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How To Learn Anything 10x Faster Than Anyone — Transcript

by Dan Koe · 9,140 words · 1,300 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you need to remember it, it's not
0:02important. If it's important, you will
0:04remember it. For some reason, it's
0:07become an obsession to just remember
0:09everything you read. There are videos on
0:11YouTube with millions of views. It is a
0:14very popular and viral topic. And
0:17nothing against the people that I'm
0:18flashing on the screen. I'm friends with
0:19quite a few of them, but it seems like
0:21people feel like if they don't retain
0:23the knowledge from what they read,
0:25they're a failure or they wasted their
0:26time, when that's not the point of
0:28reading at all. Why would you want to
0:30memorize every word of a book in the
0:32first place? I know why. You want to
0:34sound smart. It's an unconscious status
0:36symbol for you. You want to impress
0:38others with your articulation and
0:40intelligence, but you don't realize that
0:42sounding smart comes from understanding,
0:44not memorization. And understanding
0:47requires a much different approach to
0:48learning. It also doesn't help that
0:50schools tested you on your ability to
0:52memorize. You studied for hours just so
0:55you could pencil in the right answer,
0:57when that's not how life works at all. I
0:59get it. You want to acquire knowledge so
1:01that you can make better decisions and
1:03work yourself into a more advantageous
1:05life situation with more money and power
1:07so you don't have to worry about your
1:09day-to-day survival. Everyone wants
1:11that, but memorizing facts is the least
1:13effective way to get there. So, that's
1:15what we're here to talk about. How to
1:17actually learn, not just memorize things
1:20so that you can acquire knowledge, and
1:22that knowledge can be used to create a
1:24better future for yourself. That's why
1:26you acquire knowledge in the first
1:27place. After we talk about how to
1:30actually learn things really fast or
1:32master any skill really fast, we're
1:34going to talk about why your note-taking
1:36system and your bookmarks and the
1:38information you love to collect and
1:40hoard in your second brain or the sex
1:43doll for mental [ __ ] we're
1:45going to talk about how those are
1:46largely useless. Now, speaking of the
1:48second brain, we've actually been
1:50building one for quite a long time. It's
1:51called Eden. Some of you guys know it,
1:53but we just added a library feature, a
1:55reader feature, so you can click the
1:58link to this video, add it to Eden and
2:00read and highlight the transcript so
2:02that those highlights are saved. And you
2:04can pull in Kindle highlights, X
2:05bookmarks, snipped highlights, and have
2:08them all in one place. But, the
2:09difference is that you're not
2:10maintaining this and organizing it
2:12because we organize it for you. You'll
2:14understand why this is important later,
2:16but I'm just leaving that here in case
2:17you want to actually try it. And of
2:19course, it has the best outlier tool on
2:21the market, so you can find outliers or
2:23high-performing ideas if you're a
2:25creator on any platform, and then you
2:27can schedule and publish to any platform
2:29or do that all from the Cloud MCP if you
2:32use Cloud. So, I'll leave it at that,
2:33but if you're a creative or creator and
2:35you aren't using Eden yet, I don't know
2:37what you're doing. I don't know why you
2:38would willingly get less results by not
2:41using Eden. All right, let's talk about
2:43how to actually learn anything fast, and
2:46I'm going to start with a previous tweet
2:47of mine because it summarizes it quite
2:50well. Learning comes from struggle, not
2:52memorization. Start the project. No,
2:55don't watch 20 tutorials beforehand. Let
2:57it expose the gaps in your knowledge.
2:59Try to figure it out. Search for the
3:01answer when your mind is most likely to
3:04remember it. Publish the project, then
3:06repeat for life. Most people have no
3:08idea how to learn because most people
3:11have no idea what the learning process
3:13is. The reason that most learning fails
3:16is because there's no negative feedback
3:18loop. You can think of it like this. If
3:20you don't have the goal of getting in
3:22shape, and I'm talking a deep
3:23intrinsically generated goal, not a
3:25superficial goal you're pursuing to fit
3:27in like a New Year's resolution, then a
3:29night of heavy drinking and partying
3:32won't register as a problem or negative
3:34feedback because it doesn't impact your
3:36non-existent goal of performing on your
3:38morning run or gym session the next day.
3:41You can go to work just fine with a
3:42hangover because you don't give a [ __ ]
3:44about how well you do at your job.
3:46That's only one example, but it applies
3:48to every single area of your life, to
3:50business, to relationships, to health
3:52like we just talked about. If I have the
3:55goal of hitting a PR in the gym, a bench
3:57press PR, or running a marathon, do you
3:59think I'm going to go out and drink? Do
4:01you think I'm going to go out and do
4:03degenerative activities? Maybe I will if
4:06I'm not actually serious about the goal,
4:08but if I do, then it's going to impact
4:10my ability to hit the goal. And if that
4:13goal really means a lot to you and you
4:15do go out and party and drink anyways,
4:17which I'm not completely against, but to
4:19illustrate a point, if you do those
4:20things, your training is going to
4:22suffer, and you aren't going to hit your
4:24goals as fast as you would, or at all.
4:27And if you really value that area of
4:29your life, health, you're eventually
4:30going to realize, "Man, I need to stop
4:33doing this." That's called learning.
4:36Learning is a cybernetic process.
4:38Cybernetics sounds like something
4:40related to cyborgs, but it stems from
4:42the Greek word "kubernetes", I believe,
4:45meaning steersman or helmsman, the
4:47person who steers the ship. The word
4:49"cybernetics" was chosen because the
4:51helmsman is the perfect image of a
4:53feedback system. The helmsman doesn't
4:54just point the ship in a direction once,
4:57he constantly reads the current state,
4:59like the wind, the waves, or the
5:01heading, and then he compares it against
5:03the intended course, and adjusts. In
5:05other words, the process of trial and
5:08error, and so few people have the
5:10direction that allows them to notice
5:12errors in their life. Cybernetics
5:14illustrates the properties of
5:16intelligent systems. There's a reference
5:18signal, or the goal, so the system holds
5:21a target state. There's the sensor or
5:23perception, so the system reads its
5:25current state. There's the comparator or
5:28the gap between where you are and where
5:30you want to be, so the system computes
5:32the difference between target and
5:33current state, and the difference is the
5:36error signal. Then there's the actuator
5:38or the behavior, so the system acts to
5:40reduce the error. And you can see this
5:43all around you. Cybernetics is more of a
5:45frame of how to view reality. It's a
5:47frame you can put on to course correct
5:50in a better direction. When you look at
5:52a thermostat, it turns on the heat when
5:55it gets too cold because it notices when
5:57it's too cold, the error signal, and
5:59then course corrects. And that's one
6:01small, it's not a very intelligent
6:02system. You can also think of how your
6:04pancreas secretes insulin when blood
6:06sugar rises. Your body is one system
6:10composed of so many different
6:11intelligent systems. And that exposes
6:13the issue here very well. When most
6:15people try to learn something new, they
6:17focus on content. They hoard material
6:20and try to absorb it with spaced
6:21repetition or flash cards or courses and
6:24learning the fundamentals. They assume
6:25learning is an input process. And now,
6:28I'm not saying that those things are
6:29bad. I'm not saying that spaced
6:31repetition doesn't work or that courses
6:33are bad. I love courses. I take them all
6:35the time because I like to learn things.
6:37But in reality, learning is an output
6:39process because output demands input.
6:42We're going to talk about in a future
6:44video intellectual obesity and how it's
6:47kind of become a crisis or an epidemic.
6:49But you can think of information and
6:50food as the same thing. Information is
6:52food for your mind. If you're eating too
6:54much food and you're not exercising,
6:56you're not putting out energy. You're
6:57not using the food or shuttling it to
7:00muscle growth or whatever your goals
7:03are. The same thing applies to the mind.
7:05Just consuming, consuming, consuming,
7:07even if it's self-improvement. Like,
7:09that's no better than just consuming
7:11brain rot if you're not doing anything
7:14with it because it's making you mentally
7:15obese. I'm not trying to attack you
7:17personally because I was the same way.
7:19But a lot of people think that, "Ooh,
7:21I'm scrolling self-improvement content
7:23rather than brain rot, so I'm better
7:25than the people that are scrolling the
7:26brain rot." When you're doing the exact
7:28same thing, you're still getting the
7:29cheap dopamine hit. And honestly, it
7:32could be worse because you're just
7:33getting a false sense of progress. So, a
7:36goal creates the error signal. The error
7:38signal creates the filter. The filter
7:41creates relevance, so whether it's
7:43useful because most people fill their
7:45mind with noise and things they will
7:46never use, and then the relevance
7:49creates retention. I've talked about
7:51this many times before, but think of a
7:53person who has been deeply conditioned
7:55by the default path. Society assigned
7:57them the goal of go to school, get a
7:58job, retire at 65, and that's all they
8:00know. That is the goal that is directing
8:03their learning and behavior because they
8:04behave in a certain direction, they make
8:06an error, and then unconsciously most of
8:09the time they correct the error to
8:10maintain the direction that was set for
8:12them by society. So, the destiny that
8:15they were assigned inevitably will come
8:17true even if the person themselves
8:19aren't conscious of it or didn't want it
8:21in the first place. They just never
8:22questioned their conditioning. And now
8:24the pernicious thing here, I like the
8:26word pernicious. I don't even know if
8:28that was the right word to use, but the
8:29pernicious thing here is that the person
8:32who is conditioned to go down the
8:33default path will not notice
8:35opportunities like money-making
8:37opportunities or health opportunities or
8:39opportunities to actually improve their
8:41life beyond the outcome that was
8:43promised to them, right? The outcome of
8:46retiring at 65, whatever your image of
8:48that looks like, that's your bar. That's
8:50the highest you can go with that goal.
8:53And so, you will not notice these
8:54opportunities of say starting a business
8:56or becoming a creator or starting a
8:58personal brand or even leveraging AI in
9:01an intelligent way because your brain is
9:04actively filtering it out. It doesn't
9:06even have the chance to register and
9:07stick and retain because you're not
9:10working toward a goal that would demand
9:12that as input. These people are not in
9:15control of their lives. They are a
9:17puppet of someone else's ideals, and
9:19this is most people. I'm talking very
9:21negatively here, but this is just how it
9:23is. In order to fix this or in order to
9:25course correct, you need the awareness
9:27of the problem because you may or may
9:29not have noticed that if this is if this
9:32video is actually registering with you,
9:34a new goal is starting to form in your
9:36head, and your behavior and learning are
9:38starting to pick up and notice
9:40opportunities in that direction. And by
9:42simply having awareness that this could
9:45be a problem, that's going to direct
9:47your behavior in a certain way. We'll
9:49also talk about anti-marketing in a
9:51future video, but this is largely
9:53marketing as well. This is a better form
9:55of marketing. If you understand deeply
9:57how psychology works, not the
9:59surface-level psychology that goes viral
10:01on Instagram, but actual psychology and
10:04how learning and behavior work. Now,
10:06this is the part that is important. If
10:08you consciously create your own frame by
10:11knowing exactly what you don't want out
10:13of life and comparing it to an evolving
10:16vision of what you do want out of life,
10:18you are only then able to sense when you
10:20are off track, notice the error, correct
10:22the direction you were heading, and
10:24learn as a byproduct. Now, I want to
10:26repeat that part. You need to know
10:28exactly what you don't want out of life
10:31and compare it to an evolving vision of
10:35what you do want out of life. That is
10:37it. That is the key. That is literally
10:40success.
10:41That's it. What do you not want out of
10:43life? What do you hate? What are the
10:45experiences that you've had? Look just
10:47create an image of a person in your head
10:49that you would despise being like, and
10:51now aim in the other direction. What
10:53does that person look like? What is
10:55their potential? And now that's
10:56imaginary, so you have to work towards
10:58that, but you have to refine it like a
11:00sculpture over time by comparing it to
11:03what you don't want or where you are
11:05now. And slowly, more and more and more,
11:07you eventually become the vision that
11:09you had. So, all of that makes sense,
11:12hopefully. What do we actually do? Step
11:14one is to become obsessed with a
11:16meaningful goal. And the way you become
11:18obsessed is to look at your current
11:19actions and realize where your life will
11:21end up if you don't change. And for most
11:23people, that outcome is not pretty at
11:26all. Sit with that image. Actually sit
11:29with it. Pause this video, think, and
11:31let it fill you with this potent emotion
11:34and redirect that emotional energy
11:35toward a better direction for your life.
11:37Moments like these are the moments that
11:40my life change and it's very hard to
11:42explain. Some of you have felt it, but
11:43you just get filled with like
11:46I I guess you could say this divine
11:47energy, something you've never felt
11:49before and like you get choked up and
11:51you just want to attack whatever goal
11:53you have. Like that is one of the
11:54greatest feelings in the world and only
11:56then can you actually align the goals
11:59you pursue with the aim of your future.
12:01Only then does a useful learning process
12:03start, the opposite of schooling where
12:05your learning is determined by the
12:07direction and goals society sets for
12:08you. The other thing is that being
12:10extreme toward a goal changes your brain
12:13and enhances neuroplasticity. And so in
12:16my eyes, a lot of people tell you like,
12:17"Oh, don't quit your job. Have a backup
12:19plan first. Do all of this." And that's
12:20great. Like that can work, absolutely.
12:23But personally, I thrive when I'm under
12:25pressure. I want to quit my job. I want
12:28to feel the weight of the world on my
12:29back and I want to carry it. I know
12:31that's a very masculine thing, so with
12:33those with a very feminine orientation
12:36in my audience, you may not resonate
12:37with that, but I think you can get where
12:39I'm coming from. To me, that is a much
12:41better option is to just burn the boats.
12:44I like to romanticize my life a little
12:46bit. I like to feel like I'm going to
12:48war because that's what my brain
12:50responds to and it gives me a huge
12:52advantage over other people who don't
12:54have that same energy and drive. And it
12:56just feels amazing. Now, step two,
12:59don't start learning because the life
13:02you want lies at the end of a series of
13:05meaningful projects.
13:07Doesn't really make sense, but a project
13:09is simply a structured set of goals and
13:11milestones. It's a way of creating
13:13something tangible to work toward a
13:16goal. It's the way that you achieve
13:18goals is by creating a project and
13:19completing the project and preferably
13:22publishing the project, whatever that
13:24means in the context of the project. If
13:26it's a tangible product, I mean project,
13:28you put it out as a product. If it's a
13:30tangible writing, then you publish it to
13:32get feedback from the market by posting
13:34it on social media. Your mind is to be
13:37treated as a project, as is your body,
13:39your relationships, or your financial
13:41situation, or any other domain or skill
13:43in your life. A project creates a frame
13:46for your learning by filtering out
13:48unimportant noise. Anything that does
13:50not directly move the project forward is
13:52not worth learning right now, at least,
13:54because you won't retain it anyway. In
13:56other words, when you want to learn
13:58something new, don't start learning.
14:00Don't start studying. Don't start
14:02watching tutorials. You start the
14:04project. You start with an image of what
14:06you actually want to do in the world
14:08first, and then you take the first step
14:10toward the goal. We'll talk about that a
14:11bit more. But, step number three is to
14:13seek specific knowledge. And we'll start
14:16with a quote from Naval, because
14:18specific knowledge is kind of Naval's
14:20thing. I ultimately think that everyone
14:22should be figuring out what it is that
14:24they uniquely do best, that lines with
14:26who they are fundamentally, and that
14:27gives them authenticity, that brings
14:29them specific knowledge, that gives them
14:31a competitive advantage, that makes them
14:33irreplaceable. And they should just lean
14:35into that. And sometimes you don't know
14:37what that is until you do it. As a side
14:40note on that quote, you eventually come
14:42to realize this, but beginners
14:44especially get so stuck in like, what do
14:46I do? What do I do? You just do
14:47something. Like, you learn what to do by
14:50doing something. And for some reason
14:52that doesn't register for them because
14:54it's a paradox.
14:56They're afraid that as an example,
14:58posting on social media, oh, their first
15:00post is going to flop. It's not going to
15:01do well.
15:03Really? You don't think that the first
15:05post is going to the first post is going
15:07to do amazing. You're just going to go
15:08viral and get famous all of a sudden.
15:10You don't think that it takes years?
15:12What are you thinking? What's going
15:13through your head? Of course, it's going
15:15to suck. Of course, it's going to be
15:17terrible. Of course, you're going to be
15:18embarrassed. That's the entire [ __ ]
15:20point.
15:21Oh, it gets me so riled to just like I'm
15:24not a violent person, but oh, I just
15:25kind of just want to like punch you in
15:26the face.
15:28It's a bit intense, but I I want to give
15:30you a little slap and be like, "Hey,
15:31dude, just post." Schools teach general
15:33knowledge or knowledge required to do a
15:35job. They do not teach how to navigate
15:37your own path. They narrow you into one
15:40area of study, which by nature does not
15:42prepare you to direct your own work
15:44through the path of entrepreneurship or
15:46simply doing what you want to do.
15:47Self-education is the process of
15:50learning what's necessary to achieve
15:52self-generated goals. Again, no hoarding
15:54general knowledge to feel like you're
15:57learning. So, as an example, let's say
15:58that I wanted to learn After Effects,
16:01right? Adobe After Effects, a very
16:02complex animation software that when you
16:05go into you're like, "I have no idea
16:07what to do." It's just a bunch of
16:08buttons that mean nothing. And so, your
16:10first thought is, "Okay, I should go
16:12watch a tutorial on how to use After
16:14Effects." But then you do that and then
16:16you're no better off from when you
16:17started. You look in there and you're
16:18like,
16:20"Where is everything again?" And then
16:21you get stuck in this loop of like, "I
16:23need to learn this software inside and
16:25out before I even create anything."
16:27Which isn't the case at all. Instead,
16:28you need something to actually build.
16:31You need something you want to create in
16:33animation. You need a vision or an image
16:35of it in your head. When people sign up
16:37for Eden, there's only so many tutorials
16:39we can create before it's up to you to
16:41just figure out how to do what you want
16:44to do. The software is a tool and you
16:46need to use it to actually achieve
16:48something to
16:50use it like a wrench, how you would use
16:52You can't use a tool if you have nothing
16:53to use it for. And so, when people come
16:55to me and they're like, "Well, how do I
16:57how do I use this?" And sure, I we need
17:00to create tutorials and teach how to use
17:01it, but my first question is always,
17:04"What are you trying to do? Are you
17:06trying to write content?" Okay, do you
17:08know how to write content? Have you
17:09educated yourself? Have you started? And
17:12only then can I give you a proper answer
17:13because another thing that peeves me so
17:16much is that there's software coming
17:18out, there's tools coming out, there's
17:19videos coming out where they just think
17:21like, "Oh, I'll teach you how to go
17:22viral in 5 seconds." or this app will
17:24make you go viral. That doesn't work.
17:27That's not how it works because you have
17:29to learn the intricacies of attention
17:31and psychology and you have to practice
17:34so many times to get feedback from the
17:36market on your post so that pattern
17:38recognition over time builds in your
17:40head to the point where you are an
17:41expert at that thing. It doesn't matter
17:43if Claude tells you that a piece of
17:45content is going to go viral because do
17:48you understand how attention and value
17:50shifts over time? Content is subjective.
17:53Code is more objective. Yes, Claude and
17:55AI can write code that works because the
17:59end result that you're looking for, that
18:00you determine value, the value of the
18:02code by is does this work? With content,
18:06with writing, with creativity, with art,
18:08it's very subjective. The value changes
18:10over time according to culture and
18:11market sophistication and how much an
18:14idea has been ran through to the point
18:16where everyone thinks it's just basic or
18:17cliche. And so, in order for us to build
18:19a good tool like Eden, unless we want to
18:22go against our morals and just make a
18:24ton of money like I could easily, very
18:26easily, just give you a system that
18:28would probably make you go viral once,
18:30but that would be freaking useless to
18:32you. It wouldn't do anything. I need to
18:34create a tool that's actually good that
18:36you're going to use consistently rather
18:38than just sign up once, go viral, and
18:39then not be able to do anything again
18:41and pay a ton of money to do so. So,
18:43back to the After Effects example.
18:45Sorry, that gets me very heated and I am
18:48essentially going to war with every
18:50other social media app because I do not
18:52like them. So, you need to start the
18:54project with the knowledge you have and
18:56if you don't have knowledge, then you
18:58find a specific tutorial that is as
19:00similar to the project you want to
19:02create as it can be. So, with After
19:04Effects, if I want to create a
19:06minimalist line animation, right? Like I
19:09used to on Instagram, then I would go
19:11and try to find a tutorial of someone
19:13that creates that specific animation or
19:15something slightly similar to it so that
19:18I can directly apply what I'm learning
19:21in the moment. And the thing is that
19:22most of the tutorial will be useless,
19:25but you'll be filtering it out and
19:26you'll be noticing the things that you
19:28can actually go and apply and then you
19:29do that over and over again until you
19:31stack enough techniques. Not every
19:34single tool in the After Effects sidebar
19:36or the Photoshop sidebar or the Canva or
19:38the Eden sidebar, but you stack enough
19:40techniques to get the result that you
19:42want, which is specifically your goal.
19:45As an easier example, think of learning
19:47an instrument like the guitar. Do you
19:49immediately go and study music theory?
19:52Probably not. You simply choose the song
19:55that you want to play and then you learn
19:57the first chord of the song because you
19:59try to play it and you're like, I don't
20:01I don't know what to play. You learn the
20:02first chord and then the second and then
20:04the third and then eventually you pick
20:06up other things like, "Hmm, this doesn't
20:08sound right. Okay, I need to tune the
20:10guitar in a certain way. I need to add a
20:11capo." And then you pick up little hacks
20:13until you're able to play one song and
20:16then the next and then the next and then
20:17at that point you feel kind of confident
20:19that you could maybe try creating your
20:21own very simple song. And then years
20:24later, you're just going crazy and you
20:26can do anything. You're a master. That
20:28is how you learn. So we just learned all
20:30of that, how to actually learn things
20:32fast and it's literally just do things.
20:35For all the people that want a bullet
20:36point summary, go and do things. See if
20:39that helps you. But now I want to talk
20:40about the note-taking systems, the
20:42second brains, the obsession with just
20:44capturing ideas and writing down notes
20:47and hitting the bookmark or save and
20:48then never looking at them again because
20:50there's obviously something valuable
20:52there, right? There's something useful.
20:54You saved it for a reason, but you
20:56haven't actually taken it and applied it
20:58to your life. Am I saying that you're
21:00going to apply thousands upon thousands
21:01of notes to your life? Probably not, but
21:03there's a lot of gold that's just
21:05sitting there. So what How do you
21:07actually manage that stuff? Because with
21:09technology, that actually enables you to
21:11do a lot, people just aren't using it
21:13correctly. And I've tried all of the
21:15systems before. I started my second
21:17brain journey with Roam Research, if any
21:19of you guys know it, and it completely
21:21changed how I write my newsletters. I
21:24built a knowledge base of very potent
21:26ideas, and then I was able to pull from
21:28those when it was time to write, because
21:30the research was already there. My
21:32note-taking was essentially like
21:35preparative research. And a few years
21:37ago, I even built Cortex, which wasn't
21:39meant to be a second brain software, but
21:41that's kind of what it turned into,
21:43because I was trying to take my writing
21:44process, what helped me so much, and put
21:46it into a software. And in order to do
21:49that, we needed some kind of note-taking
21:51system and connections and tags inside
21:53of there. But, Cortex inevitably failed,
21:56and I mean, it didn't really fail, but
21:58it very painfully evolved into the
22:00version of Eden it is today. That's why
22:02I haven't been posting very much. But,
22:04as you can see with the black
22:05background, we are getting back to it,
22:07because Eden is in a very good state
22:09right now. Thank God. So, I'm not here
22:11to say that second brains are completely
22:13useless. I just think that they are
22:15misused. They're very powerful, but
22:18people just don't know how to use them.
22:20Like, organizing your entire life inside
22:22of Notion is not going to help you very
22:24much, because you bookmark and you take
22:27notes just for them to never be seen
22:29again. So, you quite literally wasted
22:32your time thinking you were learning,
22:34when you could have actually been
22:35learning in the first place, and
22:36engaging with reality and trial and
22:39error. So, in the past, people didn't
22:41have a popularized second brain that
22:43markets very well and catches attention.
22:45They had a commonplace book. Marcus
22:47Aurelius's book Meditations is
22:49essentially a private commonplace book
22:51with notes to himself and digested
22:53philosophy, and it was never meant to be
22:54published, but that's kind of what it
22:56is. Leonardo da Vinci filled thousands
22:58of notebook pages with sketches,
23:00observations, questions, and borrowed
23:02ideas. Mark Twain, H.P. Lovecraft,
23:04Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, Rick
23:06Rubin, and many more each had some
23:08variation of this. But, there is a major
23:10difference between your second brain
23:12productivity bro and these successful
23:15creatives. Their collection of ideas was
23:18the fuel for their creations. Their
23:21inventions, writing, and music would not
23:23be what they are today. And I would go
23:25as far as saying you wouldn't even know
23:27who those famous people are if they
23:29didn't have some variation of a
23:30commonplace book. That's me saying that
23:33a a digital commonplace book isn't like
23:36an absolute requirement to success, but
23:38it definitely helps in it. So, rather
23:40than this being a second brain, I like
23:43to think of it as a second subconscious.
23:45Because when you create something, your
23:47subconscious spits out relevant ideas
23:49that contribute to the quality of the
23:51creation, but it's still limited in
23:53processing power. And sometimes it
23:55decides to just not help you at all,
23:56leaving you in a creative rut. And so,
23:58that's what the second brain systems are
24:00missing is they don't have a project to
24:02apply the ideas to. It doesn't spit out
24:05ideas when the time is right. And
24:08related to this, a metaphor from Seneca
24:10was to gather pollen from many flowers
24:12and then digest it into your own honey.
24:15That's his way of saying steal like an
24:17artist. So, you could wonder if the
24:19steal like an artist guy stole like an
24:21artist from Seneca. This is the antidote
24:24to writer's block. You don't have ideas
24:26for your writing content or videos
24:28because you don't have a repository of
24:30ideas to pull from. Every single thing
24:31I've said in this video is from other
24:33articles, videos, social posts, random
24:35ideas, and highlights that I've saved
24:37before. So, I think you get it, but how
24:39do you actually build something like
24:41this? How do we create a digital
24:44commonplace book leveraging modern
24:46technology like AI? Because that's what
24:48it's good at. And that's step one, which
24:50is to choose the right software or
24:53create your own AI system. And I want to
24:55have a quote here from Devon Erickson.
24:58Don't get breathless about how smart AI
25:00is. It's dumber than a sack of wet
25:02hammers. Leverage instead its ability to
25:05do rapid input and output for simple
25:07tasks on large data sets. There's a
25:09bunch of idiots on Instagram and other
25:11social media platforms right now saying
25:12that if you use AI once then essentially
25:15like you are useless. Everything you've
25:17done is useless. The whole Hank Green
25:19situation. And I would encourage you to
25:21go watch my video on how to think
25:23five-dimensionally because it will break
25:25down exactly why these people are
25:27idiots. And in another video we're going
25:28to talk about how everything is a
25:30religion and we're going to break down
25:31ideology because frankly it's sad to see
25:34who I thought were decently nuanced
25:36thinkers
25:37pick an absolute side in the AI religion
25:40either anti or pro AI and they can't
25:42think for themselves and figure out okay
25:44yeah this isn't all bad or all good as
25:47all things in life come on. So let's
25:49talk about how to use it for something
25:51good here. That would aid in your
25:53creativity without taking away from your
25:55creativity because most note-taking and
25:57second brain software still require
25:59manual upkeep. Some of them have an AI
26:02chat tacked on which is absolutely
26:04useful but they're missing the most
26:05useful application of them all which is
26:07make it so your ideas don't disappear
26:10into the void because your creative work
26:12depends on your ability to resurface
26:14them at the right time. So you have two
26:16options here and our goal is to just be
26:18able to drop an idea in and then find it
26:21when we need it when we're writing
26:23creating or just working on a project
26:25whatever your project is. So option one
26:28is to use the popular combination like
26:30Claude Code and Obsidian to store your
26:32knowledge in one place and retrieve
26:33ideas with AI. And then there's option
26:36two which is to use kind of like a
26:37modern software like MyMind or Eden
26:40which auto tags categorizes and embeds
26:42your knowledge in meaning space so it
26:44can connect seemingly unrelated ideas to
26:47birth novel insights. Now there are
26:48plenty of tutorials on number one you
26:51can just go on YouTube and you'll see a
26:53Claude plus Obsidian video. And it's
26:55very popular for a reason because it's a
26:57very cool thing. Even though I think
26:59that many people swapped their obsession
27:02for collecting Notion templates to an
27:05obsession of collecting Claude skills
27:07and everything that they can do in
27:08Claude. I'm I need to create It'll be in
27:11the everything is a religion video, I
27:13think, where I need to create a bell
27:14curve meme of AI usage where the first
27:17guy, the stupid guy, is like, "Oh, you
27:19just like tell it what to do." And then
27:21the top is like, "All the crazy skills
27:23and stuff." And then the third guy is
27:25just tell it what to do. But the thing
27:26there is that in order to be this guy,
27:28you need to know what to do, which most
27:31people don't. So, since there are a ton
27:33of tutorials already and I'm not going
27:34to teach it as well as them, I'm just
27:36going to give you very simple
27:37step-by-step, here's what you do if you
27:39want to build Claude plus Obsidian.
27:41First is just download Obsidian and
27:43Claude. Then you can open Claude Code or
27:46Claude Co-work and select your Obsidian
27:48vault folder on your computer as the
27:50folder you're working in because when
27:51you download Obsidian, it's a folder on
27:54your computer because it stores files
27:56locally. So, you can work inside of that
27:59folder in Claude or Claude Co-work. Now,
28:01the best way to create prompts or skills
28:03or really to do anything with AI is to
28:06just ask it, "Hey, how do I create a
28:08skill? How do I create a prompt? A good
28:10prompt." Right? You don't just ask basic
28:12questions. And of course, it may not
28:14give you the best answer every time, but
28:17that doesn't matter because you're not
28:18trying to one-shot things. Working with
28:21AI is as close to working with the
28:24process of trial and error itself
28:25because in order to get a good result
28:27with AI, you still have to refine,
28:29refine, refine. And if you settle for
28:31slop or mediocrity, that's what creates
28:33slop or mediocrity. And the anti-AI
28:35people just think that's all there is
28:37that exists. So, what you're going to do
28:39now inside of Claude is you're just
28:40going to create a save an idea skill.
28:43You're going to ask Claude to create a
28:44skill that creates a note in an inbox
28:47folder with a clear title. And so, what
28:50that's going to do is it's going to
28:51create a skill. So, whenever you drop an
28:53idea or a link or a post or anything
28:56inside of Claude, it's going to create
28:58that and then turn it into a note or a
29:00document inside of your Obsidian folder
29:02and it's going to have a clear title.
29:04Now, the next thing is to create a
29:06process my inbox skill. So, you ask
29:08Claude to create a skill that goes
29:10through your inbox folder, adds tags,
29:12moves it to the right folder, and adds
29:14back links to other related notes within
29:16the vault. Then, over time as you drop
29:19things in, these two skills are going to
29:21work in tandem to keep your second brain
29:24growing and organizing so that when you
29:26ask it a question to pull something out
29:28or you're working on a newsletter or
29:30writing social posts and you say, "Hey,
29:32what are what other ideas could work
29:34with this?" or "Hey, give me some very
29:35unique ideas on this topic." it'll be
29:38able to look through your second brain
29:40and then pull in certain ideas that
29:42you've left in there. And one other
29:44useful thing here is to ask Claude to
29:46help you define your taxonomy so it
29:48knows what tags and categories to use.
29:50And that would be something that you
29:51look at, you look over, and then you
29:53approve, and you can iterate on all of
29:55this with time. And so, it's super
29:57simple. Now, all you have to do is drop
29:59an idea inside of Claude on your phone,
30:01on desktop, or you need to drop your
30:03writing in there and say, "Hey, add this
30:05to my brain." and then you're good to
30:06go. And we're talking about this for the
30:08sake of creativity, creative projects.
30:10You can, of course, use this for other
30:12use cases, but this is just like idea
30:13capture. And so, that works for finding
30:16most ideas, but good writing and
30:18creative work come from novel
30:19connections. So, not keyword search or
30:22that AI brainstorming synonyms so it can
30:24try to think that it finds novel
30:26connections. So, if you don't want to do
30:28all of that manually, and frankly,
30:30everything shouldn't be done in an AI
30:32chat, then you can use a software like
30:34my mind, which allows you to save any
30:36link or files, I believe, or just a note
30:39or quick idea to a large searchable
30:42library. You don't have to organize
30:43anything, you just drop things in. And
30:45so, Eden has largely the same things,
30:47and all of everything that I'm talking
30:49about is free, by the way. You can sign
30:51up and use the things that I'm talking
30:52about for free relating to building your
30:54second brain. But, the difference is
30:55that you also write your newsletters or
30:58schedule your social posts inside of
31:00here, and from your library, it can show
31:03you connections to what you're writing,
31:05and I can create boards or swipe files
31:07where I have YouTube videos, or I just
31:10drop all of my ideas and Substack
31:12articles and Instagram reels that I save
31:14and social posts and all of my writing
31:16and notes and Substack articles, and
31:18these are all transcribed. And the other
31:19thing that I like quite a bit is that
31:21there is a reader mode where I can
31:23highlight, and then these things are
31:25added to my library. And we're going to
31:27talk about how to use the ideas or the
31:29highlights or anything else that you
31:31save. But, the way that MyMind and Eden
31:33differ from something like Claude and
31:34Obsidian is that everything you add to
31:36your library is categorized, tagged, and
31:39embedded. So, that means you can search
31:42and find your ideas without using all of
31:44your Claude usage. And if you want to
31:46build a second brain or be able to
31:47access it with AI, you can just connect
31:49Eden to the MCP and not have to do all
31:52of the crazy Claude finagling. Now, the
31:53reason I bring up the auto tagging and
31:56the auto categorizing that MyMind and
31:57Eden do is because those apps can show
32:00you what's nearby. It can show you the
32:02novel connections or the novel
32:04relations. And that's because each item
32:07is embedded with 1,500 plus numbers that
32:10act as GPS coordinates for an idea. They
32:12don't need to keyword match in order to
32:15find a related idea. So, that's exactly
32:17what allows you to drop an idea in,
32:20forget about it, and then be able to
32:21surface it while you're writing or
32:23creating. And you don't have to worry
32:24about it, either, because you'll know
32:26you'll be able to find the right ideas
32:28when you need them. And I'm guessing
32:30that you don't want to maintain a vector
32:32database, an embedding API, indexing
32:34scripts, re-embedding when notes change,
32:37keeping the index in sync when files are
32:39renamed, and caching so you don't repay
32:41for unchanged content. That's why you
32:43pay for tool Well, not even pay, it's
32:45free, for tools and technology. And
32:47everyone just thinks, "Oh, I'm going to
32:48build my own app." And it's like, "No,
32:50you're not." You might for the very
32:51simple things in your life that you want
32:53to build and maintain, and that can be
32:56local apps. But for something like an
32:58outlier search for high-performing
32:59content inside of Eden, you're not going
33:01to spend 10 to 20,000 dollars of your
33:03own money to store and maintain the
33:05database and continue pulling in and
33:07indexing creator's content. You can
33:09scrape a few creators here and there,
33:10sure, but that's why you would use a
33:12different tool. So, you have your
33:14system, one of the systems that you're
33:16going to use, whichever one. Doesn't It
33:17honestly doesn't really matter. But step
33:19two is to capture the ideas that best
33:22represent your ideal mind. Because when
33:25AI can create anything, curation matters
33:29more than ever. You need a curated space
33:31for ideas that spark inspiration. The
33:34opposite of an endless fire hose of
33:36noise we call a social media feed. As a
33:38writer, creator, or someone trying to do
33:40independent work, meaning you need to
33:41build an audience by attracting them to
33:43the ideas you put out, people don't
33:45follow you for your content anymore.
33:48There's Google, AI, and plenty of
33:50information that can be found at the
33:51click of a button. People follow you for
33:53your point of view, your opinion, your
33:55interpretation, your personality, your
33:57story. And all of those things are
33:59downstream of the ideas that compose
34:02your worldview. The ideas you use to
34:04make sense of the world. As an example,
34:06when I get into a conversation about the
34:08nature of reality, my mind jumps to
34:10ideas about history, integral theory,
34:12spiral dynamics, and more, because I've
34:14deemed these the most useful lens from
34:16which I can view that conversation from.
34:18It makes the most sense out of the other
34:20ideas I've heard that tend to fall flat.
34:22Now, this is a side tangent, but I have
34:24made many videos on how you are the
34:26niche in content creation in business,
34:28especially modern business as a
34:30solopreneur. And I've seen a few pieces
34:32of content lately that are like, "No,
34:34you are not the niche." Because they
34:36think that you are the niche just means
34:38posting about you, you, you, you, you.
34:40No, you're documenting, you're placing
34:42your mind in public for people to
34:44explore. Your mind is not just your
34:46personality traits and the your story
34:49and the things about you. It's the ideas
34:51that create this web of interconnections
34:54that make how you say the ideas unique.
34:57And so, your second brain or your second
34:59subconscious when used correctly is an
35:01externalization of that that you then
35:04take and use as fuel for the things that
35:07you put in public. It's a layer between
35:09you and your published work. So, those
35:12are the things that you capture, the
35:14things that form your worldview or are
35:16powerful enough to eventually form your
35:18worldview. You listen to that podcast
35:20and you're like, "Oh, wow, that's a
35:22really good idea. I like that." That's
35:24what you save. So, you curate a large
35:27set of knowledge that would best
35:28represent your ideal mind. Because
35:31that's what your fancy note-taking
35:32system was meant to be, right? You just
35:34never got around to solidifying those
35:36ideas as a part of yourself, usually
35:39through the act of thinking, writing,
35:40and sharing in public so that you can
35:42receive feedback from the market and let
35:44the best ideas win. So, how do you
35:46actually do this? You read more books.
35:48You let your curiosity guide you. You
35:50reject doomscrolling and embrace curated
35:52lists of authors and thinkers who are
35:54dedicated to producing good ideas. You
35:56make time for research, because as a
35:58writer or creator, that's 80% of your
36:00job. Notice I'm not choosing one side
36:03with AI. I'm not saying, "Oh, you touch
36:04AI and then you're just brain dead." Cuz
36:06that's not how it works. Just observe.
36:08Don't live in your own head and make up
36:10fantasies. But, I also didn't say that
36:12you shouldn't read or that you should
36:14outsource your creativity. I'm saying
36:16that you still, even with AI, you need
36:18It's just a tool. Stop like
36:20overexaggerating it in your head. You
36:22still need to do the things that lead to
36:24a good mind and life. It is as simple as
36:26that. And if AI is taking away from
36:28that, then stop using AI for that
36:30specific use case or change how you use
36:32it. Mind-blowing stuff, I know. Now,
36:35step three is to build your ideal mind
36:38through the act of creation because
36:40we're learning here, right? We're
36:41acquiring the knowledge. We're building
36:42a more beautiful mind. So, we need to
36:44close the loop. We have the system for
36:46capturing and retrieving knowledge, but
36:48now we need the project to apply it to
36:50so that it doesn't go to waste. And we
36:52still aren't capturing specific
36:54knowledge because we don't have a reason
36:56to learn. We aren't giving our mind the
36:58frame from which it can effectively
37:00signal that ideas are important enough
37:02to capture, as we discussed. And that's
37:04the entire goal we're after. We want to
37:06be smarter. We want to retain and
37:08remember what we learn. We want to sound
37:10articulate for superficial reasons,
37:12maybe, but also because the outcome of
37:14our lives depend on the decisions that
37:17we make and our level of smartness and
37:18ability to articulate our own value
37:20absolutely contribute positively to
37:23that. Now, I can't tell you what to
37:25create. It can be an image. It can be a
37:26design, a Photoshop project. But if
37:28you're interested in writing or content
37:31like I do, that's why I talk about it,
37:32then I can give you my process that
37:35actually recently helped someone else
37:36who was struggling to fit all of their
37:38ideas into a piece of writing. So, for
37:41something like writing a Substack
37:42article, which is becoming very popular
37:44lately, and it's good. People are
37:45shifting toward long-form because
37:47they're tired of brainless short-form.
37:49And this also works for a YouTube script
37:51or an X article or anything, really. But
37:53step one is to just choose a topic.
37:56Obviously. But the best topics are the
37:59ones that lie at the intersection of
38:01performance and excitement. So,
38:03performance equals topics that have
38:05already proven to do well. You find
38:07these by saving social posts that have
38:08gone viral or using a research tool that
38:11allows you to find outlier content and
38:13study creators' top posts. This is just
38:15a constant. This isn't anything new with
38:17social media. This is just what you do.
38:19Do Do think that your favorite artist,
38:21and by that I mean musician, became
38:23famous by just
38:26making little sounds, or did they have a
38:28structure to it? Did they think, "How
38:29will my audience respond to this? How
38:32will the market respond to this? Will it
38:34gain popularity?" That at least has to
38:36come into mind for you. A lot of artists
38:38skip the business part, and that's why
38:40they become starving artists, because
38:42they supposedly don't care what the
38:44market thinks, but that is their
38:47downfall. So, yes, you need to curate
38:50inspiration and save posts that have
38:52done well before, so that you know what
38:55works in the market, and you can take
38:56the principles and apply it to your own
38:57writing. That isn't sacrificing your
38:59voice in any way, because it still runs
39:02through your taste filter. This video
39:04literally has how to remember everything
39:06you read in the title, because there
39:08have been hundreds of videos titled how
39:10to remember everything you read that
39:11have gone viral in the past. And so, is
39:13this the same exact video as them? No,
39:16it's actually the complete opposite,
39:17because I say, "Don't do that." So,
39:20that's the performance side of the
39:21topic, but now we need the excitement
39:23part. Excitement equals the topics and
39:25ideas that you want to explore more out
39:28of curiosity, and your job is to pair
39:30the topic you want to write about that
39:32probably wouldn't do well on social
39:33media with a topic that has already
39:35proven to do well, so that you can write
39:37about what you want and increase its
39:39potential to actually gain traction.
39:41After that, step two is to brain dump,
39:44outline, and then draft. So, you don't
39:46just start writing the draft. Writers
39:48don't just open one page and then expect
39:51all the ideas to linearly fall into
39:52place. You start with a brain dump. You
39:55write down all potential ideas that
39:56could fit under the topic you're
39:58writing, look through your notes, ideas,
40:00and links, and add them inside it, too.
40:02This is where I use a board in Eden. I
40:04look through my library, I search
40:06through it, I ask the AI chat for
40:07certain ideas in it, then I add all of
40:09those to a specific board, so all of my
40:11research is there that I can open and
40:13reference while I'm writing. And then,
40:15once you have some ideas, you start to
40:17add some structure with an outline. So,
40:19you take all the ideas in your brain
40:21dump and try to fit them into a general
40:23storytelling framework, which usually
40:25falls within problem, insight, solution.
40:28So, by that I mean, create a new
40:29document or do it on paper if you want,
40:32and then organize the ideas by what
40:34falls under the problem, what makes
40:36sense here, what's the main insight that
40:38I'm trying to get across, which is
40:39usually the exciting idea that you want
40:41to talk about, and then what's the
40:43solution or the step-by-step what do you
40:45actually give people to do about it? And
40:47then now, when you actually create the
40:49draft, you have an empty draft, you also
40:51have your brain dump, you have all of
40:53your ideas and research, and you have
40:54your outline, and now all you need to do
40:56is synthesize them together and actually
40:58turn them into sentences. So, now step
41:00three is to use AI to remove friction,
41:03not write for you. Now, I'm going to
41:05continue talking about my thoughts
41:07around AI writing in future videos, but
41:09when I say, "Don't use AI to write for
41:12you," what I'm actually saying is "Don't
41:14use AI to articulate your opinions and
41:16beliefs." Because I was I wasn't
41:18corrected on this. Someone pointed it
41:20out to me recently and was like, "Hey,
41:22didn't you use AI to write this?" And
41:24the answer was yes, in my viral Twitter
41:26article, the most viewed article on
41:28Twitter, there was a section that was
41:30literally bullet points, step or 1 2 3 4
41:335 6 7 8 9. It was small descriptions of
41:36the nine stages of ego development. The
41:38nine stages of ego development is from
41:40Susan Cook-Greuter. It's not my ideas.
41:43Any other writer who would describe what
41:45the nine stages are is just going to go
41:47to Google and search what they are. And
41:49so, yes, I asked AI for those because
41:53they're not my opinion, they're not my
41:54belief. I don't want to mess it up. I
41:56want it to be as close to Susan
41:57Cook-Greuter's version of the nine
41:59stages of ego development as possible.
42:01So, yeah, I'm going to copy-paste that
42:02bullet point in. It doesn't take away
42:04from the value of the article, and if
42:06you think that, I don't I don't know
42:07what to tell you. I have the ideas that
42:09I love that I want to focus on because I
42:12understand the value of articulating
42:14them myself and how it improves my mind
42:17and my ability. So, the more I can focus
42:19on that, the better I would assume. I
42:22don't think it's worth wasting my breath
42:24on trying to rewrite what the nine
42:26stages of ego development are because
42:28that's just like what you do in school
42:30for the sake of memorization when the
42:32very first sentence of this video is,
42:34"If you need to remember it, it's not
42:36important. If it's important, you'll
42:38remember it." I absolutely think that
42:40there is value in struggling to
42:42articulate your own thoughts and
42:44opinions because it creates a gap that
42:46you can then go learn and fill. So, when
42:48I say use AI to remove friction, I'm
42:51talking about using it like you would
42:53use a course or a mentor or an editor
42:55while you are learning the skill because
42:57AI is good at scanning through large
42:59swaths of information to give you what
43:02you need. Does that mean it's not going
43:03to hallucinate, that it's not going to
43:04be correct? Of course, sometimes it's
43:06not going to be correct. But then, what
43:08do you do? Do you think everyone just
43:10accepts that as law or do they question
43:12it? It's the same thing as going on
43:14Instagram and seeing a human expert who
43:17frankly has no idea what they're talking
43:19about giving opinions that people just
43:21soak up, and that's exactly what
43:23happened to the anti-AI people's brains.
43:25And just to balance it out, the pro, the
43:27all 100% pro-AI people are also dumb as
43:31rocks. So, how this relates to actually
43:34writing an article or newsletter is that
43:36if you don't know how to structure your
43:38article, ask for a list of structures
43:40that your ideas could fit into,
43:42something that a course would give you
43:43anyways. If you don't know what to write
43:45next, ask for a few directions the
43:47article can go and then choose your own
43:49or choose none of them. If you don't
43:51understand something, research it like
43:53any writer would in the past with a less
43:55efficient method of scouring through the
43:57internet for the right information.
43:59Another thing here is that the internet
44:01can provide you with false information,
44:03too. All in all, I just trust that you
44:05have a brain. You are ultimately the one
44:07who decides what gets published or what
44:09gets written. If it doesn't represent
44:11the values, ideas, and beliefs you want
44:14it to, then refine it until it does, or
44:16don't post it. And I'll leave it at that
44:18because I have a lot more to say, and
44:19I'll just save it for another video. And
44:21if you don't know what to write or what
44:22to talk about or in what your niche
44:24would be or how to actually grow on
44:26social media, then consider joining the
44:28Creator Bootcamp. It comes free with
44:30Eden Pro, so you get both of those in
44:32one. Link to all of those in the
44:34description. Thank you for watching.
44:35Like, subscribe, if people still say
44:37that. I'll see you in the next one. Bye.

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