Where does your first brain end and your second brain begin?
This is the topic I covered at my first live workshop in Flow Labs, our new community of knowledge workers and creatives with ADHD.
To get the most out of thinking tools like Obsidian, understanding the limitations of both your second brain and your own brain is essential.
Second brain has become a productivity buzzword in the past 5 years with books like Tiago Forte’s “Building a Second Brain”. In his book, he commonly refers to this concept of outsourcing cognitive functions to your second brain. But this is not possible to do and shows a misunderstanding of both the limits of technology and human working memory.
Ever notice how you still need to remember what you’re even searching for when recalling information in Obsidian? That is the key indicator that your second brain does not remember, only stores information.
External systems should be thought of as a scaffolding to support your working memory by reducing cognitive overwhelm caused by information overload.
Your second brain isn’t a substitute for your memory, it’s a support system for it. Our working memory capacity is essential to thrive in the information age. It plays a crucial role in understanding various cognitive processes, such as problem-solving, language comprehension, and learning.
We learn what we process.
As Joseph LeDoux explains, “The brain that does the remembering is not the brain that formed the initial memory. In order for the old memory to make sense in the current brain, the memory has to be updated.Biological memory is in a perpetual state of renewal.”
LeDoux is referring to the two types of memory, long term and short term (working memory). Your brain’s working memory can only store 4 items per every 15-30 seconds. Since short term memory is limited, the key to acquiring knowledge is to commit what we learn to long term memory.
“We need to process what’s going on the moment it happens, not 10 minutes later, not a week later, at the moment.” –Peter Doolittle
So how do we store as much we can in long term memory?
Based on learning science, we know that methods such as spaced repetition allow for more effective encoding and consolidation of memories through repeated exposure.
This can be done in Obsidian with the popular spaced repetition plugin, although an even better one is Anki, a digital flashcard program used by many med students and language learners.
Pro tip: Take a moment to pause and think about if a piece of information is worth 5–7 minutes of your attention. That’s how long you will need to see a flashcard to remember something forever
Using thinking tools like Obsidian, zettelkasten and second brain are extremely useful in organizing and resurfacing information for our knowledge work. They can augment our long term memory but they are not a replacement for our brain’s cognitive abilities.
True learning comes from committing knowledge to long term memory.
To be honest, I’m not even sure I like the term “second brain” to describe a thinking tool. Something doesn’t sit right with me about associating distinctly human attributes with technology.
Maybe it’s time we come up with a new term instead. Do you have any suggestions?
You can watch the live Obsidian workshop I hosted in Flow Labs, our new community for ADHD knowledge workers. I went into more detail about how to get the most out of your learning in Obsidian.