7 Things I Learned About Digital Organization

I stare at my external hard drive and wince.

It’s a massive 4 terabytes, a typical size needed for a solid YouTube channel backup.

As it’s not possible to ask that site to archive like writing platforms due to the sheer size of the memory footprint with hundreds of high-quality videos, it’s up to you to create your own.

So I did.

It’s quite handy as a storage space for my writing as well since text doesn’t take up nearly the amount of space.

The problem is that I was pretty bad at organizing it all.

That’s why I’ve also rebranded to “The Digital Heirloom”.

If you want to leave something behind for your loved ones, it can’t just be a jumbled mess of vague folders labelled “YouTube”, “B Roll”, and “Recordings”.

Enter Tiago Forte’s “Building a Second Brain” book.

I’ve committed this year to reading at least one book every month and sharing highlights and tips to you.

Here are 7 lessons I’ve learned in January from his.

1. Not everything is worth keeping

2. Stay in the present

3. Orient for action

4. Pipeline your output

5. Keep organization simple

6. Know when to ship

7. Pace yourself and enjoy the process

Let’s go through each one, shall we?

1. Not everything is worth keeping

My parents still have plastic bags that go back a decade or longer.

They even had toiletries from stores that went out of business in the 90s.

Things like that eventually deteriorate and can become toxic.

I threw them out after making it clear that nobody was going to use them.

While data isn’t quite as dangerous, storing whole articles when just a paragraph will do makes it impossible to quickly draw up a tidbit of information you need to support your claim.

Copy the small portion that resonates for later and remember to link it to the source for later.

2. Stay in the present

We tend to dwell on the past or dream of the future.

Staring off into space, we forget that the only way to move forward is to take action in the present.

When you begin thinking and writing on a regular basis, you start to rewire your mind to the here and now.

Both past and future have their place in our hearts for stories and aspirations, but building the bridge between them happens while we’re living.

What’s happening before you is the most precious thing.

It won’t happen the exact same way ever again.

3. Orient for action

Remember those nature walks you used to go on in school?

You’d pick up little bits and pieces here and there:

• leaves,

• small twigs

• little bits of moss

Back in the classroom, you’d take glue, markers, crayons, and construction paper to put together a little collage to show to your parents.

That’s the attitude to have with digital data.

• a post

• an article

• an ebook or video

Everything you record or capture can be repurposed for any project.

4. Pipeline your output

To build on the previous point, don’t leave the Lego pieces neatly organized in a box.

Dump them out and make something.

BTW, I love the movies they’ve put out (especially the Batman one).

Anyway, Forte describes the process in four steps as “CODE”:

1. Capture

2. Organize

3. Distill

4. Express

Anything that resonates with you, an idea, article, video clip, or sound bite should be collected in a catch-all space somewhere on your hard drive.

5. Keep organization simple

People always think that organization has to have depth.

If you’ve ever watched “Big Bang Theory”, Sheldon has quite a process for his.

It actually doesn’t.

The best organization system is the one that works for you and is simple to keep track of.

Forte’s book uses the PARA system for organizing digital material.

• Projects - things you are currently working on

• Active areas - topics of interest that you want to learn about

• Resources - broad disciplines that you are curious about

• Archives - stuff that you’ve completed or no longer have time for

The easiest way to begin organization is to start small.

When you have a moment, you can go through the catch-all space and organize what you’ve found into other folders.

Create appropriate folders as you go. You’ll go nuts creating “just in case” folders.

It’s like my parents at Costco hoarding all those cardboard boxes…

The second brain is live, flexible, and fluid system.

5. Revise and revisit on your schedule

I first heard about “limbic friction” from Andrew Huberman.

It’s the friction that comes with doing something new that falls outside of your normal routine.

You know those moments:

• commit to losing weight, but giving up donuts sucks

• commit to saving for travel, but giving up donuts sucks

• commit to stop snacking at midnight, but giving up donuts sucks

99% of people balk at changes and making new habits.

Why?

Because it seems so overwhelming to start.

It’s not.

In reality, everything is under your control.

The bigger the idea, the more you want to revisit it.

Each time you do, take a moment to simplify it further.

After the fourth round, it’s most likely you’ve reached the essence of the idea.

But there’s no rush, and there’s no obligation.

Every time you come across the idea again, take a moment to distill it until it’s clear.

6. Know when to ship

One of the traps of writing content comes when editing becomes a focus.

It’s an art to edit for style as opposed to brevity.

If you aren’t careful, your words can be reduced to bland, ineffective text that doesn’t inspire your reader because you stripped it down to the marrow.

Too much of a good thing exists in every aspect of life.

When you’re ready to express a thought and share your findings, don’t dwell too long on the result.

Speak your peace and post it.

Let the chips fall where they may.

7. Pace yourself and enjoy the process

The brain is meant to make connections, a “moist computer” as Scott Adams describes it.

The longer we’re alive, the more experiences and ideas and materials we will come across in our lifetime.

The joy of exploring and discovering is something that is inherent to us as human beings.

We’ve simply forgotten what it was like to be carefree children.

My oldest child has written and illustrated books about his life, what he’s doing, who he spends time with, and what happens at school.

They’re simple, fun, and they mean the world to him.

The second brain is meant to offload documenting, memorizing, and processing everything so you that you can enjoy the experience itself.

So this is the distillation of what I’ve taken from this book.

I’ve started “How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams.

I also finished “The Obstacle is the Way” by Ryan Holiday.

Those will most likely be the books I will cover in the first half of this year along with a few others in the works.

I have more detailed notes that I’m still compiling for myself on the second brain.

If it’s of interest to you, please let me know so I can make them available to you.