Learning Coach Rates Productivity Apps

Summary

In this 'Overrated Underrated' episode, Dr. Justin Sung evaluates various learning and self-improvement practices. He deems Obsidian properly rated for its popularity as a second brain app, while considering REM notes overrated due to its linear note-taking limitations. Daily Reflection and free writing are deemed underrated for their reflective benefits, whereas daily affirmations are seen as properly rated. Dr. Sung also discusses the value of writing about anxieties, to-do lists, doodling, and various meditation forms, advocating for a structured approach to maximize their benefits.

Takeaways

• 📚 Dr. Justin Sung, a former medical doctor turned learning coaching consultant, discusses various topics on his show 'Overrated Underrated'.
• 🔍 He considers 'Obsidian' to be properly rated due to its popularity and usefulness as a second brain app, despite its limitations in higher order knowledge structuring.
• 📝 Dr. Sung believes 'Roam' is overrated because it doesn't effectively address higher order learning and non-linear relational note-taking as it should from a cognitive perspective.
• 🤔 He thinks 'Daily Reflection' is underrated, emphasizing the importance of proper reflective techniques and cautioning against negative spiraling.
• ✍️ 'Free writing' is also seen as underrated by Dr. Sung, as it aids in thought documentation, slowing down thought processes, and enhancing metacognition.
• 🌟 'Daily affirmations' are considered properly rated and trending, with Dr. Sung noting their value in positive reinforcement and psychology, while warning of potential overrated mystical interpretations.
• 📝 Writing about anxieties is seen as potentially helpful but also potentially unproductive, depending on the structure and guidance provided.
• 📋 'To-do lists' are viewed as properly rated by Dr. Sung, who emphasizes the importance of prioritization and the misconception that merely having a list equates to productivity.
• 🎨 'Drawing or doodling' is underrated and can be a powerful tool for non-verbal information representation, breaking the linear learning flow.
• 🧘 'Mindfulness meditation' is underrated and misunderstood by many, with Dr. Sung highlighting its long-term benefits and the importance of understanding its purpose.
• 🏃‍♂️ 'Movement meditation' is even more underrated, as it helps integrate meditative practices into daily life and can be applied in various activities beyond traditional meditation poses.

Q & A

Who is Dr. Justin Sung?

Dr. Justin Sung is a former medical doctor who is now a full-time learning coaching consultant.

What is Dr. Justin Sung's opinion on Obsidian?

Dr. Justin Sung believes Obsidian is properly rated. He thinks it is a very good app for certain purposes, such as a second brain, but not ideal for studying due to its issues with linear note-taking and inorganic relational forming.

Why does Dr. Justin Sung consider Rem Note overrated?

Dr. Justin Sung considers Rem Note overrated because he feels it does not adequately address higher-order learning and non-linear relational note-taking from a cognitive perspective.

What are the benefits of Daily Reflection according to Dr. Justin Sung?

Dr. Justin Sung believes Daily Reflection is underrated. Proper reflective technique can be very powerful, although it can be detrimental if done poorly. It can help prevent negative spiraling when done correctly.

How does Dr. Justin Sung view free writing?

Dr. Justin Sung views free writing as underrated. He thinks it is a great way to document thoughts, develop metacognition, and help slow down and critically evaluate thought processes.

What is Dr. Justin Sung's stance on daily affirmations?

Dr. Justin Sung considers daily affirmations to be properly rated. They are great for positive reinforcement and building positive psychology, but he cautions against their potential drift into unproductive, mystical practices.

Why might writing about anxieties be both helpful and unproductive?

Writing about anxieties can be helpful if done with proper structure and guidance. However, it can also be unproductive if it feeds into anxiety cycles. Professional guidance can help ensure it is done in a productive way.

What are Dr. Justin Sung's thoughts on to-do lists?

Dr. Justin Sung thinks to-do lists are properly rated. They are useful for documenting tasks and aiding prioritization, though they should be part of a broader productivity strategy rather than an end in themselves.

How does drawing or doodling aid learning, according to Dr. Justin Sung?

Dr. Justin Sung believes drawing or doodling is underrated. It allows for the representation of information non-verbally and non-linearly, which aligns better with how knowledge is inherently structured.

What is Dr. Justin Sung's view on mindfulness meditation?

Dr. Justin Sung considers mindfulness meditation underrated. He emphasizes its long-term benefits and the importance of understanding that getting distracted is part of the process.

How does Dr. Justin Sung differentiate between focus meditation and other forms of meditation?

Dr. Justin Sung views focus meditation as a subset of mindfulness meditation. He notes that the benefits of different forms of meditation are not clearly differentiated by research, and the intention behind the practice is what varies.

Why does Dr. Justin Sung think movement meditation is particularly underrated?

Dr. Justin Sung thinks movement meditation is very underrated because it helps people understand that they can maintain a meditative state during everyday activities, not just in traditional meditative poses.

Outlines

00:00

🧑‍⚕️ Introduction and Ratings on Note-taking Apps

Dr. Justin Sung, a former medical doctor and now a full-time learning coach, introduces the video series 'Overrated Underrated.' He provides his take on various ideas briefly. He discusses Obsidian, a popular note-taking app, stating it is properly rated for its utility as a 'second brain' but not ideal for studying due to its linear nature. He also talks about REM Note, deeming it overrated as it fails to address higher-order learning and non-linear note-taking effectively.

05:04

📝 Reflection Techniques and Writing Practices

Dr. Sung explores the underrated nature of daily reflection, emphasizing the importance of proper reflective techniques to avoid negative spiraling. He also highlights free writing as an underrated practice beneficial for documenting thoughts and developing metacognition. Daily affirmations are considered properly rated currently, though he warns of potential future overrating due to its trendy nature. Writing about anxieties is seen as underrated when done with proper guidance, helping with metacognition.

🗒️ To-do Lists and Drawing for Learning

Dr. Sung reminisces about his extreme use of to-do lists in university and evaluates them as properly rated. They are essential for task documentation and prioritization but not sufficient alone for productivity. Drawing or doodling is highly underrated as it allows for non-linear information representation, enhancing visual processing and learning.

🧘‍♂️ Meditation Practices: Mindfulness, Focus, and Movement

Mindfulness meditation is considered underrated due to its long-term benefits, despite being well-known. Focus meditation, viewed as a subset of mindfulness, is also praised but lacks distinct research-backed benefits. Movement meditation is highlighted as even more underrated, offering practical applications in daily life and helping integrate meditative practices outside conventional poses.

📢 Conclusion and Viewer Engagement

Dr. Sung wraps up the episode, inviting viewers to comment on topics they want to explore further. He emphasizes the need for specific questions to address particular aspects of interest. He encourages engagement through likes, comments, and subscriptions, teasing more content in future episodes.

Keywords

💡Obsidian

Obsidian is a popular app mentioned in the video, used for note-taking and knowledge management. It is rated as 'properly rated' by Dr. Justin Sung because it is gaining popularity and serves well as a second brain for some users, especially for studying. However, it is not considered great for higher order knowledge structures due to its limitations in reflecting these structures.

💡Rim Notes

Rim Notes is another app mentioned by Dr. Justin Sung, and it is considered 'overrated' by the speaker. The video suggests that Rim Notes does not effectively address higher order learning and non-linear relational note-taking, focusing more on a database perspective rather than facilitating cognitive processes.

💡Daily Reflection

Daily Reflection is described as 'underrated' in the video. It is a practice that is not commonly done, and when done correctly, it can be very powerful. The video suggests that proper reflective technique is crucial for maximizing the benefits of daily reflection, which can be easily overlooked.

💡Free Writing

Free writing is considered 'underrated' by the video's host. It is a method of writing without the pressure of grammar or structure, which can help in organizing thoughts and developing metacognition. The video suggests that most people are not aware of its benefits, making it an undervalued technique.

💡Daily Affirmations

Daily affirmations are described as 'properly rated' in the video. They are trendy and used for positive reinforcement and building positive psychology. However, the video suggests that they might become 'overrated' in the future if they become associated with mystical or woo-like practices.

💡To-Do Lists

To-Do lists are rated as 'properly rated' in the video. They are a good way to document tasks and prioritize them, which is considered an underrated aspect of their use. The video suggests that simply having a to-do list is not enough; it is a prerequisite for good prioritization, which is a high-yield practice.

💡Doodling

Doodling is described as 'overall underrated' in the video. It is a form of non-verbal representation of information that can help in learning by allowing for a more non-linear and omnidirectional way of processing information. The video points out that most people do not use doodles in a productive way, which is a significant oversight.

💡Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation is considered 'underrated' in the video. It is not well known and has been made more popular through apps and media. The video suggests that the real value of mindfulness meditation is not immediate and requires a period of practice to become effective, which is often underappreciated by those who are new to it.

💡Focus Meditation

Focus meditation is mentioned as a subset of mindfulness meditation in the video. The video suggests that there is not clear research to differentiate the benefits of different forms of meditation, and it is considered good to do for various intentions, such as focus, calmness, or dealing with anxiety.

💡Movement Meditation

Movement meditation is described as 'underrated' in the video. It is a technique that helps in applying meditative practices in daily life, such as while walking, cleaning, or doing dishes. The video suggests that this practice is often overlooked, as people may not understand how to apply the meditative state of mind in their daily activities.

Highlights

Dr. Justin Sung discusses his perspective on various learning tools and methods in the 'overrated underrated' series.

Obsidian is considered properly rated due to its popularity and effectiveness as a second brain app, despite not being ideal for studying.

REM notes are deemed overrated as they don't address higher order learning and non-linear note-taking effectively.

Daily Reflection is underrated, with proper technique being crucial for its effectiveness and potential to improve cognition.

Free writing is underrated, beneficial for metacognition and slowing down thought processes, but often underutilized.

Daily affirmations are properly rated, gaining popularity for positive reinforcement and psychology, yet may become overrated in the future.

Writing about anxieties is underrated and can be helpful with proper guidance, contrary to common avoidance.

To-do lists are properly rated for task documentation and prioritization, despite misconceptions about productivity.

Drawing or doodling is underrated as a non-linear learning technique, allowing for faster and more comprehensive information intake.

Mindfulness meditation is underrated, with growing recognition and normalization in society, but still undervalued for its long-term benefits.

Focus meditation is viewed as a subset of mindfulness meditation, with intentions being the key differentiator.

Movement meditation is even more underrated, emphasizing the application of meditative practices in daily life.

The importance of understanding the purpose of meditation, whether for focus, calm, or dealing with anxiety, is highlighted.

An invitation for viewers to comment on what they want to see expanded on in future episodes is extended.

A call to action for likes, comments, and subscriptions to engage with the content and support the channel.

Transcripts

hey everyone it's Dr Justin sung here

I'm a former medical doctor and now

full-time learning coaching consultant

and welcome to another episode of

overrated underrated where we're going

to be going through lots of different

ideas and I'm going to be explaining my

take on them as briefly as possible

I'd say it's obsidian is properly rated

uh because I know it's getting popular

and it is popular there are lots of

other people and there's other you know

YouTubers and influence and stuff that

can talk about obsidian much better than

I can I think it's a very good app I use

it for for some purposes I think for

studying specifically I don't think

obsidian is great because it runs into

the same issues as linear note taking

and inorganic relational forming and it

doesn't reflect your higher order

knowledge structures as it would if you

were to encode it properly from a

cognitive perspective but I think as an

app to help you as a second brain

especially I think it's a great app so

I'd say properly rated it's got a lot of

popularity it's growing and I think it's

well deserved

Rim notes

um

okay well look I'm gonna have to say

sorry to Mike and Maddie because I I

know the guys and I like the guys I I

think the software REM note is a little

overrated

um I don't think it really tackles the

issues of higher order learning and

non-linear relational note-taking or the

higher order knowledge structures that

we've been talking about I don't think

it covers those things very well um

again it does it from a software

perspective like how can we create

relationships from a database

perspective rather than looking at it

from how can we do it in a way that

actually facilitates the right cognitive

process which is really a different ball

game

um so I would say that I think it is a

little overrated yeah

[Music]

Daily Reflection I think is underrated

because not many people do it just to

note that just because you are doing

Daily Reflection doesn't mean that

you're getting all the value of daily

reflection and in some cases Daily

Reflection can actually make things

worse especially if you're using that as

like a a trigger point for negative

spiraling so I think proper reflective

technique is super super super

underrated and if you have proper

reflective technique and daily

journaling I think that can be a very

powerful combination how about free

writing I'd say it's probably underrated

as well it's a great way of just getting

your thoughts out and helping you

document and helping you slow down your

thought processes and be a little bit

more critical it's great for developing

metacognition as well so for those

reasons and because of the fact that

most people don't use it and actually

probably most people don't even know

what it means I would say it's

underrated daily affirmations uh

uh daily affirmations it's quite a trend

these days it's quite trendy these days

so for that reason I'd say it's I'm

gonna say it's properly rated I think I

think it was underrated I think it's

right now it's properly rated because

it's it's becoming more popular and

people are starting to understand that

it's great for positive reinforcement

and building that positive psychology

um and helping to sort of break out of

learn helplessness behaviors maybe if

you asked me a year from now I might say

it's overrated because there are

branches of daily affirmation to sign a

branch out into this kind of like

mystical hippie like woo like I'm gonna

do my daily affirmation as I look and

rub into my magical crystal ball and

like rub salt all over my hair like it's

starting to Branch into this weird

territory that's a little off so

especially on Tick Tock it's it's very

like you know kills my faith in humanity

so uh at the moment I'm gonna say

properly rated but maybe in the future

it's going to become overrated writing

about no anxieties I I think writing

about anxieties is again it's it's

helpful if you have structure and

guidance and you know how to do it in a

pro active way but I also know that

writing about anxiety is not always

productive and it can in some cases feed

into anxiety and anxiety cycles and

anxiety spirals I'd say

um the guidance of like a psychologist

or a clinical clinical psychologist or

therapist even is going to be helpful

for you to know how you can reflect in a

more productive way but overall I'd say

it's I'd say it's underrated because

most of the people that I know with

anxiety do not write about it or

document it or try to be metacognitive

or that reflective about it at all

to-do lists when I was in my first year

of uni I used to have this thing I

called the to-do list of death which

meant that I would write things on my

to-do list and I would either get them

done or I would die that was my mindset

I was very extreme I was very very

extreme 18 year old okay

um now thinking about it I think to-do

lists are properly rated I think it's a

very good way for helping you to

document obviously your tasks it's a

good springboard for helping you with

prioritization the prioritization part I

think is underrated and people aren't

really doing it just having it on a

to-do list is not enough a to-do list by

itself in isolation is not enough but

it's a prerequisite for good

prioritization which is one of the most

high yield things that you can be doing

in your life it's properly rated for

that reason people use it people love it

it's good for all of those reasons the

only overrated part about it would be if

people are just thinking that having it

on a to-do list actually means that that

means you're going to be productive

drawing or doodling is overall

underrated but most people aren't really

doodling in a way that is productive

like most people are doodling like

making the you know organic chemistry

it's like oh yeah history like they're

drawing out you know making it really

pretty but growing and doodling is a

great way of representing information

non-verbally which is important because

your visual processing has tens of

thousands of times faster than your

written word processing but also because

of the fact that it allows you to

express more information in a way that

is non-directional which is the way that

knowledge is inherently sort of

non-linear and omnidirectional so trying

to represent it linearly means that you

lock yourself into learning it in a

linear flow whereas drawings and doodles

can actually break that open you can

look at like an image all at once and

one go and take in lots of information

all in one go and that is a very

underrated part of of learning

techniques mindfulness meditation

overrated or underrated mindfulness

meditation is underrated mindfulness

meditation used to be something that was

like not well known and now it is

something that's very well known by lots

of people I'm continually surprised by

how much like people are starting to

know this and I think apps and things

have done a great thing to try to push

that out to more people and popularize

and normalize it so that's that's a good

thing I think people still underrate the

value that it has mindfulness meditation

is not one of those things that usually

provides a short-term immediate benefit

especially if you're a beginner to it

it's kind of like working out you need

to work out for a period of time before

you can use that transferably and the

other thing is that when you're training

mindfulness meditation uh like it's the

getting distracted is the point bringing

yourself back from the distraction and

letting that go and being mindful that's

actually the point so some people are

put off by the fact that they're so

easily distracted it's like going into a

gym and being put off by the fact that

you need to move so that was the point

of it so I think if you didn't

understand that you would severely

underrate it and I think that the way

that most people do underrate it so

therefore I think it is still underrated

Focus meditation

well focused meditation is really a I

think personally I I think it could be

viewed as really a subset of mindfulness

meditation in fact all these meditative

practices kind of

end up sort of blending together the

only difference is the intention behind

it and also there isn't really clear

research that differentiates the

benefits of different forms of

meditation from each other so if you

look at something like

um like very secular meditation

practices versus something that's more

like religious or Transcendental

Meditation you're not really seeing that

there are unique differences for each of

these at least not when you look at the

research as a whole

so I think meditation as a as a whole is

just good to do and if you're wanting to

use it for Focus whether you wanted to

use it to calm down whether you want to

use it to detach or just you know deal

with anxiety or whatever it is I think

that's just up to you to pick your

intention but it's just good overall

movement meditation

hmm movement rotation I'm going to say

is actually even more underrated than

the other ones and I'm going to say this

because I know lots of people that will

meditate and they'll practice

mindfulness but they won't understand

how they can translate or transfer or

use that technique in their daily life

so for example they may do their

meditation like every evening or

something for like 20 minutes and then

but during the day when they have like

oh I'm getting stressed or flustered or

anxious they don't think they use that

same technique at the time one thing

that I think movement meditation helps

you to do is understand that you can be

in a meditative state of mind without

being in a meditative conventional pose

you can embody meditative practices just

just you know while you're walking while

you're cleaning while you're doing the

dishes while you are you know whatever

and just breaking it into the mode of

everyday life as a skill that you can

use and a tool that you've just got in

your toolkit I think that's a view that

people often don't have about meditation

and so I'll say it's underrated for that

reason so that's it for this episode of

overrated underrated if there's anything

that I mentioned that you want me to

dive into in more detail please leave a

comment down below below let me know

what it is that you want me to dive into

and also specify the question about what

aspect of it you want me to dive into in

the very very first overrated underrated

video that we did for this I just said

leave a comment below on what you want

me to expand on people just said like

the word expand on it and I was like

what about it so that that was my fault

this time be a little bit more specific

but anyway thank you for watching if you

like this stuff leave a like leave a

comment make sure to subscribe and I'll

catch you in the next one

foreign

[Music]