Tag: self-improvement

Build A Second Brain #poem

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will help you stay on top of your life.
It will help you manage your personal knowledge,
and keep you from informational overload strife.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will definitely be something you’ll want to pass on.
It even comes with a fancy name.
It will be what they call a Zettelkasten.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will be much more useful than note-taking.
It will help you organise all kinds of content,
while developing your skills in note-making.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will help you make connections.
It will join up all of your different ideas,
rather than keeping them separate in sections.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it’ll stop your mind being like a sieve.
It’ll help you solve problems and find new solutions,
by helping you be more creative.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will allow you to keep track of all your tasks.
It will help when you’re not quite sure what to do,
and not say ‘yes’ when ‘no’ is the best response if anyone asks.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it will lead to all kinds of digital high-jinks.
It will make you think about graphs and blocks,
and connect up your notes with links.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it does not matter which software you use.
It won’t eat up hours and hours of your time,
as you try out each one and can’t choose.

Build a Second Brain they said,
it really will be loads of fun.
It will give you so much more mental bandwidth,
than you have with just brain number one.

Build a Second Brain they said,
but I am really not sure.
I’ve enough problems working the brain that I’ve got,
that I doubt I could cope with one more!

(c) Tim O’Hare, July 2023

About the poem: I had been reading a lot about an area that is known as ‘Personal Knowledge Management’ (PKM) which is based on an older system of keeping discrete notes on index cards in slip boxes (in German this is called a ‘Zettelkasten’). One recent book on the topic (Building A Second Brain by Tiago Forte) has popularized the idea of a PKM-system as being like a ‘Second Brain’ and all kinds of claims are made by many authors about the usefulness of building a Second Brain for information storage and retrieval, creativity, task management etc. Me being me, I threw myself into building my own digital second brain and then (also me being me) I became a bit obsessed with making it perfect, consistent, all-encompassing etc. It rather took over my life for a bit.

The Wisdom of Groundhog Day – Paul Hannam #reading

I first read Paul Hannam’s ‘The Wisdom of Groundhog Day’ (TWoGD) back in October 2022. It was one of a number of occasions when I have listened to an episode of a podcast on my walk home from work and been so taken with the content being discussed that I placed an order for the book as I walked along and before I had even arrived home. In this case, the podcast episode was an interview with the author about his book from the ever excellent ‘Art of Manliness’ podcast (Episode 828: The Groundhog Day Roadmap for Changing Your Life).

In the 2.5 years that have passed since that reading, I have held a really positive memory of TWoGD. I was drawn to the way in which Hannam teases his message out of the story of the ‘Groundhog Day’ film – ostensibly just a routine comedy about a grouchy weatherman who gets stuck in a small town having to live the same day of his life again and again and again. The heart of the message is that to find happiness and fulfilment in life it is necessary to change yourself on the inside and this happiness can only arise when you are fully present and focused at all times on being true to yourself, open to experience, and appreciative of the world and the people around you. Based on this memory, I breifly mentioned TWoGD at the end of a meeting of the Book Club associated with Mike Vardy‘s Timecrafting Trust Community and with others intrigued by the idea of the book, it was chosen to be our February read.

So, I came back to TWoGD for a second reading with high hopes and also a little trepidation… What if everyone else hated the book? As I worked my way through it for a second time I found myself with very mixed feelings. I could still see, and appreciate, the cleverness that lay behind it, but I also couldn’t help feeling that it was all a bit forced – a neat idea stretched out to a length many times greater than necessary. I found that there were certain stylistic aspects about the writing that I really disliked – the way that it was written in what seemed to be a series of ‘sound bite’ paragraphs one after the other with not much flow when read together, and the fact that at every turn the example given for how such and such a principle idea had made an impact on someone was taken from Hannam’s personal experience.

As it turned out, most other members of the book club community had fairly similar issues with TWoGD as I did, but the message of the book was well received and we had a lively and interesting discussion nevertheless.

If I was going to sum up the message in TWoGD in one phrase then I think I would struggle to do better than to use the same quote that Hannam uses in the book’s conclusion, taken from the second volume of Marcel Proust’s epic ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ (1924):

‘We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us.’

Atomic Habits – James Clear #reading

The second book that I finished reading in 2025 was ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. I had previously listened to the audiobook version almost immediately after it was released in 2018 but I picked it up again because it was selected as the January title for an online book club that I am a member of within The Timecrafting Trust (Mike Vardy). I will admit that, as much as anything, this time round my interest in Atomic Habits was focused on why it has occupied the bestseller lists for pretty much the entire period of its existence, selling an astonishing 15 million copies in the process (the irony of the fact that I have contributed two of those sales over the years was not lost on me!).

As the subtitle suggests, Atomic Habits positions itself as a guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones. It certainly does start off with a strong focus on (daily) habits, but as I worked my way through the text I soon found myself thinking that it wasn’t really about habits, rather it was simply about how to get things done.

Early in the book I found myself railing against Clear’s argument that habits are such powerful things because they act like compound interest – if you adopt a daily habit to become 1% better in some respect then the power of that habit compounds each day. Clear suggests that if you get 1 percent better each day for one year then you will end up 37 times better by the time you are done and implies that such improvements in personal performance or skill can be achieved by repeatedly performing a 1% better habit each day (note: 37 times better, not 37% better – I checked the maths!). But this is surely not true. A habit that makes you 1% better on the first day continues to make you 1% better than you originally were on the second and subsequent days, but to get better and better (i.e. to grow or compound the percentage improvement) I think you would have to change your activity on each successive day. I accept that there might well be some additional gain to be had by repeating the same habit each day, but not to the extent suggested by the comparison with compound interest. For example, if you adopt a habit of running a mile each day then you will certainly get fitter over an extended period of time than if you just go for the run once, but after a while you will find that your fitness has reached a plateau and to gain further improvement you will have to start running two miles each day etc. In my opinion, if you have to constantly change what you are doing then you are not developing a habit, you are just carrying out an ongoing programme of self-improvement! [I suppose it could be argued that the habit is then repeatedly showing up to complete that ever-changing activity.]

Setting aside my reservations about whether the book is really about habits or, as I think, about setting up your life so that you are more likely to get things done in general, where Atomic Habits succeeds is in distilling the ideas covered into a very simple set of four principles or laws. Each of these laws is matched to one of the stages associated with taking action: cue, craving, response and reward. Clear states these laws as follows:

  • make it obvious
  • make it attractive
  • make it easy
  • make it satisfying

I think it is hard to argue with this framework. Clear considers each of these laws in some detail offering various suggestions to help in each case, but I think that much of this material is not that necessary because the four laws do most of the heavy-lifting on their own.

Put simply: if you want to increase the chances that you will perform a task or activity then you need to make it more obvious and/or more attractive and/or easier and/or more satisfying. Similarly, to combat a bad or unwanted habit, you need to make the cue that triggers it less visible and make the habit itself less attractive and/or more difficult to do and/or less satisfying. I think it is this simplicity of the core message in Atomic Habits that is the secret of its success and its astonishing sales figures. It’s a message that is obviously right (or at least feels obviously right), easy to remember and also easy to make use of.
Job done.

Todo List #poem

PAST

OVERDUE:
[ ] all the tasks that I said yes to when I ought to have said no
[ ] all the calls I need to follow-up so their businesses can grow
[ ] all the projects I took upon myself so that I could people please
[ ] all the projects I need to do to put myself at ease
[ ] all the urgent emails that I know I should have sent
[ ] all the bookings that I should have made ahead of the event
[ ] all those things that no one cares about but I think are a must
[ ] all those gadgets that need mending before they fully bust
[ ] all the delegated tasks from others resulting from their lack of time
[ ] all the things I think I should do so they think I’m fine
[ ] all the action points from meetings that I think were flagged for me
[ ] all the edits to the documents that I know you need to see

OTHER:
[ ] more tasks that I said yes to when I wanted to say no
[ ] more calls I’d like to follow-up to help my business grow
[ ] more projects I have taken on so I can people please
[ ] more projects that I want to do to put myself at ease
[ ] more emails that I know that it would help for me to send
[ ] more plans that I could make for upcoming events
[ ] more things that no one cares about but I think are a must
[ ] more gadgets that need maintenance to stop them going bust
[ ] more delegated tasks from others resulting from their lack of time
[ ] more things I’d like to finish (only then will I feel fine)
[ ] more action points from meetings that I let them flag to me
[ ] more edits to the documents that I’d like you to see

SOMEDAY/MAYBE:
[ ] try to make some art
[ ] try to pause a while
[ ] try to take time for myself
[ ] try to have fun
[ ] try to meet up with a friend
[ ] try to smile
[ ] try to laugh
[ ] try to simply do the things I want
[ ] try to quench my thirst
[ ] try to look after my brain
[ ] try to use a different font
[ ] try to listen to my heart
[ ] try to sit in the sun
[ ] try to soak up the rain
[ ] try to read the books that are piled upon the shelf
[ ] try to have a nice relaxing bath
[ ] try to ‘pay myself first’
[ ] try to ignore the latest trend

WAITING FOR:
[ ] the perfect time
[ ] the stars to align
[ ] the mists to clear
[ ] the loss of fear
[ ] all of the pieces to fall into place
[ ] and, of course, the ideal space
[ ] the feeling that it’s right
[ ] and for my chest to feel less tight
[ ] a decent night’s sleep
[ ] the bravery to take a leap
[ ] something to drink, and some food
[ ] the right mood

TODO TODAY:
[ ] put a cross in the unchecked boxes and strike-through all the words in the following lists:
…….[ ] WAITING FOR
…….[ ] OTHER
…….[ ] OVERDUE
[ ] wherever they appear in the SOMEDAY/MAYBE list strike-through the words: ‘try to’
[ ] start a new list with the title ‘TODO (RECURRING – EVERY DAY)’
[ ] add the unchecked tasks from SOMEDAY/MAYBE in a pleasing way
[ ] tear up all of the old lists and throw them right away

PRESENT

OVERDUE:
[x] all the tasks that I said yes to when I ought to have said no
[x] all the calls I need to follow-up so their businesses can grow
[x] all the projects I took upon myself so that I could people please
[x] all the projects I need to do to put myself at ease
[x] all the urgent emails that I know I should have sent
[x] all the bookings that I should have made ahead of the event
[x] all those things that no one cares about but I think are a must
[x] all those gadgets that need mending before they fully bust
[x] all the delegated tasks from others resulting from their lack of time
[x] all the things I think I should do so they think I’m fine
[x] all the action points from meetings that I think were flagged for me
[x] all the edits to the documents that I know you need to see

OTHER:
[x] more tasks that I said yes to when I wanted to say no
[x] more calls I’d like to follow-up to help my business grow
[x] more projects I have taken on so I can people please
[x] more projects that I want to do to put myself at ease
[x] more emails that I know that it would help for me to send
[x] more plans that I could make for upcoming events
[x] more things that no one cares about but I think are a must
[x] more gadgets that need maintenance to stop them going bust
[x] more delegated tasks from others resulting from their lack of time
[x] more things I’d like to finish (only then will I feel fine)
[x] more action points from meetings that I let them flag to me
[x] more edits to the documents that I’d like you to see

SOMEDAY/MAYBE:
[ ] try to make some art
[ ] try to pause a while
[ ] try to take time for myself
[ ] try to have fun
[ ] try to meet up with a friend
[ ] try to smile
[ ] try tolaugh
[ ] try to simply do the things I want
[ ] try to quench my thirst
[ ] try to look after my brain
[ ] try to use a different font
[ ] try to listen to my heart
[ ] try to sit in the sun
[ ] try to soak up the rain
[ ] try to read the books that are piled upon the shelf
[ ] try to have a nice relaxing bath
[ ] try to ‘pay myself first’
[ ] try to ignore the latest trend

WAITING FOR:
[x] the perfect time
[x] the stars to align
[x] the mists to clear
[x] the loss of fear
[x] all of the pieces to fall into place
[x] and, of course, the ideal space
[x] the feeling that it’s right
[x] and for my chest to feel less tight
[x] a decent night’s sleep
[x] the bravery to take a leap
[x] something to drink, and some food
[x] the right mood

TODO TODAY:
[x] put a tick in the unchecked boxes and strike-through all the words in the following lists:
…….[x] WAITING FOR
…….[x] OTHER
…….[x] OVERDUE
[x] wherever they appear in the SOMEDAY/MAYBE list strike-through the words: ‘try to’
[x] start a new list with the title ‘TODO (RECURRING – EVERY DAY)’
[x] add the unchecked tasks from SOMEDAY/MAYBE in a pleasing way
[x] tear up all of the old lists and throw them right away

FUTURE

TODO (RECURRING – EVERY DAY):
[ ] quench my thirst
[ ] ‘pay myself first’
[ ] read the books that are piled upon the shelf
[ ] take time for myself
[ ] soak up the rain
[ ] look after my brain
[ ] make some art
[ ] listen to my heart
[ ] sit in the sun
[ ] have fun
[ ] have a nice relaxing bath
[ ] laugh
[ ] pause a while
[ ] smile
[ ] ignore the latest trend
[ ] meet up with a friend
[ ] use a different font
[ ] simply do the things I want

(c) Tim O’Hare, June 2023

About this poem: I’ve been something of a ‘productivity geek’ for quite a few years using various systems of lists to track what I need to do (or think I need to do). Much of this tracking behaviour is built on a very well-known system known as ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) from a book with the same name by the author David Allen. This uses lists for things To Do, things that you are Waiting For, things you might do Someday and/or Maybe etc. Recently, I’ve been trying to relax my use of such systems, especially as I have realised that tracking everything in this way also feeds some of my obsessive collecting and perfectionist behaviours and supports my ‘people pleasing’ tendency. Todo List tries to capture a way out of this pattern of thinking, turning the controlling power of a Todo List into a weapon to destroy the worst aspects of the behaviour such lists can engender.