Simplify Your Digital Life (Second Brain)
Summary
TLDRThis video explains how to simplify digital life using a whiteboard app like Milanote. The speaker contrasts Milanote's simplicity with Notion, which can be overwhelming for beginners. They share their personal organization method based on the 'PAR' method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives), showing how they manage ideas, tasks, and content. The video emphasizes the importance of maintaining a single inbox for organization and provides tips on how to manage digital clutter effectively. The speaker also invites viewers to join a free productivity-focused community for further learning and support.
Takeaways
- 📋 Notion is a great tool, but it can be complicated for some users due to its extensive features.
- 📝 The video introduces a simpler whiteboard app called Milanote, which costs $10 per month, but is valued for its simplicity and folder structure.
- ⚡ Notion is often too complex for beginners, and Milanote offers a more straightforward and user-friendly approach for digital organization.
- 📦 The speaker uses the PARA method (Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives) from Tiago Forte to organize their life and recommends this system.
- 📥 It's crucial to have a single inbox for collecting ideas quickly, especially when in busy or fast-paced environments like the gym.
- 🔄 The speaker emphasizes organizing the inbox once or twice a week to avoid clutter and chaos, ensuring items are categorized into projects, areas, or archives.
- 📱 Milanote is praised for being adaptable across devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac), allowing easy access to and organization of digital content.
- 📚 Resources can be categorized, including items like books, future purchases, or recipes, ensuring that frequently needed content is always accessible.
- 🎯 A core part of the system is keeping the inbox minimal and organized regularly, preventing digital clutter from becoming overwhelming.
- 🌐 The speaker encourages viewers to join a free community for more productivity tips and shares details about a 90-day challenge for growth and content creation.
Q & A
What are the main tools the speaker uses for digital organization?
-The speaker primarily uses Notion and Milanote for digital organization. While they are a fan of both tools, they find Milanote simpler for their daily needs.
Why does the speaker find Milanote more valuable despite its cost?
-The speaker values Milanote for its simplicity and folder structure, which they find unique and more suited to their ADHD and digital organization style, despite it costing $10 per month.
What system does the speaker follow for organizing their digital life?
-The speaker follows a system inspired by Tiago Forte's PARA method, which organizes information into four categories: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. The speaker also includes an 'Inbox' system for capturing ideas on the go.
What is the role of an 'Inbox' in the speaker's system?
-The Inbox is a critical part of the system for capturing ideas, notes, and tasks quickly when the speaker is in a busy or fast-paced environment. The speaker later organizes these notes into the appropriate categories once or twice a week.
How does the speaker suggest managing large amounts of notes?
-The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a single, centralized inbox and organizing it regularly. They warn against accumulating too many notes, which can lead to disorganization, similar to how people might take photos and never look at them again.
How does the speaker distinguish between Projects, Areas, and Resources?
-Projects are tasks with a defined goal and end date, Areas are ongoing responsibilities that are never completed, and Resources are collections of learning materials, ideas, or information for future reference.
What challenge did the speaker face before implementing this system?
-Before implementing this system, the speaker struggled with digital disorganization. Their computer and notes were messy, which affected their mental clarity and productivity.
How does the speaker use Milanote for resource organization?
-The speaker uses Milanote to categorize resources like books, learning materials, and recipes. They store these resources in specific folders to easily access them later, based on their content type or purpose.
What strategy does the speaker recommend for staying organized in fast-paced situations?
-The speaker recommends using an Inbox system to capture ideas quickly when you're busy or not at your desk. Once a week, they organize these ideas into their appropriate categories.
What feedback does the speaker encourage from their audience?
-The speaker asks for feedback on how they can improve their videos, inviting viewers to comment with constructive criticism. They express a desire to grow and improve their content based on audience suggestions.
Outlines
📝 Simplifying Digital Organization with Minote
The speaker introduces Notion as a powerful tool, but potentially complicated for some users. To simplify digital organization, they recommend Minote, a whiteboard app that costs $10 per month, which they find valuable due to its simplicity and structure. The speaker discusses their personal struggle with digital clutter and how organizing systems like Notion and Minote helped them regain control. They highlight how these tools can improve productivity, work, and even personal life, emphasizing the importance of a structured digital system for a clearer mind.
🔄 Organizing Projects, Areas, and Resources
The speaker explains a method for organizing tasks based on the PAR (Project, Areas, Resources) framework by Tiago Forte. They stress that each project should have a clear end goal, while areas refer to ongoing tasks, such as managing a YouTube channel. Resources include materials for learning, such as book notes and ideas. The speaker mentions how organizing everything into categories and ensuring everything has its place, either in projects or resources, helps maintain clarity and productivity.
🍽️ Managing a Digital Inbox for Ideas and Resources
The speaker discusses the importance of maintaining a singular, organized inbox for capturing ideas quickly, whether from a phone or computer. They recommend regularly reviewing and sorting this inbox into projects, areas, or resources, instead of letting it overflow. Using examples like saving YouTube videos or food recipes (e.g., protein pancakes), they explain how items should be organized in a structured manner, ensuring that everything is easily accessible and connected when needed.
🎯 Continuous Improvement of Digital Workflow
The speaker shares how they continually optimize their digital organization system, creating specific archives for different types of content. They use tools like Minote to handle everything from project management to storing ideas from multiple devices. The speaker emphasizes the importance of simplifying their system and ensuring that everything is visually organized for easy recall. They invite viewers to join their community or participate in their 90-day challenge to improve their own productivity systems and reach personal goals.
📊 Feedback and Improving Video Content
In this final section, the speaker requests feedback from viewers on their video, encouraging comments for improvement. They reference previous feedback about their presentation style and discuss how they have adjusted based on this input. The speaker underscores the importance of constructive criticism for their growth as a content creator and emphasizes their desire to make better videos by understanding what viewers find helpful or confusing.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Notion
💡MiNote
💡Inbox
💡PAR method
💡Second Brain
💡Inbox Zero
💡Digital Life Organization
💡Resources
💡Areas
💡Simplification
Highlights
Notion is a great tool but can be complicated for many users, which is why the speaker prefers a simpler alternative.
Minote is the speaker’s preferred whiteboard app and daily driver, costing $10 per month, but its simplicity and folder structure make it worth the price.
The video aims to help users simplify their digital life by using a whiteboard app like Minote instead of complex tools like Notion.
The speaker mentions Figma as a free alternative whiteboard app that they used before switching to Minote.
The speaker stresses that if your digital life (like computer organization) is messy, it can negatively impact your mental clarity, much like a messy physical space.
An efficient digital system helps with productivity, organization, and overall life management, not just for work but also for personal areas like relationships.
Notion’s complexity, while free, can be overwhelming for beginners, so Minote is suggested as a simpler alternative.
The speaker introduces the PAR method (Project, Areas, Resources, Archive) based on Thiago Forte’s system for organizing digital notes and projects.
An inbox is vital for fast-paced life, helping store ideas quickly when you’re in a hurry, to be organized later.
The speaker compares collecting notes to taking photos—you may store them but never look at them again unless organized properly.
The speaker created their own variation of the PAR method, tweaking it for their ADHD needs, emphasizing the importance of regular organization.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of having one inbox for ideas, which is processed weekly to avoid clutter and overwhelm.
Minote is praised for its flexibility in helping the speaker keep their inbox close to empty and organize digital content efficiently.
The speaker explains that organizing digital notes and media helps them stay on track with projects and life goals, including maintaining a YouTube channel.
The speaker discusses how the PAR method helps manage various digital resources, like screenshots, future purchases, and video ideas, in a clear and structured way.
Transcripts
notion is a great tool and I use it
every single day but for many people
notion might be a bit complicated
especially with all these functions and
options and in this video I would like
to help you to simplify your Digital
Life with a simple Whiteboard app in my
case I use minote where I'm a huge fan
besides of notion and also is my daily
driver notion and minod but it also cost
$10 per month which I feel for my case
completely valuable because its
Simplicity and folder structure which is
in my case unique but for for this
example which I'm going to show you in
this video you can use any other
Whiteboard app for example figma which
is free and it's also a pretty good tool
um which I also used before for a while
but then I switched to me note and I
said hey $10 is totally fine for what
I'm getting for it so how do we actually
organize our Digital Life which I had
huge problem because in the past I was
not organized I mean I was organized in
terms of spaces and everything because I
have seen it every every single day but
like my computer was an entire mess and
everything was like kind of lying around
and also the thing is if your computer
is kind of like messy your brain is also
messy same with your your room if your
room is messy somehow in my opinion your
brain is also a bit messy which I had
huge problems in the past not with
cleaning my room and keeping it tidy
with organizing and storing actually
ideas and systems and my digital notes
whatever it is it helps you in terms of
studying it is it helps you in terms of
work it helps you in terms of life it
can also help you in relationships it
can help you in every situation in your
life and if you once understand how it
works life becomes easier and more
organized and structured especially in
terms of work and efficiency and
productivity so getting into it and this
system right here in my Whiteboard app
me note which I use every single day um
and notion is in my case a bit too
complicated
um for many people in the beginning so
for example if we have notion here I'm
going to show you for a really quick
moment how my notion is look looks like
that is my notion um that is everything
I have what I'm doing which videos I'm
producing my ticker what I need to do
every single day um which videos I need
to record and the best performing videos
and that's how I'm doing it in notion um
yeah never mind and mil note is way way
I seriously way simple and there's also
the thing how we should start with it
because notion for many people is a bit
too complicated even if it's free and
with Mila note it is more simple and
sometimes things which are simpler are
sometimes better especially in the
beginning and that is why I'm using
Milan note and starting off first we
have for example an entire way possible
means I'm just changing my coffee in my
um we have the entire thing here which
is a project a par method based on
Thiago Forte par is Project areas
resources and archive right here um and
it is his method just I just put it a
bit more into my perspective and how it
works a bit better for my ADHD way of
not taking and digital organization and
what is also really important is an
inbox so we're starting off with an
inbox because it is so important in
stret situations in fastpac life what we
currently have if you're in the gym if
you're somewhere you're walking and you
have an idea you need you need to store
the idea and what we most have an issue
is is where do I organ as where do I put
it in an inbox that I find it later on
because I my biggest pain was like I
have Apple notes and there's like I
don't know 300 pages of stuff I was
collecting but I never used it ever
again it's like a bit with photos which
I actually do look at my photos but a
lot of people probably just take a photo
or most people and then we never look at
them again and that the same with the
inbox you put something in your inbox
because you don't have an inbox in the
beginning and then you will never see
them again it's like um and so the most
important thing is in the beginning we
need one specific inbox not two not
three one one inbox okay this one is
base one inbox but in two different
cases um which is super simple and I
will come up in that one moment so the
most important thing is when we have an
x
Xbox Xbox when we have an inbox we store
ideas from phone or computer and
organize it later on that is really
important because when we are in a
stressful situation when we are in a gym
we are
not mentally in this position that we
have enough time to store it so we just
put it somewhere in the Inbox and once
or twice a week or whenever you are free
you organize it and structure because
you know okay do I need it for a project
which have a goal have an end in mind
and it's yeah it always have an end in
mind means this could be 3 months could
be 9 months it could be even 2 years but
it have an end in mind then we also have
areas which or organize it into area
which is something I always need to look
at again so it's a role or
responsibility ongoing maintenance so
it's never completed and that's
something for ex my YouTube channel my
YouTube channel is never completed it is
an infinite game
um then we also have resources might be
screenshots might be ideas might be
future purchases future importance
learning things books food recipes when
you're getting into learning for example
here I have something for life for books
for content for business uh for mind and
for imitation from other content
creators for example um and then we have
an
archive um you know and any topic of
ongoing interest whatever interests you
I mostly for example when I read
something on my iPad on a book um and
then I use it in my second brain I
always store it in resource in books
specifically um first of all on the
Apple notes and then later on when the
book is finished I put it later with
catb together and myself put it into me
note or into notion but notion would be
destroying this video
Simplicity um and then yeah we have kis
which are inactive items so everything
what we currently don't need we store
there so because out of sight out of
mind but the problem is with out of
sight out of mind we also get into other
issues so for example if we want to do
it in the near future let's say in a
month and we St in kiv somehow is
exactly how Apple notes is going later
on you end up with 300 notes and you
never watch them again so what I did and
kind of improved from my own perspective
the par method is I created project
areas and resource specific archives
which I look which I are looking a bit
more because they just have six boards
two boards and five and oras have 16
boards which is way more and sometimes
seriously I just delete stuff but
sometimes we need stuff in the future
again so everything what you see here in
Project areas and resource is
there is used once a week minimum and
that is really important um and when we
want for example um to organize it
somewhere and we are as I explained in
this inbox situation we are somewhere
and we want to store it we need one
specific location and from from there on
later on we store it into project areas
resource and if you don't need it into
archiv and I use this system for over a
year now and it works perfectly great
and I always optimize it for f further
individual needs and the inbox is pretty
simple we have an iPad for example and
we are around I'm not on my desk for
example I have my iPad with me or my
phone let's say this my phone and I have
an idea and I write this idea down
pretty simple right but then the thing
is okay we need to write it down so we
can organize it later so I called it
inbox zero similar to people talking
about email inbox zero because if you
have too many stuff you're getting
overwhelmed our brains are not made for
all of this dopamine High activity stuff
which some people understand earlier or
later on in life
hopefully um and sometimes a slow life
is a better life sometimes it depends um
and for example yeah we start in inbox
and M note is perfect for that it has
two inboxes in some ways one which is
over the phone so when we have something
which I write down in a week on my iPad
on my phone it gets stored here and the
thing is I need once a week store it
somewhere so for example um there's
ideas from a book and I need to store it
this is something I need for content for
this week then I can store it into my 12
week strategy because I need this one
this content probably for this week's
video um or somewhere else um so and
then at the end of this week I always
try to keep this completely empty and
every and put it everywhere where it
makes sense so this one tries to be as
little as possible maybe there like one
or 10 ideas up to but if we have a
specific amount of ideas it gets fulled
so it try to be always empty it once a
week not empty but like organize it once
a week and mostly when I'm starting in a
day and I was like oh there was the
notes I was taking yesterday oh I just
organized it qu quickly in the morning
because I know okay that is probably an
area which is an never ended completing
task it is a project is have an ending
goal and I need it for this video or
it's like a learning inspiration which I
need for future purchases okay I put it
into resources and another really
interesting thing here as well is for
example when we are watching a YouTube
video and you're like hey it is a great
interesting video and I want to create
content about it or is a music is a song
or it is um a food recipe and we want to
save recipe let's say we are getting
protein pancakes pretty simple one of my
favorite dishes or dishes or food
whatever yeah we getting all the stuff
and then we are looking for example we
click on this one video which I saved
here or let's take Foo because he's also
German I have an English uh Challen uh
Channel then I have this me not
extension and then this one I can save
this to home I can also store it
immediately but I find it simple to save
it first on the home then get back into
meal note and then this video is into
our unsorted section and this unsorted
section is always here like videos which
I kind of want to watch in the future or
is pretty important for future videos
topics and then I need to organize it
and oh yeah well look how what I have in
my resources I have food food recipes
perfect so I put it into food recipes
and it's stored here we can also
organize this fold further but seriously
funny funny video pretty interesting
video if you want to watch it so I have
all the stuff here and then I can just
quickly be
somewhere um and just like oh I need a
food recipe just look in
here protein pancakes whatever we can
also make it even more into specific
folders currently I'm fine with it
because it's not too much and I don't
get overwhelmed probably if it's getting
more I organize it into sweets salty and
whatever Foods or breakfast lunch and
dinner yeah that is pretty simple from
the computer so either we have it on the
computer on Google Chrome it could be
also website and we could store it
together and what I also sometimes like
is okay we have a specific topic let's
see if not a food
recipe oh maybe let's take a food recipe
and then we like hey we want to connect
these two because we can combine these
two recipes we can make a connection can
color it also we can color it with
yellow make it a bit thicker and then
make it for example yellow and it's like
okay these two recipes we can combine
together and then makes everything
simpler because the better a video the
better a thing is Vis visually the
easier we can remember it yeah so that's
how I'm having this inbox into zero
um well and we can actually use this
system for literally everything so for
example on my Windows computer um or my
iCloud which I would like to go down but
on this computer it is not that
structured but yeah let's get into this
because download for example always
keeps empty but I use don't use computer
this much so we are having the shared
win and Mech folder so that's my entire
digital iCloud folder right give me a
second so we have the shared win and
make
folder and I also need probably need to
organize that so every what is here it
it is not organized for this week uh I
mainly use it on my computer back there
but yeah this for example interconnected
with all my devices iPad MacBook um iMac
Windows computer and iPhone so I can
organize it and have project areas
resources and archives then we can get
into projects and then we have the
project which I'm currently doing the
short weeks POV iPhone photo inbox
numbers 90 days to
5Ks all of that is here and then also um
screen recordings and I can just quickly
access it here then we have areas which
is for example documents iPhone folder
in general about iPhone related things
mostly photos photo content in general
ready to publish content which is always
there I always need to publish any type
of content video content music downloads
for example if I need for YouTube video
editing and all the stuff you can
seriously this system is Milan note you
can use it for everything and is so
simple when we are using me note and a
white port app where we have specific
folders I don't want to put this video
in full length but yeah I hope this
video gives you a short explanation a
simple video how to organize it in a
really simple way and maybe when you
understand the system after a while and
implement it long enough you create can
create something like notion like I was
doing here or we can also get in depth
in my commun Community about it so if
you're interested to learn more about
productivity I have a completely free
community where I'm talking and have
also weekly calls in it which is just
starting right now and yeah that is for
example simpli simplify your Digital
Life here's the video which I'm
currently recording um then need to edit
it and whatsoever yeah that's my 90day
Challenge and yeah if you're interested
to really get an in-depth feeling of
that stuff feel free to join my Discord
Community challenge or a 90day challenge
if you also want to make
5,000 subscribers and Euros or dollars
in 12 weeks or 90 days with the strategy
I'm currently doing yeah links are down
below and I hope you like this video and
if there's something unclear you didn't
understand please leave a comment down
below because I would like to make the
videos better and it's not really
important for myself to understand
because in this case I understood it it
is important that you understand it and
if I can improve myself of EXP explation
and making it better for you I would be
super happy I got one comment last time
that I was doing my forget notion video
on my iPad because I was always looking
down and taking the notes and he said it
was a bit more difficult to focus on my
talking because I was so often looking
on down on my iPad so this time I was
putting it on my computer and explain it
right there so that thing so either
leave a like and if you didn't like this
video please comment it and tell me what
I can do better because a dislike
doesn't really help me it just helped me
that okay the video maybe doesn't was
good but I don't know what to do better
for another video so if you comment
something down below I know for next
time hey this is the thing I need to
improve to make my videos better so yeah
and I want to improve I'm I'm not a big
YouTuber yet and I don't really have a
huge following but I would like to
improve so please leave your feedback
down in the comments and see you guys in
my next video bye
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