How much information do we consume everyday?
In his book, Tiago Forte addresses the issue of information overload, a problem that has persisted for over two decades without a solution. Our brains have not changed biologically for 200,000 years, yet we are trying to process more information than ever in our complex modern lives. The book presents a cognitive system, or exoskeleton, to help individuals create better work, make improved decisions, be more productive, and save time in the face of information abundance.
The amount of information we consume daily is staggering; we intake about 30 gigabytes, equivalent to 174 newspapers, through emails, messages, podcasts, and various communication methods. This overabundance of information leads to a scarcity of attention, as highlighted by economist Herbert Simon. Attention is even scarcer than time and is highly sought after by companies and apps, as engagement is the currency of the modern world.
To manage information consumption, individuals must create a filter or buffer to shield themselves from the media storm and be selective about what information to let in, focusing on what truly benefits their lives.
What was the reason behind the practice of keeping commonplace books among the great minds in history?
Forte researched how people in the past dealt with information overload during times of societal, economic, and lifestyle changes, such as the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the Renaissance. They discovered that throughout history, people turned to a solution called the commonplace book — a centralized repository for meaningful information, including quotes, advice, and personal reflections.
Notable historical figures, such as Leonardo da Vinci, John Locke, and Octavia Butler, kept commonplace books to develop their work. These books allowed them to control the narrative and make sense of the world around them. Forte aims to reinvent this practice in digital form for modern lives and work.
However, unlike these historical figures who were full-time creatives, modern individuals need a more efficient, technology-leveraged solution. Today’s technology, such as smartphones, allows for easy note-taking, storage of various media, and powerful search capabilities, making the digital commonplace book an effective tool for managing information.
What is CODE framework?
We need a second brain, a personal system for knowledge management involving note-taking and saving information from both physical and digital environments. The core of the second brain lies in the habits and behaviors that maintain its relevance. The code framework (C-O-D-E) represents the four essential steps of the creative process: Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express.
These steps describe how information is captured, structured, refined to its most critical points, and ultimately expressed. The purpose of this process is to communicate more effectively, making our ideas and messages more powerful and persuasive. A second brain, with its supporting material, enhances communication across various professions.
How to decide what to capture?
When doing digital note-taking, people often wonder what they should capture. Four criteria can help determine what is worth noting down: inspiration, practical purposes, personal experiences, and surprises.
Inspirational content evokes feelings that can’t be Googled, making it valuable to capture.
Practical information, like product specifications or contact details, may not be inspiring but is essential for future reference.
Personal experiences, including lessons learned from failures and successes, provide unique knowledge that can’t be found elsewhere.
Surprising information, even if initially unclear or disagreed with, signals potential value or relevance.
To find the most relevant information to save, focus on distinguishing the signal from the noise. This process involves extracting the most pertinent content from a book, podcast, or conversation. Taking responsibility for determining the most relevant information stream based on individual projects, goals, and priorities is crucial.
Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, managed his interests eclectically by keeping open questions in mind and searching for answers across various domains. This method of connecting problems and solutions across different fields contributed to his genius. Applying this approach in our work, we can collect answers, examples, and case studies to solve recurring problems or questions. It’s essential to allow for open questions from various aspects of life, blending conceptual, business, personal, and practical questions to maintain diverse avenues for exploration.
What are the advantages and limitations of capturing information?
Capturing thoughts and ideas, whether it’s on paper or a digital medium, can have profound benefits. It allows the mind to offload often vague and nebulous notions, leading to increased peace of mind. Research has shown that this simple act can lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and potentially extend life expectancy. It’s a free, readily accessible tool that requires nothing more than a paper and pencil or a note-taking app.
The act of writing things down provides immediate relief and a reduction in stress. It frees the mind from the constant need to cycle through the same thoughts, knowing they are safely stored elsewhere for future reference. There’s also a second round of benefits that come from retrieving, recalling, and reviewing these thoughts later on.
However, the effectiveness of these techniques can depend on one’s life stage or circumstances. They may be particularly useful during periods of significant change, such as starting a new job, moving to a new city, or becoming a parent. During these times, the sheer volume of new information to process can be overwhelming, and having a place to record and make sense of it is crucial.
As one matures and finds their direction in life, the need for note-taking may decrease as they begin to capitalise on the knowledge they’ve previously saved. Nonetheless, life changes may cause the need for intensive note-taking to spike again. It’s important to note that the habit of capturing thoughts and information isn’t static; it waxes and wanes, much like any other habit, routine, or ritual.
While digital note-taking has its merits, it can be distracting in certain contexts, especially during face-to-face interactions. Even when used with the best intentions, the mere presence of a digital device can be a distraction. To counter this, adopting a policy of using pen and paper during personal meetings can ensure that the other party feels heard and valued. The notes can later be digitised for future reference, striking a balance between the need for documentation and the need for presence and focus. Ultimately, what’s most important is to be mindful of what is prioritised in any given situation.
How can I organize my notes?
Taking notes is a beneficial practice, but managing those notes can be a challenge. The PARA framework, standing for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, offers a solution to this issue, providing a system for organizing all digital information across one’s life. This includes content from all sources, for all purposes, and in any format.
At its core, PARA differentiates between content that currently matters and everything else. The ‘Projects’ category represents the tasks or goals that are actively being worked on, necessitating immediate attention, like a pan on a stove that needs to be watched.
The remaining categories consist of ‘Areas’, which cover responsibilities that are managed slowly over the long term; ‘Resources’, encompassing everything else of interest or that’s being researched; and ‘Archives’, which includes any content from the previous three categories that is no longer active.
‘Projects’ will generally be the smallest category, as the information required for current projects is usually minimal. The ‘Areas’ category is a bit larger, including long-term responsibilities such as home and car maintenance records. ‘Resources’ is even larger, as it includes all areas of interest and research, while ‘Archives’ is the largest, functioning as cold storage for all past information.
Despite the size of ‘Archives’, it can grow as much as needed without causing distraction or diverting attention from active tasks, as long as it is properly managed and kept separate from current projects and priorities.
The PARA framework can be likened to different aspects of brain function, with each of its components — Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives — mirroring certain cognitive processes:
Projects could be likened to the brain’s executive functions, which are managed by the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is responsible for planning, organizing, and executing tasks, just like the ‘Projects’ category in PARA, which represents current, active goals that require immediate attention and action.
Areas could be associated with the long-term memory functions of the brain, specifically the hippocampus. Just as the ‘Areas’ category represents responsibilities and interests that are managed over the long term, the hippocampus is responsible for the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory.
Resources could be seen as equivalent to the sensory and associative regions of the brain. These brain areas process and integrate incoming information from our senses, forming the basis of our perception and understanding. Similarly, ‘Resources’ in PARA consist of all the information we are currently learning about or interested in.
Archives could be compared to the brain’s storage of dormant or unused memories, which could be located in various regions depending on the nature of the memory (e.g., episodic, semantic, procedural). Just as the brain stores past experiences and knowledge that isn’t immediately needed, the ‘Archives’ category in PARA serves as a storehouse for all past, inactive information.
Thus, the PARA framework can be seen as a model of cognitive organization, its different components representing various cognitive functions and processes. By understanding and applying PARA, we may be able to better manage and utilize our cognitive resources, much like how the brain manages its various functions.
The PARA framework’s relevance extends beyond just note organization — it plays a key role in creativity as well. Drawing from the example of a professional artist, who meticulously plans every painting as a project, creativity is seen as an endeavor that can’t be left to chance or mood. It demands structure and productivity, which PARA assists in providing.
By using PARA, one continually asks what content or ideas are required for current projects, and directly places relevant material in the corresponding folder or tag. Content not immediately relevant is delegated to the less urgent categories of ‘Areas’, ‘Resources’, or ‘Archives’, thus creating a clear distinction between what is needed for progress and what isn’t. This approach ensures that creativity and productivity work hand-in-hand, leading to the completion and realization of creative goals.
What is the distillation process?
Distillation is a vital step in the process of managing notes and information. It’s the act of refining and summarizing the important points, making them easily accessible for future reference. Consider this process as adding a ‘handle’ to a suitcase full of ideas, giving you a grip on the content so you can efficiently utilise it when needed.
In essence, distillation is about highlighting the key points or action steps in a body of text, which might be hundreds or thousands of words long. It creates a point of attachment for your mind, a headline or main takeaway that informs you what the note is about at a glance. It enables you to make quick decisions about whether to delve deeper into the text or move on to something else, thereby enhancing the efficiency of your note reviewing process.
The importance of distillation lies in its contribution to ‘discoverability’, a principle from information science which pertains to the ease of finding the information you’re looking for. In terms of digital notes, there are two crucial tools for enhancing discoverability: search and distillation.
The search function allows you to type in a keyword or phrase and instantly find relevant notes, much like using a search engine on the web. However, sometimes the specific term you’re searching for might not be included in the note itself. Here is where distillation comes into play.
Distillation, through the use of highlights, allows you to quickly scan a body of text and identify the most relevant points. These highlighted points then work in tandem with the search function, each tool bolstering the other’s strengths, resulting in a more efficient and effective system for managing and accessing your digital notes.
What are the stages of expression?
Expression, the ability to effectively communicate our ideas and messages, forms the crux of the creative process. Despite its significance, the art of expression often lacks the emphasis it deserves in our education and work environments. It evolves in stages, typically developing from beginner to advanced levels.
The first stage of expression is ‘Remembering.’ This stage entails backing up our assertions with evidence, making them more credible and impactful. In a rapidly digitizing world, having a ‘second brain’ or a system for storing and retrieving information can be invaluable. It can be as simple as using a digital note-taking application to store important facts, data, or examples, so they’re readily available to bolster our arguments when needed.
The second stage is ‘Connecting.’ As our second brain grows with information from various sources and contexts, we start noticing connections between seemingly disparate ideas. This process is the heart of creativity and innovation. It’s not about creating something out of nothing, but rather about applying insights from one domain to another. By storing observations in a centralized place, we increase the chances of finding these connections, leading to innovative thinking and solutions.
The final stage is ‘Creating.’ After stages of remembering and connecting, we eventually reach a point where we have something original to say. This stage is when people become creators, producing artifacts, whether digital or physical, that encapsulate their knowledge and viewpoints. These artifacts, like blog posts, podcasts, or books, serve as ambassadors for their ideas, carrying their impact to the wider world.
However, the notion of ‘creating’ shouldn’t be limited to individuals who identify as bloggers, YouTubers, or online course creators. The future compels all of us to produce content, whether shared publicly or within our organizations. The modern work landscape is becoming increasingly collaborative, iterative, and public, necessitating the display and exchange of ideas.
This collaborative and iterative process isn’t about individual genius, but about collective minds working together to achieve significant outcomes. The key to this collaboration is the body of knowledge each person brings to the table. This knowledge isn’t spontaneously generated, but is the result of a thoughtful process of cultivation and growth over time. As we advance into this new era, embracing this experimental way of working is crucial for anyone, irrespective of their profession or field.
To be continued.
Disclaimer: This post is a summary of Tiago Forte’s video talk and may not cover all the details. For a complete understanding, it is recommended to watch
the full video.