What Second Brain app are you using?
Lately I've become very into this idea of a 'Second Brain', which is something I've seen a lot of developers be into.
I'd be curious to hear what Second Brain apps you are using!
Please feel free to elaborate in the comments, if I'm missing your app or you want to make the case for why the app you're using, is the best 😄
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i use org mode in emacs.
Give it up for the software developers in the house 😄👏
Hehe jokes aside that does sound pretty cool. I'm not familiar with Org mode. What workflows do you manage to complete this way?
Do you feel like you're missing anything?
Maybe it's an ingenuous view but I tried both Notion and Obsidian and never really "got" it. I find it a bit overwhelming with all the possibilities and it feels like it complicates things rather than simplify them. I like this idea of a "second brain" but found out that the only effective way for me to clear my mind is to actually go offline, and grab a pen and paper.
So, I wasn't aware of all the other options you listed and will check them out, just in case one finally works for me... Thank you for that!
I so agree!!
I think Obsidian is quite a bit easier to get started with, but also arguably more limited than Notion. I find Notion SO overwhelming, despite having tried multiple attempts at getting started with it.
If you don't mind sharing, what does your process look like when you go offline with Pen and Paper?
I mean, how does it help clear your mind in a way you can't do with a "second brain" app?
You are so welcome, hope you find something that works! If not, hopefully I or someone else can come up with an even better idea 😄
It's mostly bullet lists with some colors. Green is usually about online courses/learning that I want to take; Red for goals; Blue for ongoing habits I'm developing. I put the date in the corner of the sheet and either I put some annotations on it (day to day basis), or I start a new one to reevaluate and actualize the things once every two weeks (roughly).
This is more than enough for me but probably because I don't work with a team so I don't need to share my notes with anyone.
Thanks for the insight! 🙏
I think using colors is a very good way to segment what you're working with on paper, and certainly something I hadn't thought of.
But I will now 😄
Thank you!
Orgmode + org-roam
I can't imagine migrating to something else, but if you don't have much Emacs experience and just want to have an advanced noting app, I don't recommend Orgmode.
But, at least, own your notes. :) Obsidian seems to be a great choice for most people.
If I've learned anything in 5+ years of "building a second brain", it's that sophistication mostly gets in the way.
Also, maintain your indexes manually (e.g. list of books read, project ideas, etc.). Don't rely on being able to see backlinks, or on tags. With 100s of items, it's going to suck a lot.
That's really interesting, thank you for sharing in such detail @KirillRogovoy! 🙏
What exactly do you mean when you say Sophistication gets in the way?
That to me for example would be trying to add 'Tags' or 'Categories' that we would have to manually maintain like we might on Notion.
Is it sort of a similar experience you had, or have you fought with something else?
Really curious to hear your thoughts on this.
Examples of sophistication:
There's probably more, but these are definitely some of the time wasters I fought.
Here's what's important to have though (IMHO):
I have used Roam for about 2 years now. It flows with how I think. Notion sounds like a beast though but it's too robust for what I need it for.
Interesting!
What do you need from this sort of app? What do you mean it flows with how you think?
What kind of workflows does it support that aligns well for you?
Thanks! 🙏
I use it for note taking and referencing - It keeps notes tagged and organizes them so you can easily group or find them. I use it for writing, todo's, notes during calls, and things I learn. Obsidian was too busy for me visually. But Notion seems to be the move, I'm just used to Roam. I also have heard great things about Omnifocus
That's very insightful, thank you so much for sharing 🙏
Definitely learning a ton in this thread 😱
Markdown files, backed up in OneDrive. I usually edit and view them in VS Code
Thank you @spencerchubb! That's enlightening.
It seems like, similarly to a lot of people in the thread, you are more or less 'just' using a text editor.
But I can't say I'm doing anything else than that; I also just use obsidian which is all about that markdown.
Thanks for sharing the insight!
Notion, obsessively. I've just launched my personal encyclopedia using Notion + Super: http://scrib.am/
That is amazing! 😄
It's really cool to see some of the things that people do with Notion, and it's exciting that you have made something awesome with it.
Personally I feel like the flexibility of Notion is its strength, but unfortunately also its primary weakness. It takes some hardcore focus to get used to it 😄
Thanks for sharing! 🙏
Indeed, you can do so much with it and I'm still learning. It 's the first time I use it as a CMS. And it's great for many reasons, incl. the fact that you can use databases to create pages and multiple DBs to have both a staging and a production environment.
Yeah that's very true.
Super smart. I like that.
Really curious to see what people come up with using Notion in the near future, although personally I am more inclined to built something new, because I don't really feel like Notion hits the spot of what I want from a second brain app. 😄
Typed has been working very well for me.
That seems very interesting!
Surprised to such a widely backed project make so small rings in the water; I've personally never heard of it despite diving fairly deeply into the topic.
Just looking briefly at it, it looks like it's mostly based in Google Docs. Is that true?
If so, I would think that it has the same limitations as the rest of the text-based second brain apps.
Does it do anything for you in terms of categorizing or other cool features that 'the rest' does not have - that is if you've tried any of them 😄
Thanks for your insight!
Basecamp.
Great addition, thank you!
This strikes me more of a project management tool, so I'm curious how do you utilize this as a second brain? 😄
I went from laughing at the idea of Notion, to using it because I needed to make some quick notes, to using it for a lot of stuff. That I can export it all (so no lock in) is a big factor. So is having a good mobile app.
I never quite laughed at it, but I have tried to get into it on multiple iterations, and failing several times because it really requires sitting down and focusing on learning it.
If I'm not using all of its features I feel like I may as well use Evernote.
Thanks for the input! 🙏
I’ve tried a bunch of them. Notes, Notion, Coda, Roam, Obsidian, coding my own.. but struggled to consistently use anything because I didn’t like the experience of either adding or searching for things.
I kept returning to Obsidian because it’s open source and the notes are truly yours. This feels super important when you try to capture your whole brain. You don’t want to lose it somewhere in the cloud behind a paywall.
Finally after I put some time into setting up plugins it clicked. Now it’s quick to add and organize ideas there. And I can depend on finding what I need later.
Thanks for the input @matejlauko!
I never thought of the "feeling secure" (the best way I can describe it from the top of my head) aspect of it; second brains are personal and it's important to keep them around, and not let them sit behind a paywall.
I have also kept coming back to Obsidian because I feel it is the best option, while it isn't perfect.
To me it seems there's an opening in the market where a proper product - one in my opinion that should be more coherent - could make some headway.
So it's interesting to hear different peoples perspective on use-cases, concerns etc.
Which plugins are you using for obsidian?
Thanks for sharing your insights! 🙏
From the core plugins I find the valuable to use:
Some of the community plugins:
I use Notion mostly to organize “things” in a tabular format (list of books, places, recipes, etc.), but what I consider my real Second Brain is Standard Notes. It’s a fairly basic note taking app, that runs everywhere, but lowers dramatically the time it takes for me to crystallize my thoughts.
In the past, I have used a number of Second Brain tools, like Roam and Notion, but the simple act of creating a note, write and tag it, just works for me.
I really like that.
I definitely am also a sucker for simplicity. I even have a noted attached to my monitor that permeates everything I do, that just says "KEEP IT SIMPLE!" 😄
I have done the same thing as you, but I often feel like I'm missing something of what a 'brain' should do. Like it should be able to organize things for me, without me having to do it.
That's how my own brain does it after all, I don't think of things being in category X, Y or Z. I just sort of know.
OmniFocus for tasks, OneNote + Outline.app (Onenote alternative) for notes
Interesting!
So you have sort of a 'stack' of apps to get through your daily workflow.
That's curious, because I have the same (multiple app stack to do what I need), but I never thought of todo/tasks as part of 'Second Brain'. I kind of always saw second brain as like a place to dump information.
What do you think of when you think "Second Brain"? How do tasks/todos play a role here?
Hope you'll share your insights and thanks for your input either way! 🙏
I have way too many things going on to not see tasks as part of my "system". Calling it Second Brain, or GTD, or whatever, up to each and everyone.
If I had to be precise, I would need to add in a lot more things, e.g. filing, automation (e.g. taken pictures get automatically sorted) and regular reviewing (daily, weekly, monthly, etc., taken from GTD).
I fully recommend spending some time with understanding GTD and how it can be applied to overall life management (e.g. making a 5-year-plan and breaking that down to quarterly/monthly plans).
Thank you @jansroka! 🙏
So kind of you to share, very interesting perspective.
Big shoutout too all you Indie Hackers who indulged me and helped enlighten me with your favorite tools!
This is my first post on Indie Hackers and I gotta say this truly is an amazing community of nothing but helpful people who are all eager to share their experiences and help others.
My reason for posting this was two-fold:
Essentially I wanted to hear what everybody is using and more importantly, how you're using the tools.
Really excited to be part of this community and sharing, learning and participating in the future 👏 😄
I'll go first!
I'm using obsidian because it's the one I believe is the best product in the field, and is the one I most often get recommended by other people in this space.