Is Recall the Second Brain for the AI Era?
We gave four people on our team Recall, an AI knowledge base and Evernote alternative, for three weeks. Here’s our honest verdict.
Note-taking
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Why PARA Is the Key to the AI Era
I recently did an experiment. I allowed files and folders to accumulate on my computer for a month – just let them pile up without organizing anything. By the end of that month, I had 222 individual items scattered across my desktop and downloads folder. The accumulated files were genuinely diverse… Financial documents: personal tax…
The Analog Productivity System: Journaling for Every Season of Life
I’m thrilled to share a special guest post by my wife, Lauren Valdez. Lauren approaches productivity in a way that’s refreshingly different from my digital-first philosophy. She’s deeply rooted in the tactile and intentional, favoring physical tools like journals over digital systems. Journaling has been her cornerstone for reflection, decision-making, and creativity. I’m excited for…
Will Artificial Intelligence Replace the Need for Second Brains Entirely?
Like so many others, I’ve spent the past year exploring and experimenting with emerging AI tools. Throughout that time, there has been one question I’ve been trying to answer: Will AI replace the need for Second Brains entirely? A lot of people seem to think so, and I admittedly have a self-interested motivation: to decide…
Test-Driving a New Generation of Second Brain Apps: Obsidian, Tana, and Mem
About six months ago, I decided to evaluate a few of the newer generation of Second Brain apps. I’ve been using Evernote for 10 years and wanted to see if any of the up-and-comers could take over as my platform of choice. I tested three of the most promising ones – Obsidian, Tana, and Mem
How to Implement PARA in Your Favorite Notetaking App
The PARA Method is a simple, intuitive system for organizing all information in your life so you can find them when you need them. The first step to using PARA is to apply it to your notetaking app of choice. This is much easier when you see examples of how it’s done. So, we’ve curated useful YouTube…
How to Choose Your Second Brain App
If you’ve decided to follow my advice and create your very own personal system of knowledge management – which I call a “Second Brain” – then your first step is to decide which app to build it on. Your notetaking app is the core of your Second Brain, the central place where you store your
When You Should Switch Your Second Brain App (And When You Shouldn’t)
I’ve had some form of a Second Brain (a personal system of knowledge management) for a couple of decades now, and during that time it’s been hosted on four different platforms. Recently, I sat down to reflect on what made me switch from one platform to the next and why I haven’t moved yet to
How to Summarize Books Using ChatGPT: 7 Experiments in AI Distillation
I recently sat down to attempt something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time: using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically create a high-quality book summary. As I wrote in my Ultimate Guide to Summarizing Books, writing book summaries is one of the very best ways I’ve found to absorb an author’s ideas deeply into…
Building a Second Brain: The Definitive Introductory Guide
This is an introduction to Building a Second Brain, the proven method to organize your digital life and unlock your creative potential. How many brilliant ideas have you had and forgotten? How many insights have you failed to take action on? How much useful advice have you slowly forgotten as the years have passed? We…
The PARA Method: The Simple System for Organizing Your Digital Life in Seconds
Imagine for a moment the perfect organizational system. A system that told you exactly where to put every piece of information in your life – every document, file, note, agenda, outline, and bit of research – and exactly where to find it when you needed it.
Nonprofit Productivity: Leveraging Software to Shape Your Career
Mike St. Pierre invited me to speak at his 2022 Nonprofit Productivity Summit. In less than 25 minutes, we covered… Why I’m not a fan of digital minimalism The simple mindset shift to step out of the information overload crisis How taking notes can have a miraculous impact on you and your career The under-appreciated benefits…