There is something happening in the world that has never happened before.
Information – that fluid, magical substance that permeates our brains and every corner of our lives – went from scarce and expensive to abundant and free.
In the historical blink of an eye, the world that all past generations of our ancestors lived within has been utterly transformed. The kinds of knowledge that they sacrificed and bled for is accessible to us through mere flicks of our fingers.
The smartest, most influential people in the world are online now. And they’re sharing their most intimate stories and secrets. They’re letting you into their thinking and their work via their writing, podcast interviews, and case studies.
It’s all available to you 24/7. What are you doing about it?
Are you taking advantage of humanity’s greatest cultural flowering since the Renaissance? Are you part of the greatest intellectual awakening since the Enlightenment? Are you part of this remarkable transformation in human consciousness – the Internet – or are you merely a spectator or victim of it?
The Internet is the biggest shift in recorded history. It has already changed every aspect of society, and its influence is only beginning to be felt.
That shift has opened up countless windows of opportunity for everyone on the planet. Every single day, there are trends, organizations, ideas, and paradigms rising and falling, each of them like an ocean swell you could ride to unbelievable heights.
That is, as long as you have the right tools and the right mindset.
The truth is: As promising and exciting as the Internet tidal wave is, very few people are prepared to ride it. Very few have a way to take in all that information, curate and filter it, and save the parts they want to consume in a trusted place away from the control of any other person or corporation.
Let’s look at the situation honestly.
Is your current approach to managing information viable for the life you’re trying to lead? Is it sustainable? If it keeps going how it’s been going, what kind of future is that going to lead you to?
The research tells us that the amount of information we’re expected to create, capture, copy, and consume will not only increase in the future – it will increase exponentially.
Volume of information created, captured, copied, and consumed worldwide
The Internet was supposed to empower us with the world’s knowledge, but instead, the deluge of data is just overwhelming. Information Overload is a thing of the past. What we are experiencing now is Information Exhaustion.
Information Exhaustion is when our exposure to the chaos and uncertainty of too much information begins to take a toll on our mental, emotional, and physical health.
Everything we think and feel is ultimately based on information we sense from the outside world, and that world is increasingly filled with noise, fear, and controversy.
Our minds and bodies were not made for this.
The result is a constant anxiety at the onslaught of new details we have to pay attention to and manage. It is sleepless nights as our minds spin with unprocessed thoughts from days packed to the brim with activity. It shows up when our minds drift in the middle of conversations to all the stuff we have to do. It is the constant state of unease and restlessness, always wondering what unfinished task is slipping through the cracks of our fragmented attention.
It’s time for us to upgrade our Paleolithic memory. It’s time to acknowledge that we can’t “use our head” to store everything we need to know. It’s time to outsource the job of remembering to intelligent machines.
We have to recognize that the cognitive demands of modern life increase every year, but we’re still using the same brains as two hundred thousand years ago when modern humans first emerged on the plains of East Africa.
No one is immune to the tsunami of Information Exhaustion. No one will escape the need to upgrade their memory and cognition. Whether you’re still in school, well into your career, or already retired, it’s time to make a change.
Here’s what I heard recently from a college student struggling to keep his head above water:
“My files, thoughts, and ideas are a mess…Everything gets lost in sticky notes, emails I send myself in the middle of the night, notebooks that get filled up and set aside for a time that never comes, and more. In the end, I need to get going as I’m drowning in great ideas that are critical for my destiny.”
Sound familiar?
I’ve encountered these challenges my entire life.
Yet, I’ve always known deep in my heart that there must be a better way to not only deal with information but make it work for you.
And over years of painstaking research and trial and error, I found better ways that allowed me to thrive.
Now, my goal is to help you resolve these challenges for yourself without having to go through everything I did. To enable you to improve how you work to make it more fulfilling and impactful. To help you think more clearly about information consumption instead of accepting how it’s always been done.
What I want for you is a Second Brain – a trusted place outside your head where you can collect and organize your most important ideas and insights and use them to do your best work.
This way, your first brain can be free from the burden of remembering things, free to imagine new ideas and connections, and free to just relax and wander.
I put together a 6-day email course to introduce you to the basic principles and core components of a Second Brain.
It’s completely free. All you have to do is click the button below to receive it.
P.S. If reading isn’t really your thing, you may prefer to watch our in-depth YouTube videos to learn more about Building a Second Brain.
Here are the most popular videos from our channel I recommend you start with:
Pick a digital notes app series: A step-by-step walkthrough for understanding your notetaking style, choosing the right app, and putting it to use in the first 30 days
Second Brain tours: Look inside real people's Second Brains – in all their messiness, imperfection, and glory
Take book notes: Alex & Books walks you through his notetaking method for paper books that helped him build a following of over 700k book-reading fans
How we organize our life in Notion: I break down how my wife Lauren and I use Notion to focus on what matters most in our lives, business, and creativity