Want to build your own Second Brain? Get Tiago’s full system here: https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/foundation
We talked with Ali Abdaal about the Idea Factory he used to build a team of 20 employees & a 3+ million subscriber YouTube channel. This is a detailed walkthrough of the four steps of Ali’s Second Brain process, where his notes go, and the specific apps he uses every day.
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📝 Pick Your First Notes App (4-part series): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dDVtJ2sec
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 Inside Ali’s Second Brain
00:27 Step 1: CAPTURE (CODE)
00:42 Notebook (Capture Physical Notes, Morning Pages)
00:57 Apple Notes (Capture Offline Notes)
01:34 Readwise (Capture Book & Article Notes)
01:43 Kindle (Capture Book Notes)
01:45 Instapaper (Capture Articles)
01:49 Reader (Capture Articles)
01:58 Day One (Capture Journaling)
02:15 Todoist (Capture Tasks)
02:20 Otter (Capture Audio)
02:45 CleanShot X (Capture Screenshots, Gifs, Video)
03:11 Ali: “You need to combine your capturing and your organizing”
04:08 Apple Notes (Capture catch-all notes storage)
04:15 Roam Research (Capture daily notes – catch-all notes storage)
04:58 Ali’s Second Brain (Capture Overview)
05:33 Step 2: ORGANIZE (CODE)
06:02 Notion (Organize YouTube Video Planning)
06:09 Apple Notes (Organize Book Notes + Chapter Structures)
06:38 Roam Research (Organize Book Drafts)
07:08 Notion (Organize Content Production Engine)
07:34 Readwise (Organize content by routing into Roam Research)
08:18 Organizing notes by searchability
08:44 Ali: “Let Chaos Reign, Then Reign in Chaos”
08:58 Step 3: DISTILL (CODE)
09:46 3 Step Progress (Distill for YouTube Videos)
10:11 Notion (Distill – How to Get Started With Investing)
10:26 Distill (Ali’s Reading Notes Vs Ali’s Content Created in the Past)
11:04 Roam Research (Distill YouTube ideas via search function)
11:35 Tiago: “You don’t need to do new research”
12:01 Step 4: EXPRESS (CODE)
12:28 Apple Notes (Express Quick Notes)
12:49 Notion (Express Scripts)
13:35 Ali: “I’m not a huge fan of PARA”
14:01 Apple Notes (Express YouTube Planning)
14:25 Ali’s Second Brain (Express Overview)
15:06 Notion (YouTube title character counter)
16:10 Ali’s Second Brain (CODE Overview)
16:16 FREE CODE Quickstart Guide
16:26 Start Taking Notes Now!
16:30 Outro
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