Robb Dunewood's Second Brain - Part 2 - DTNS WEEKEND

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2:27New episodes drop every weekday wherever you get your podcasts. Tune into Morning Brew Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to another DTNS Weekend Edition. I'm Tom Merritt, And it is our first sequel on the DTNS Weekend Edition. Joining me for part two of describing his second brain, my co-host and friend Rob Dunwood. Welcome back. We are back by popular demand. Is that a safe way to say it? I think we get to say that. Yeah. This is kind of cool because I wonk out on this productivity stuff. I'm probably into it more than the average person because it absolutely helps my dyslexic brain.

3:10But yeah, I'm more than happy to talk about this stuff, man. This is fun. If you haven't heard part one, you might want to dig back into the DTNS archives, and we'll link to it in the show notes as well, to listen to Rob describe his second brain. For people joining us in progress, do a quick recap on what you mean by the second brain. So second brain, there's a book by Tiago Forte called Building a Second Brain. And essentially what a second brain is, is a digital commonplace book is probably the best way to describe it. So if you ever think of like the professor or the scientist that has that leather bound book that they write everything down in, all their experiments, all that kind of stuff goes in there.

3:54It's not really a journal. It is things of interest that they have captured so they can go back and ultimately, I think Albert Einstein said, if there's anything that you want to remember, write it down. And this is kind of where the commonplace books have been used for literally hundreds, if not thousands of years. But yeah, this is a digital variation of that. So instead of me having to write things down, and I used to back in the day, I used to use the composition books, the critic composition books. I would write everything down in those. But the problem is that once you write them down in that book, unless you remember what book you wrote it down in, it's kind of hard to go back and beyond the test that you were taking to go back and remember it.

4:35when it's digital, anything that I capture is just there through perpetuity. So it's there forever. And in part one, we kind of ran through the basics of how Rob does this and got so many people writing in with follow-up questions, with their own observations of how they do similar things. So we thought it would be fun to do a part two and follow up on these. We're going to start with something from Norm. Now, we've sort of summarized your emails here to keep them a little briefer, or I should say a friend of ours summarized these, right? Yeah, my friend I. My friend I did it, you know, Gemini.

5:17Gemini. I for short. Norm wrote, how can someone best get started with their own second brain setup? Is it effective to use Google Docs for notes, like maybe with Calendar, events for quick mobile notes? Does logging reflections daily improve actual memory, or is its value primarily in accessibility? Okay, so I'm going to answer that question. But before I do, I do want to once again reiterate that there is a whole book and a whole training program from Forte Labs. If you really want to dig into this, I would strongly recommend Building a Second Brain by Tiara Forte. It is a great book. So what I'm giving you, Tom, is what I do.

6:00This is my version of it because I don't subscribe to 100 % of everything that is done in the second brain process. This is just ultimately what works for me. So to answer Norm's question, the basis of any second brain generally is going to be some type of note-taking app. I particularly use, you know, for me, I use Evernote as well as Google Docs. Now, Google Docs to create the notes is not necessarily the way to go. I basically use a bunch of pieces of software that we'll get into in a moment, but Evernote, OneNote, Obsidian, Notion, any program like that that is actually a database-backed note-taking system, that could be acceptable for a second brain.

6:46And one of the things that Tiago Forte points out is that depending on what type of person you are, he breaks down three, maybe even four different types of archetypes of the way you collect your data. Like I believe I am the gardener. That's the only one that I can remember. I only need to remember how I do it. But like Notion for people who are in the Notion, I actually said one time that I don't really rock with Notion and literally the internet came for me. But I don't want to have to build my productivity system to be able to use it. I just want to open up Evernote and just start creating notes.

7:16So I'm not the architect type. I'm more of the gardener type that like, here, let me just go put this stuff where I need to go put it. Or maybe even the librarian type. I want to put this here. I want to put this there. And I don't have to worry about the underlying system for it. So I wouldn't necessarily say just start writing documents in Google Docs directly. But I can tell you how I actually use a piece of software to connect to my Google Docs that everything that comes from the other software that I use eventually ends up there. This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI.

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10:14All right. And then what about your actual memory? Does doing that logging actually improve it? It does because it's one of the things where I don't remember a lot of things. I don't have to try to remember a lot of things because if something was interesting to me, I just write it down and it goes into my second brain and I can recall it. And it makes my life a lot easier by not having to remember anything, I literally can remember ultimately everything. Yeah. And I get what you're saying too. And I think what Norm's wondering also is if you've got stuff in your second brain and that improves accessibility, right?

10:55Because now it's over there and you don't have to worry about it. Do the things you do need to remember, are those easier to remember? Because there's less kicking around in there. There is. So I need to meet somebody Tuesday on the 17th at four. I don't need to remember that it's in my calendar. My calendar is a perfectly good place to put appointments. If I need to take the trash out at a certain time, my task is a perfectly good place to put it. And what I have done is just connected all of that to Evernote, connected all that to my second brain. And the software that we use is called Readwise.

11:28We talked about that the first go around on this. But Readwise, the best way to categorize that is it's almost like a middleware piece of software where it kind of sits in the middle and plays catch and just says, send this here, send this there, you know, and sends things different places. So for me, my primary capture tools are the Evernote application itself. I capture things in a companion tool to Readwise called Readwise Reader. That's probably the primary place. All of the websites that I look at, I look at through that application. All of the PDFs that I download, I put into that application.

12:06Read-Wise also will connect to my Kindle account. There are dozens of different things that it connects to, but ultimately anywhere where I am getting information that I ultimately want to send into my second brain, if Read-Wise can connect to it, it just makes getting it there very easy. So we talked about, you know, Normax specifically about Google Docs. I never go into Google Docs or, you know, and write anything to go in there. But if I do capture something in ReadWise via Reader or whether it be one of the many other applications that I use that ReadWise can capture. It'll create a highlight and then send that to a single document in Google Docs.

12:46And the really cool thing you can do with Google Docs now is that I can import that into Notebook LM and you can ask questions about stuff that I actually found interesting and interview myself. I literally can create a podcast on the stuff that I put into my second brain and say, hey, remind me what I was, what was I doing in March of 2024? It'll literally go and look at all my highlights and say, these are the things that you were talking about. This is what you thought stood out to me. So that is how I use Google Docs. I don't directly put content there, but it does end up there because the connection to Notebook LM makes really, really interesting ways to pull my second brain information out and go back and look at it.

13:28So if I'm getting it right, you are capturing in all these other places. Readwise is then able to collect all that in Google Docs where then you can use Notebook LM to interpret it. Exactly. I even use a podcatcher called Scribd or Scribd. And one of the things that it allows me to do is, or I'm sorry, Snipped is the name of it. Snipped can do, it's got some AI features in it, but I can even say, oh, that was a cool part of that podcast. It'll highlight that in the app and then send it to Readwise and it shows up now in my second brain. So it'll either be inside of Evernote or inside of my Google Docs, which I would use Notebook LM to express.

14:11And if anybody wants to try out Readwise, we're going to put a referral link in the show notes that will help you get a trial of it. And also, Rob gets something out of it, too. So everybody wins, right? Oh, yes. It's wonderful. It doesn't cost you anything. And it takes a month off of what I pay. I gladly pay for, you know, for, for Readwise. It is a great tool, but anybody who signs up through my link, I get a free month. Yeah. So you're helping Rob out. You get to try it out yourself. It's a Readwise.io slash I slash R O B B 36. And like I said, we'll have that in the show notes as well. Let's get to Martin's question.

14:50Martin wants to know if you tend to have a note per subject? I do not. So one of the tenets of a second brain is what Tiago Forte calls the PARA method. It stands for, you know, the PARA method is basically the organization method. So you have projects, those are things that you're working on right now. Areas are things that they may not be an immediate project that you're working on, but it's an area of interest that you might have. Resources would be something that I don't need this right now, but it is a good resource. This is a good quote. I might use it someplace. And then for anything that doesn't fit one of those first three categories, you have archives.

15:30And that's just where everything else just kinds to go. You don't really delete anything unless you don't, unless you know you don't need it, but you can put it in your archive. That way you can pull something up maybe a couple of years later, which I have actually done. Yeah. What's the difference between something that goes into a resource and something that goes into archive? Because I feel like resource is kind of your catch-all category. So being a technology podcaster, I don't necessarily, and being a news, you know, we cover current news. So I have news bits that are going into my second brain daily, multiple times per day.

16:05I don't necessarily need to keep something that happened three years ago in my resources because I'm not actively talking about that right now. But if I want to reminisce and go back and say, oh, yeah, what did we talk about back in 2022 on Daily Tech Headlines? That will eventually make it to my archives and it's there and I can bring that back and I can leave it in archives or I can even bring it into projects if there's something that I'm specifically working on right now. So it's a pretty flat type of system. I don't create folders anymore. I don't create, like there may be a particular project that I'm working on that it may be a project inside of my resources, but I try to keep everything as flat as possible because the cool thing about these database driven note taking tools is that they're databases.

16:52They can, they can, you can keep them as flat as you want to keep them and just type what you're looking for and express that information. One of the problems that I used to have before building a second brain was I would have this massive hierarchy of folders and files that are in multiple different places. And the problem would be, crap, I can't remember where I put this. So the more structure that you give something, it actually makes it harder for it to be searched for in a database. So I try to leave things as flat as I possibly can. So you won't see a folder specifically for one thing that I'm working on right now.

17:25If it's a long-term project, I might, inside of my projects, create a folder for that project because there could be an end date to it. But generally, if there's something that I'm working on right now, if I'm working on headlines, if I'm working on live, if I'm working on briefing, those things just fall into my projects because those are the things that I'm actively working on right now. Got it. Got it. All right. That Charlie dude wanted to know what your thoughts are on why you have Evernote as your tool of choice versus Obsidian. And we got a lot of people who mentioned Obsidian talking about the data entry that you're using to make your notes.

18:02So this is just because I have been using Evernote literally for well over a decade and a half. And I just like it. I like the application. I don't like the price that Bending Spoons put on it once they bought Evernote. But I've got so much there. And I am somewhat a creature of habit. I don't want to change to a new database just for changing to a new databases just because it exists. So I, you know, I will say this. I have tried Notion many, many times, but I just go back to Evernote because it just works. I don't want to have to build the note taking system. I don't want to have to build, you know, the project management tool.

18:42I don't want to have to build account. I don't want to have to do all that. I don't want to have to go buy a template so that someone else has done it for me and then have to learn that template. But I already know Evernote and Evernote for me works just fine because one of the really cool things about Evernote is they make it very easy to put data into it via mobile. It is arguably one of the best note taking tools as far as the mobile application. Apple Notes is also very good, but I don't use an iPhone. So Evernote is the tool for me. This message is brought to you by Coligard. If you recorded songs off the radio for a mixtape, it might be time to screen for colon cancer.

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20:16have you tried obsidian have you played around with it i'm just curious yes i've tried everything and try is i think obsidian i installed it and it's like oh there's a lot there and never went back to it so i can't tell you that i've given it an honest try but there you know i this is how i look at things is the juice worth the squeeze is you know am i going to get something out of obsidian that I need to go figure out how to use Obsidian. I have not run into a problem with Evernote yet that made me want to go through the work of learning a brand new system because it is very different than what I'm used to.

20:54So once again, if you go back to the book, there are different types of personalities that match up. There is a certain type of personality that absolutely would match up with a tool like Obsidian. I'm just not that person. I'm more of a gardener or a librarian. I just want to put stuff in places and not worry about it. as compared to trying to figure out how to make all these links and all this kind of stuff to your information. So I don't want to knock Obsidian. It's just not for me. You need to find the best note-taking tool for you. All right. Proud patron Paul, and we're very proud that you are proud, Paul, wants to know how you automatically back up your Evernote data to Google Drive and Dropbox.

21:32So this is, and maybe I misspoke the first time, but I don't automatically back things up from Evernote into Google Drive or into Dropbox, I use Readwise to send information to Evernote. I also use Readwise to send the exact same information to Google Drive. So that middle piece of software is creating the backup for me. I'm sending the same highlights that I create and whatever tool that I'm using that's connected to Readwise is being sent both to, you know, both to Evernote and to, you know, to Google Docs or, you know, Google Workspace in my particular case. When it comes to Dropbox, I am a person that takes pictures of things because, you know, the Evernote is really, really good with OCR.

22:19So you take a picture of a receipt, it's just there. I do have those pictures back up to Google, you know, my Google pictures or Google Photos, but I also have those same pictures back up to Dropbox. So it's just, I'm not, you know, actively backing up in those places. Those are just places where my data ends up based off of, hey, send this here, send that there. Got it. Got it. And then similarly, Scott wanted to know how you automatically sync your backup notes. It just does it for me. There probably is some algorithm that Evernote probably tells you, here's how we do it. I have no clue as to what that is.

22:57I, there will be times when I'm on my phone, it tells me that it's not syncing because the connection is not good. I'm fine with that as long as when I look at it, when I do go over my notes, which I do do very regularly, I go over my notes and as long as I see the distinct by the time I get on fast, fast Wi-Fi or fast internet or whatever the case is, I'm good. So I just allow the tool to sync and I have access to Evernote on multiple phones on a couple of tablets and my laptops. Yeah. So it's good enough at syncing that you don't have to think about it. I don't have to think about it. Yeah, which is good.

23:30All right. Last one from Eduardo S. Wants you to elaborate on how you use Professor Crane. You talked about Professor Crane and Tiago Forte's advice in your system. How did their advice integrate into the way you do it? So, yeah, that was, you know, you know, Professor Crane, Dr. Crane was a one of my favorite teachers from high school and a habit that I have as I really was good at just memorizing stuff for the test. So I took notes, but I would just try to let me just go in here and see how much of this I can just commit to memory for the test. And the problem is that once the test is over, that stuff gets out of my mind and I'm on to, you know, to memorizing things for the next test.

24:14And he told me, he's like, you know, man, that works in the 11th grade. That is not going to work in med school because at the time I was thinking I wanted to be a doctor and was going to go to med school. It's like, that's not how that works. You want to learn the information. You can always go look something up, but you need to understand it and know it beyond just memorizing it. So you remember, oh, this is C on the test. So that kind of stuck out to me. And he was someone who did carry a commonplace book. and it was cool it's like you know he literally was the swede coat wearing with the leather on the shoulder you know the pipe everything yeah he looked like a professor of of english that that is what he looked like he definitely played into that i just thought he was a really cool guy he was you know one of my favorite teachers that i remember and that stuck out to me is that hey you're not going to be able to just you know commit everything to memory because you're not going to learn anything you want to actually go to college and learn something so you need to come up with a note-taking system that's going to work for you.

25:10So he was the one who said, hey, if it's good for Albert Einstein, it should be good for you. He doesn't remember all this extraneous stuff. He writes it down. So why don't you actually get, and he said, hey, you don't need to go get a moleskin, but use one of these composition books that you already have for the class and just write your notes down there and figure out a note-taking system that works for you. So that is what I pulled from my doctor. So he kind of set you on the path, basically. He set me on the path. Yeah, yeah. That's great. As far as second brain is concerned, what it allows me to do is not have to worry about remembering many things.

25:45So I've had people who ask, well, how do I start with this? It can often seem like you're drinking from a fire hose if you're trying to do all the things simultaneously. What I would do, and one of the things that I do believe that Tiago Forte recommends is just start where you're comfortable. I would say that if you are concerned with trying to remember more or remember better or you want to do something that's going to make you a bit more productive, start using a task manager. And you really have to commit to using it at least for a few weeks to get into the habit of doing it. But every single thing that I intend to do makes it into my task manager, which eventually makes it into my calendar.

26:28Everything is there. So I never have to remember that I had to do a call at 630 in the evening, which is a little odd. Usually we're recording much earlier in the day than this. I didn't have to remember it. I put it in a task and the task is connected to my calendar and it just pops up. hey, we're talking with Tom today. You know, this is what you need to prepare for. So I would recommend start there, start small, create a task manager. But when you commit to the task manager, put everything in anything that you intend to do, put in there, and it will seem like, why am I putting all of this stuff in there?

27:02At first, you will have those thoughts. I had those thoughts. But trust me, it does get it gets easier. And it makes your life easier. Because my wife will tell you, it's like, you know, she knows if she asks me anything beyond probably 24 to 48 hours out and I don't have my phone on me, she knows that I have no clue because I don't have to have a clue. My phone is probably never more than 50 feet away from me. And let me go grab my phone and I'll let you know. So, so that is probably the easiest way to get started is just start using some tool like a task manager or start using a calendar to put everything in it.

27:34And I will keep going to the, you know, to Albert Einstein. I think he is kind of credited with it. I doubt he's the first person to say this, but if you intend to remember something, write it down. That makes remembering stuff a lot easier because you don't have to. That's the trick. You don't have to remember something that you've written down as long as you have the ability to go back to the thing that you wrote it down in. And you can check to see what are the things that I wrote down that stood out to me that you want to ultimately recall at some point later. Yeah. And like you said, with technology now, that's so much easier to manage.

28:07It's so much easier to capture. It's so much easier to not have to figure out which composition book it's in and use tabs and all of that sort of thing. So it really does make this possible. Rob, thanks again for following up with all of this. This is super helpful for folks. No, I love talking about this. I never knew that people would be interested in just how do I capture my information. but since I left the corporate world and started doing this content creation full time, the second brain for me kind of lined up around the same time. I think I started paying attention to this stuff about 2019 or so when I actually left corporate and it just makes things so much easier because all the stuff that I want to remember, if there's a good tech story, we do daily tech shows and we do weekly tech shows.

28:54If there's stuff that I want to talk about next week, but I've done six previous days of content, that stuff starts to blend together. But if it's all in my note, I can literally go and say, Hey, what did I talk about last week? What were the, what were the highlights of the week? If I'm trying to figure out how to create a rundown for the following week, that is, that is a, that is something that I use my second brain for two to three times a week, just being able to come up with content for shows like daily tech news show and daily tech news show briefing and daily tech headlines and, and the tech John and everything else that I'm doing.

29:25It just makes it easier because I don't have to remember anything because I've already written what I want to remember down. Well, let's give people one thing to put in their second brain so they don't forget it. Where can they follow you and maybe reach out on social networks and ask stuff directly? I am at Rob Dunwood, at R-O-B-B-D-U-N-E-W-O-D. Pretty much all the things I'm on threads. I'm going to get on Instagram. I've had an Instagram account for years. I've got four posts there right now, but I might start using Instagram a little bit more, but pretty much add Rob Dunwood on everything.

29:59And definitely come check us out on Daily Tech News Show. Absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for the follow-ups. Keep them coming. Feedback at DailyTechNewsShow.com. I'll send them along. Rob will see them. And who knows, if we get enough, maybe we'll come back for part three, too. You can support us at patreon.com slash DTNS. Talk to you soon. The DTNS family of podcasts, helping each other understand. The Prime and Club hopes you have enjoyed this program.

30:32This episode is brought to you by Capital One. Capital One's tech team isn't just talking about multi-agentic AI. They already deployed one. It's called Chat Concierge and it's simplifying car shopping. Using self-reflection and layered reasoning with live API checks, it doesn't just help buyers find a car they love. It helps schedule a test drive, get pre-approved for financing, and estimate trade in value. Advanced, intuitive, and deployed. That's how they stack. That's technology at Capital One. Hi all, this is Kim and Penn Holderness from Lifeline. Summer is here, which means it's officially travel season.

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31:46Thank you.