We’re all drowning in a sea of career, parenting and adulting. Here’s a simple second brain system I developed to stay afloat without burning out.

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Tell me you’re in your 40s without telling me you’re in your 40s. I’ll start.

I’m getting regular colon screenings.

I’d rather spend Friday night inside, enjoying an early dinner with my family than be out partying all night.

And I walk into rooms and forget why I went in there in the first place.

Getting older is a trip.

We’ve got so much information flying at us 24/7 that it’s impossible to keep up.

Yet we have no other choice to juggle our family lives, put out random fires at the office while still keeping up to date with the crazy that’s going on in the world right now.

How do you even get a moment to think? Let alone think clearly?

I do some of my best thinking in the shower.

The world is finally still. The noise from the kids is blocked out. Or at least muddled.

My email and phone are physically away from me and the notifications can’t bother me. I’m at peace. Peace to think.

But I can’t stay in the shower all day long.

Sure, walking helps me clear my mind to allow for better problem solving and brainstorming.

But, I can’t walk all day long.

I started carrying a pocket sized notebook with me. Everywhere.

Whenever a random thought or idea crosses my mind, I immediately jot it down.

It eventually morphed into a simple “second brain” system that’s helping me think better, stay more organized and actually hold myself accountable.

Since I’ve been working to remove my addiction to my phone, this little system is all old school pen to paper.

(If it worked for Capt. America, a pocket-sized notebook can work for me, too.)

Today I’m going to share how I created my simple second brain and why you should do the same. You’ll learn how you can use it to start connecting better dots and thinking better thoughts.

Let’s get into it.

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A second brain is more than just a “To Do list”

How do you typically manage your life and time?

An on-going to do list?

A million post-it notes scattered around your workstation, refrigerator and bathroom mirror?

Just winging it and hoping you’ll remember everything?

But what happens in between all that noise when you get a crystal clear moment and have an incredible thought that you want to save for later, perhaps expound upon, maybe even act on?

How do you remember that thought?

Are you capturing it at the moment? Or letting it drift away into the ether hoping that one day it will come back to you when you have that post-it note ready to finally receive it?

If you want to take your midlife to the next level and start achieving better creativity and more clarity, it’s time to create your own second brain system.

What the hell is a second brain anyway?

Let’s break it down into a simple definition:

A second brain is basically a place to store, organize, review, ideate and iterate ideas that come to you.

That’s it.

Whatever system it is that allows you to do all of the above and helps keep your sanity, that’s what you need as your own second brain.

Don’t let the productivity influencers sell you on their books and apps and processes to complicate this thing. It can be incredibly simple.

Things you can do with a second brain:

• Brainstorm new things to do, learn, build, see
• Manage projects better and more efficiently as a project manager
• Learning new subjects better as a notetaker
• Draw things that you see, experience or sketch the random things that come to mind
• Play hangman

We’ve all been there at the grocery store, standing in a line, and then a great idea comes to us. We tell ourselves that we’ll remember that idea and come back to it later.

Narrator: We never went back to the idea and it was lost in an endless sea of thoughts and anxieties and gobbledygook.

Well a second brain is designed to help you hold on to those ideas, nurture them and eventually transform them into something that you actually act on.

And you’ll have a system to organize those thoughts. Not just a bunch of random notes scattered across smartphone apps, notepads, post-it notes and emails.

But if you never revisit those notes and go back to them so you can challenge, build upon or act on them, it’ll do you no good.

The second brain is your accountability partner.

It’s a teammate that you can bounce ideas off of. While also acting as a repository of your thoughts that you can eventually piece together into greater plans and action items.

Want to be more interesting? Carry a pocket notebook like I do.

There’s something freeing about not being tied down to technology during the current timeline we live in.

It’s also kinda cool and provides a nice little talking piece to make conversation more interesting.

You’ll start thinking and remembering better stories to share.

Having thoughts right there in your back pocket. Or purse. Or a backpack. Or anywhere handy for you.

It’s a nice little flex.

How to create your own simple second brain

Clearly, I like pen to paper for my second brain. Why?

Honestly, I really don’t like the workflow of using my phone in a process that goes something like: Idea … to smartphone … to app … to typing the idea out.

By the time all that happens, I’ve lost the essence of my thoughts.

When I write it down I can draw things, cross things out, make arrows and star other things.

It just feels right.

You don’t have to be all sophisticated and cool like me with a pocket notebook. Yes, you can use apps for this. I won’t judge (much) if you choose to do so.

Although I’d argue that we could all use a more analog approach to our lives right now to help break our phone addictions. So I’d challenge you to get off technology and go old school.

But I digress.

Either way, no matter the approach, there are a few things necessary for an effective (yet simple) second brain system.

Thought capture

Write down the thought as it comes in. Not when you get back to the office.

Do not wait for the end of the commercial. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

When the idea strikes, get it out of your head and on paper (or in an app).

If you’re using an app, designate one app for thought capture. The standard-issue notes app on an iPhone can work.

Just create one entry with a fancy title you’ll remember, and make a running list of thoughts as they come in (maybe add the date to each thought to help differentiate).

Thought development

You need a little system for analyzing those thoughts and challenging them to see what sticks the best.

This is what will set you apart from the people that just write things down and never act on them.

When an idea comes to me, I turn to my journal and challenge it with this 3-step process I learned from “brain coach” (whatever that means) Jim Kwik:

• How can I use this thought or idea?
• Why must I use this idea?
• When will I use this idea?

Just remember that every idea you jot down won’t be an absolute banger. You’ll have quite a few duds. And you’ll have some thoughts that might be best served for another time.

But over time, you’ll accumulate some real winners.

Project management

When I get a good idea, I immediately do one of a few things:

Take action on it ASAP.

If it’s a simple and urgent one-off that can be done in 2 minutes or less, I’ll get it done and move on with my day.

Backlog it.

I keep a running list of little adulting tasks (admin things like follow ups and doctor appointments) that I keep on a separate notepad that serves as my planner and To Do list.

Once or twice a week, I’ll schedule time to knock out as many of those adulting backlog tasks as possible.

Schedule it.

If it’s something that requires some extra focus, I open up my calendar and schedule time to work on it.

If it’s something like an idea for a newsletter, I have a Google spreadsheet that collects all of my content ideas for Threads, TikTok and the LevelUP Letter.

I’ve found that the more I write down ideas in my pocket notebook, the more ideas start coming to me.

I never run out of things to share with my content now.

Challenge the idea even more.

Let’s say it’s a goal that I’d like to work on. In this case, I’m going to open up my journal and challenge the idea even further.

Then I’ll start breaking that new goal down into the minimal steps required to take action on it.

Develop a second brain to level up your life

I’m guessing that you already have some kind of a second brain system for your career that keeps you organized and accountable. Post-it notes. Apps like Notion or Trello. Robust calendar setups.

Now it’s time to create a second brain for your life.

• Thought capture and ideation.
• Grocery shopping items.
• Workout routines.
• Personal goals and progress.
• Math problems … or just playing tic tac toe or hangman.

It doesn’t have to be a complicated system with all the bells and whistles.

You can keep it simple with pen and paper.

But at this age, with all of the responsibilities we have and the limited time we have available to accomplish them, we need every little edge or advantage we can get.

A second brain system is the tool you need in your toolbox to get some more sanity while getting more things done. Without burning out.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And if you’re new here and enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be honored if you subscribed for more at this link.

And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “second brain” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete