Do you want your second brain to function the same as your first brain?

If we have even a passing relationship with productivity and time management then we will know about David Allen and his book “Getting things done”. (For my thoughts on GTD for today — check out this post) I heard someone refer to this book recently as the productivity Bible and David Allen as the grandfather of personal productivity. It isn’t really wrong to consider his work as one of the earliest attempts to help normal people get a handle on all of their time and commitments. David Allen’s most famous quote is perhaps “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” It is this quote that has been the birth of the idea of Building a Second Brain. This would be the brain that is designed to hold our ideas. And so I ask the question — Do we want our second brain to function in the same way as our first brain?

Let me put it bluntly. I want my first brain — the one that sits inside my head — to be the brain that is designed for and set apart for having ideas and my second brain — the one that sits inside my apps — to be the one that is set apart for holding them.

Generally speaking, there are two kinds of knowledge management apps on the market today. Those that base themselves around a hierarchical structure and search and those that base themselves around networked thought.

The basic idea behind networked thought apps, like Obsidian, Roam Research and Mem X is that these apps will create a network of ideas for you and will create links…