Thread by @rroudt

Build a learning infrastructure if you want to be effective.

Your mental bandwidth is limited, and your mind is like a sieve—only part of what passes through sticks.

To stop forgetting, you need a second brain and feed it.

🧵 Prefer tweets? See my atomic essay in the thread.

Your mind is a sieve.

Only a fraction of what travels over your neural pathways sticks; everything else is filtered out.

Forgetting is not a curse.

Without forgetting, everything that you ever did or said would haunt you forever. But if you're trying to learn, you want to minimize forgetting in the long term.

Remembering everything is impossible, so we need systems to help us keep the useful bits of knowledge.

Our best bet is to externalize a part of our thinking—to build a second brain.

Having a second brain is crucial if you want to be an effective learner.

Without digital systems, you'll soon face memory overload—the overwhelm that comes from tracking processes.

Your first brain runs on glucose—your second brain runs on text.

Text levels the playing field. Every device and internet connection handles text. Text is easy to save and search. Plus your source material and own notes will also be on the same level: text.

To learn with text, you have to go through three stages: consume, collect, and create.

For each phase, your learning infrastructure enables you to focus on the material instead of the process.

Consuming happens when you read a text.

Even when you read 'passively,' you're interacting with the author in your mind. Ask: What is unclear or surprising? What other ideas connect to what's presented here?

Collecting starts when you externalize your thoughts.

It begins by highlighting whatever resonates with you. Finding out what the author wants to communicate is also a way to find useful highlights. The collection phase is topped off by taking notes on what you've highlighted.

Creating is in everything you do.

By collecting highlights and notes, you're creating resources for your future self. Using the ingredients you've distilled in the collection phase, you can create something new that others will consume, collect, and create with.

This is the cycle from information to insight—one that never ends.

If you want to thrive in this Information Age, you need to build your learning infrastructure. Start now.

If you want to know how I’ve built my learning infrastructure, see this series of posts:
ramses.blog/how-take-notes…