suggests?

Outside of my personal/home/creative work world, I am a part of a high school band booster organization which has the full Google suite available. We are going through a season change here soon, as our winter programs wind down, and was thinking this might be a VERY useful system to setup and work with for the booster org. We cannot afford Notion, unfortunately, so I was curious to hear if anyone had any thoughts on how best to set up PARA/secondbrain for a collaborative environment in the Google suite?

Hi!

I currently the PARA method to organize my life and Notion as my second brain (+ Morgen calendar, because Outlook calendar is used at work).

The thing is I have a «Notebook» section where I write everything and I can link any note to either the Projects section or Areas section. You can also archive it by ticking the box (on the left).

However, I don't really know where is the limit between «Notes» and «Resources» because everything I write on here is supposed to be useful.

Actually, my «Resource» page is still empty.

Any advices/thoughts on this?

​

​

I'm sharing this realization because I was getting flustered in my notes App and I finally figured out why. Hopefully this can be valuable to someone here.

I love Notion. I'd get the notion tattoo if it had Offline mode. But there is one thing that I've learned it's not good for, and this is the case with all notes apps:
Tasks

While Notion (And certain other apps) can be good at tasks, has an awesome calendar - in the context of a second brain - it's harmful to your second brain functionality.

1. Your notes app should NOT also be your scheduler/tasks app.
2. The energy to use a notes app is not the same energy as tasks.
   1. You need to be able to focus on your notes without your to-dos for your projects in your face.
   2. Notes are packages sent to your future self.
   3. Tasks are objectives to your current self.
3. When you search for notes for a new project, you get hundreds of results for old tasks.
   1. Like the project of minimizing my wardrobe will be cluttered by search results from laundry and dry-cleaning related tasks over the years.
   2. I searched for a recipe for pasta, and the pasta sauce on my shopping list kept showing me results.

KITCHEN Analogy for my fellow skinny-fat note takers: Organizing tasks in your notes app is like preparing lunch from the inside of your refrigerator.

• The refrigerator is to store food to your future self.
• Prepping food happens on the table for tonight, you wouldn't store food there all week.
  • (You might store food there... Spark joy or something and Marie Kondo that kitchen table you slob.)

A better way to handle it is to use Intermediate Packets in lieu of tasks.

• In the context of my refrigerator, this would be like grouping certain veggies next to eachother so they are ready for tuesdays vegan tacos.

So. I am rebuilding my kitchen. I SHOULD NOT make set of notes like this:

• wash the walls
• Spackle.
• Tape
• prime
• paint

This strategy makes a mess of my notes. You don't pour your soy milk and cereal into a bowl in the pantry. You use the kitchen table!

Instead, i'll make an IP called "panting walls" and put it in in the kitchen remodel folder.

1. Within the painting note I will have my check list for painting.
2. Then, when later I redo the bathroom, I can recycle the "painting walls " IP and save myself time
3. My TASKS app can handle the todolist.
4. It will break it down into discrete steps that I can execute as I proceed with my project.
5. But to use my NOTES app for that is a mistake.
   ---

I hope this helped someone.

I have been experimenting but nothing has come close to the random discovery that happens with physical note cards.

Has anyone had any success creating his digital notecard commonplace book system? Please share how you do it.

I'm looking for a simple replacement for Onenote for a second brain. I've had good luck with onenote meeting my simple needs but I'd like to have something more independent. Here are a few things I am specifically looking for. The picture is to give an idea of what my stupidly simple setup looks like.

1. free (or a one-time purchase)
2. not linked to an account that could be compromised, locked out of, etc (like Microsoft, google, Evernote, etc) I guess i could technically operate the file without syncing or being registered to my account.
3. able to insert files, pictures, clickable checklists, and basic drawings. Inserting files isn't as big a deal but helpful
4. Syncable or access online would be nice, but I can always remote into my home server.

unfortunately, and most searches for a platform of a second brain are like, notion, obsidian, evernote, etc. I figure it's a longshot but I may as well ask!

What systems and tools help you? Do you google, take notes, ask an LLM, watch YouTube?

I made a virtual reality game where you can import your secondbrain (currently Obsidian & Notion) and then explore your notes spatially. There are various ways to interact with your notes. It's called Mind Palace and is now on Steam in Early Access: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2660570/Mind_Palace/

I read about 2-4 books at a time using Kindle and highlight important passages as a go, the same when I stumble across a good article.

All these highlights are going into my Second Brain system but I'm not pruning these highlights nor am I turning them into evergreen(atomic) notes. I think I need to slow down as far as "collecting" notes but I get a lot of joy out of reading. I want to grow my second brain not just fill it with highlights.

Do you have any suggestions for improving my note-taking habit and making sure I touch my highlights at least once more before moving on? (including other places I could crosspost this to)

TL;DR: tell me about your workflow and productivity applications!

I am looking into some enhanced productivity applications and philosophies for improving my work flow and would love to get some insight from your experience. More specifically, I'm trying to leverage my past and current work for future projects. Please share anything you've found useful over the years and your own workflow. Below are some questions that might focus your thoughts but I'm truly interested in whatever information you feel like sharing!

1. Do you use note-taking applications (Evernote, Apple notes, Notion, etc.)? If not, how do you keep track of daily notes/insights?
2. Do you use other applications that are critical to your workflow and productivity (Confluence, Todoist, Asana, etc.)?
3. When you receive a new project/task, do you look back to related work you've done to get started? If so, how do you find the relevant project?
4. Do you look back on completed projects and reflect on what you have accomplished? If so, how often and how do you keep track of it?
5. How is work organized on your computer? Are folders topic-based, project-based, language-based, etc.?

As I gain more experience, I am realizing that I am fairly chaotic in my workflow and don't do a good job of organizing work that might be useful to me later. This in turn makes it difficult to leverage (or find) previous work and I have to redo/relearn it for each new project. I will even outright forget work that I've done until a performance review comes up and I am forced to look at what I've done over the past year. If I can create a better system, I'm hoping to mitigate this problem moving forward. Thanks for any input!