Greetings from Barcelona☀️☀️☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest.
If you are joining for the first time, welcome to our deep dive into facilitation, learning, and how to live a creative life.
This week I’m excited to share insights on how to build a “second brain” that will unlock your creativity. PLUS I have a big announcement to share with you (spoiler – we’re launching Breakthrough Facilitation Cohort 3).
Let’s jump right in!
🚀Join Us for Breakthrough Facilitation Cohort 3!
I am thrilled to announce that we’ll be running Breakthrough Facilitation Cohort 3 from September 20 – October 27th.
BF is my live online course where you’ll learn how to run instantly engaging online sessions that your participants will love ❤️. This course is for you if you lead online group sessions – courses, workshops, webinars, online communities, and remote team meetings.
🚫You will no longer struggle to get people to chime into your sessions -> you’ll get all voices heard.
🚫You won’t wonder if people are paying attention -> you’ll know how to keep them engaged.
🚫You’ll lift the stress of your session going off track -> you’ll know exactly what to do to stay on purpose.
BF is a live immersive experience. It will give you step-by-step support and personalized feedback to design and lead engaging virtual sessions that spark breakthroughs.
Join the waitlist and you’ll be the first to receive invites to free demo sessions, pre-sale discounts, and special bonuses (no commitment required). A brand new course landing page will be going live this week with more info.
In the meantime, you can join the waitlist here👇
If you have already joined the waitlist – thank you! Stay tuned for some exciting announcements coming your way…
🌀I have never thought of myself as an organized person.
When I was a kid I was known for leaving a trail of belongings behind me wherever I went. My room was always messy. I could never find anything. It used to drive my parents crazy.
When I started my journey as a creator 2.5 years ago I faced the same problem.
I spent a lot of time reading inspiring articles, listening to podcasts, and watching videos. But in the messy room of my brain, I could never find the links again. (And I drove myself crazy😅)
I had tons of ideas for new blog posts and projects. But then I would get distracted and they would all slip away.
I’d have a conversation with a friend that would spark a ton of ideas. But then the next day I couldn’t remember what it was that I had found so fascinating.
Trying to remember so much information felt overwhelming.
When I sat down to write the early editions of this newsletter I would find myself staring at a blank page. I felt frustrated with myself because I knew I could do better. But I didn’t know how.
Then I discovered an approach for organizing my ideas.
I took an online writing course called Write of Passage. It introduced me to a few basic principles for building a system to organize the ideas and random links constantly swirling around in my head. It showed me how to set up systems for organizing my notes, saving resources, and capturing stray thoughts. It is called a “second brain” (more on that below).
And it’s been life-changing.
For one thing, I have been able to publish this newsletter every week for 85 weeks (OK, almost every week!). I use my system to improve my online course and run better online sessions. I still have a long way to go. But I’ve got a basic system. And it works.
Building simple systems can help you to track and organize your best ideas.
It will help you to move forward with creative projects. And it frees up headspace and time for enjoying life.
🤔How can you build a “second brain” that will help you unlock your creativity?
That’s our Quest for this week🔎
👉Building a Second Brain – insights from Tiago Forte’s new book
👉5 tools that help me boost my creativity and productivity
🧠Building a Second Brain – Tiago Forte
A new book by productivity expert Tiago Forte, the founder of a cohort-based course by the same name.
A “second brain” is a digital archive for saving your best memories, ideas, and knowledge so that it’s useful when you need it.
The goal is to use your second brain for organizing and remembering. That leaves your brain to do what it does best – learn, imagine, plan, and create.
I’m a skeptic (and a sucker;) for random productivity tips. But Tiago’s approach goes way beyond most productivity advice out there. His method has given me a new way of consuming and organizing ideas and information I can use to create.
Here are my biggest takeaways from Tiago’s book👇
👉Capture what resonates. Listen to your inner voice of intuition so you capture ideas that move you in some way. You can figure out why it moves you and find the meaning later.
👉Distill notes down to important points. Take your raw notes, then bold interesting ideas, highlight key points, and summarize insights so they are useable. This is a process called “progressive summarization”.
👉Create building blocks that can be assembled and re-assembled. By the time you sit down, you have done the work to gather and organize the source material (a lesson Tiago learned from his father).
👉The value of note-taking compounds over time. Your second brain becomes a growing library of resources that you can use and re-use to do your best work.
Get free Second Brain resources 👉 here.
Check out the book, course, and Tiago’s work 👉 here.
⚙️My 5 Favourite Second Brain Tools and How I Use Them
I only started building my “Second Brain” 2.5 years ago when I left my full-time job and started writing and teaching online.
I used to organize everything in my Google Drive. I still have my Drive. But it’s just one tool in my second brain system that has helped me become a better creator and virtual facilitator.
I am no productivity guru (I know that many Quest readers are – I’m looking at you Julia S. 😅). And my systems could be way better (as I learned by reading the book and learning from others:).
But there are a few tools in my second brain that I want to share with you in case they help you to build or improve yours.
Here are my 5 favorite second brain tools and how I use them👇
1/ ✍️My Idea Funnel: iPhone Notes
My notes app on my phone is where I capture random ideas. I always have my phone with me so it’s great for sudden moments of inspiration on the go. I have several files that start with the word “Ideas” where I am actively collecting ideas for newsletters, content, my course, my future book, and more. The good news is that most phones have a free notes app.
2/ 🗣️My voice memo app – Otter.ai
This is the app I use when it’s easier for me to say an idea rather than write it. I also use it to transcribe recorded conversations and video material so I have it in written form. Otter does some of the work of tagging keywords in the conversation. I’m working on organizing voice memos and sending the notes over to my digital archive (see #3 below). I’m on the free plan. Find out more 👉 here.
3/ 📚My Digital Archive: Evernote
This is where I store, distill, and organize my library of resources. I regularly move my iPhone notes over to Evernote. I have saved 1259 notes that I can search by topic, date, and keyword. I started with the free version and then moved up to the personal plan for $7.99/mo. Find out more 👉 here.
4/ 💻My course and content management system: Notion.so
I was completely blown away when I first discovered Notion. I use it with my course manager Lilian to manage every aspect of the Breakthrough Facilitation course – tasks, calendars, resources, and notes. My next step is to organize my content calendar in Notion. I plan to learn more from Notion pros like Marie Poulin who runs Notion Mastery and Khe Hy who runs Supercharge Your Productivity. I started with the free version and then moved to the paid version which costs $5/mo. Find out more 👉 here.
5/ 🎥My virtual training library – Zoom.us
I have a recording and saved chat from almost every virtual training I have led over the past 2.5 years. I use this library to re-watch training sessions to see how I can improve. I scan the chat transcripts for questions and insights so I know what people have found most valuable. I am working on organizing these insights so they are searchable in Notion. That way I can make course improvements and create useful content. I started with the free version and then moved to the paid version. Find out more 👉 here.
🤔What does your second brain look like? What would an even better version look like?
✍️Quote of the Week
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
David Allen, author of Getting Things Done (via Building A Second Brain, Tiago Forte)
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Creatively yours,
