From Info Hoarder to Creator: What Building a Second Brain Taught Me
I used to think I was being productive by saving everything.
Highlights from books. Links from newsletters. Screenshots from Instagram. Google Drive folders within folders within folders.
But when I needed to find something? It was like rummaging through a digital junk drawer. All that “knowledge” just sat there — untapped, unused, and collecting dust.
That’s when I realised: I wasn’t capturing knowledge — I was hoarding it.
The Shift: Knowledge is for Creation
Reading Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte changed the way I think about information — and creativity.
The book’s core idea is simple but powerful: Personal knowledge management (PKM) is the foundation for creative work. If you can reliably capture, organise, distill, and express ideas, you unlock momentum. You stop starting from scratch. You create with confidence.
Tiago calls this the CODE system:
Capture the ideas that resonate
Organize them so they’re findable
Distill them so key points rise to the top
Express them so they become useful — to you and others
I didn’t need a better memory. I needed a better system.
How I Applied It (and What Changed)
Personally:
I restructured my learning journals using Tiago’s “Archipelago of Ideas” — separating idea-gathering (divergence) and idea-shaping (convergence) as separate steps. Now, I spend one day just collecting and exploring ideas, then come back the next day to make sense of it all. That one shift made the process feel so much lighter — less pressure, more flow. Writing became less about forcing clarity and more about letting it emerge.
I now ask: How will future-me find and use this? It’s a small question with big results.
It’s a small prompt, but it’s changed the way I save and organise things. Now, instead of obsessing over organising information in perfect folders, I tag notes and files with keywords to make it easy to search by context. It’s less about neatness — and more about making ideas easy to find when they’re actually needed.
Professionally:
After reading this book, we started investing more time in building systems that help us find and reuse insights more easily — across projects, workshops, and client work. It’s helped us stop feeling like we’re starting from scratch every time.
We’ve learned to dial down the scope — to ship small, useful deliverables instead of waiting for the perfect version. This has made our creative process lighter, faster, and more joyful.
One of the most practical ideas I’ve adopted is The Hemingway Bridge - using today’s work to make tomorrow easier. For example, when writing content, I’ve found it helpful to draft the first version and return to it the next day with fresh eyes. That way, I’m not facing a blank page — I’m building on yesterday’s momentum. Picking up where I left off makes the work feel lighter, and often, better.
Our book notes series exists because of this book.
One of my favourite lines from Building a Second Brain is: “The purpose of knowledge is to be shared. What’s the point of knowing something if it doesn’t positively impact anyone, not even yourself?” That quote stayed with me.
It reminded me that knowledge isn’t meant to sit quietly in folders — it’s meant to flow, to spark, to support. Even when self-doubt creeps in (and it does — who am I to share this?), this book encouraged me to start anyway.
This space is our way of doing just that — sharing what we’ve learned, how we’re applying it, and what we hope might benefit someone else, even in a small way.
Why It Mattered
This shift helped me embody some of my most important values:
Creative Growth — by making space for deeper synthesis, not just surface consumption
Intentional Impact — by turning private learning into something public and useful
Freedom with Purpose — by building systems that reduce decision fatigue and unlock creative flow
Favourite Quotes from the Book
“The purpose of knowledge is to be shared. What’s the point of knowing something if it doesn’t positively impact anyone, not even yourself?”
“To truly ‘know’ something, it’s not enough to read about it in a book. Ideas are merely thoughts until you put them into action.”
“When we are organised and efficient, that creates space for creativity to arise.”
Think of yourself not just as a taker of notes, but as a giver of notes—you are giving your future self the gift of knowledge that is easy to find and understand.
What I Didn’t Fully Use (And Why That’s Okay)
Like any system, Building a Second Brain has parts I didn’t fully adopt. For example:
I don’t use PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives) framework rigidly. I found it too heavy for how my brain actually stores things. I prefer using simple tags and intuitive folders instead to facilitate my searches.
What I’ve learned is this: the goal isn’t to follow the method perfectly. It’s to make it your own — and use it to create more meaningfully.
Try This: Start Building Your Second Brain
If you’ve ever felt like you’re drowning in saved articles, notes, and “someday” ideas — this is your call to action.
Try the CODE framework from Building a Second Brain:
Capture one idea that resonated.
Organize it with intention — even just one folder or tag.
Distill a single insight.
Express it in your own words — a sentence, a sketch, a share.
You don’t need a perfect system.
You just need your system — one that helps you think more clearly, create more consistently, and stay in joyful motion.
