Edition no.1 - January 26th, 2023

It's January 2023, Planet Earth.

Technology is evolving REALLY fast.

Things are changing so fast, that Humanity has already entered the stage of exponential growth in technology.

What this means is:

More and better technology leads to the development of even better technology, which continues to accelerate growth in a positive feedback loop.

This brings (very) serious consequences for humans that don't keep up.

And how do you prepare for this??

• A Digital Second Brain.

Come with me to understand why. ↓

(Reminder: The Fis Letter will be structured in the 432 format: 4 Quotes, 3 Notes, 2 Links.)

💬 4 Quotes

Quote 1

Kurzweil is a Director at Google. Naturally, he deeply understands technology, Artificial Intelligence, and its implications.

He points out that the RATE OF CHANGE of technological advancements is accelerating.

This is precisely what leads to exponential growth.

Anything that is exponential brings serious challenges. For example:

Imagine going from 1 child to 10 children instead of 2. Then 100 children instead of 3, then 1,000 children instead of 4. This is what exponential looks like.

Humans were not designed to deal with exponential anything...

Yet this is exactly what humanity is facing right now.

Quote 2

New tools are being launched every day.

AI is rapidly becoming mainstream.

If you continue working with Microsoft Excel and Word (as they are today), you will be less capable than people who get their work done using:

• Modern note-taking apps.

• With powerful AI algorithms.

• And the right mindsets.

Simple as that. If you don't adapt, you will move backward.

And how do you adapt?

Shift Mindest and Tools. ↓

Quote 3

The first mindset shift is: STOP treating your brain like a pen drive.

Your brain was NOT made to hold ideas. You will NOT remember your thoughts forever...

But a digital note-taking app will.

If you (correctly) use a good note-taking app, it will bring you your most important thoughts exactly when you need them.

And trust me:

You create better results when this happens.

Quote 4

With a Digital Second Brain, your brain is not the bottleneck anymore.

Your brain is free to focus on what matters:

Creativity, Ideation, Learning, Execution, Connection.

You are capable of creating so much more when you have a reliable infrastructure to hold information for you.

• You make sense of more information.

• You save ideas to later execute on.

• You create bigger, more impactful projects.

The sky is the limit with a Second Brain.

📄 3 Notes

1. The Extended Mind outside your Brain

The Extended Mind Thesis is a Hypothesis presented by (Clark and Chalmers, 1998) that brings a revolutionary definition for human cognition.

The Extended Mind Thesis states the following:

Human cognition (mind) is a combination of internal AND external entities that interact with one another.

Human cognition is a coupled system. Your mind + the external world you interact with.

I find it very hard to argue against this hypothesis, the external world has a great influence on how we think and act. It's surely a big part of our lives.

Imagine the difference between human cognition in 2023 vs. 1923.

It's a huge difference.

That said, a Second Brain is about extending your mental capacities by upgrading the external entities that your mind interacts with.

2. What's a Second Brain, and its Benefits

A Second Brain is a set of Digital Tools that act as an extension of your cognition.

Your Second Brain permanently holds information for you, including meeting notes, calendar events, tasks, book highlights, and articles you wanna read.

Your Second Brain is a time capsule, where you input information once, and can retrieve it later, whenever it is needed. It stimulates creativity by saving ideas so you can develop them with time.

A Second Brain is intended to support you in creating more, with higher quality and less effort, while keeping your most important thoughts and ideas forever.

Imagine you're working on a presentation...

Instead of staring at a blank screen, you have access to:

• Organized note from a meeting with your boss, yesterday.

• Ideas you had reading an online article on the subject, weeks ago.

• Highlights and notes from a related book you read, one year ago.

Now imagine you're 87 years old, looking back at life. You're able to access every piece of important knowledge you've learned in your entire life.

Doesn't that sound inspiring?

3. The Anatomy of a Second Brain

Just like your Biological Brain has several different Parts (Lobes), your Second Brain is composed of several different Tools.

Here is a diagram and a breakdown of the different tools that make up a Second Brain.

📝 Note-taking app - Control Center

The central component in any Second Brain.

Your Note-Taking app is where the magic happens.

It's where you:

• Save your knowledge.

• Set goals and make plans.

• Create and maintain projects.

• Share knowledge with a team.

There are several note-taking apps available; more on this in future letters.

⏳ Read Later app - Gatekeeper

A Read Later app has two purposes:

1. Filter what you consume

2. Protect your attention

Every day, the world creates 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 bytes of information.

1. You'll never consume everything. A Read Later app filters what you actually consume.

2. If you stop and read everything you find online, you will get easily distracted. A Read Later app protects your attention.

When you find something interesting, save it to a Read Later app (I would suggest Reader by Readwise).

Then, read it when you have time (and real interest).

🕸 Capture System - Entry Point

How knowledge enters your Second Brain.

This is a system where you capture information from several different places. Some examples are:

• Ideas you have

• Meeting notes

• Emails you receive

• Highlights from books

• Notes on online courses

It's great to draw a diagram to understand what places your knowledge comes from.

🗓 Calendar - Your Map

This one is very simple and super important.

A calendar is used to track your events and to see your schedule.

Not having a digital calendar in 2023 is unacceptable.

📁 Files & Folders - Storage

Your files are a very important part of your Second Brain.

A note-taking app is where you put projects, plans, and knowledge. But there is more to life than that.

Folders are important to organize files:

• Images

• Videos

• Code

• Documents

• Presentations

• Spreadsheets

The best file structure I know of is PARA, from Tiago Forte (link below ↓).

🤾‍♂️ Task Manager - Take Action

A Task manager is where you organize your next actions.

Some note-taking apps have powerful task management functions, others not so much.

Either way, organizing your tasks and actions is essential to move your projects forward.

Mapping out and managing your tasks also leads to peace of mind, by having your obligations (and desired actions) in life under control.

🔗 2 Links

Link 1: The PARA Method, by Tiago Forte

In this article, Tiago Forte explains how to organize your file system (and also other components of your Second Brain) following the PARA Method.

PARA stands for:

• Projects

• Areas

• Resources

• Archive

Link 2: Your Extended Mind, by Andy Clark

In this short 9 min video, Andy Clark, co-author of The Extended Mind Thesis, provides strong arguments to suggest that human cognition includes the external world, and not only your body.

That's it!Thank you for reading! See you next week.

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