• The Content Conversion Cycle

• The MainBrain Myth

• The SecondBrain Solution

• The Notion Second Brain System for Creators: Unlea …

• Simple Summary

Diagnosed with ADHD in my second-last year of law school year in 2020, I was a fucking mess.

• All my productivity systems stopped working, leading to lost days, late assignments, and many emotional breakdowns.

• And then the cherry on top was having a panic attack in November 2020 right before a corporations law exam

But a month later, I discovered the Second Brain concept. This system helped me quit law and pursue my passion for creating content.

In the past 10 months, this system helped me:

• Earn my first online income

• Gain 3,700 followers on Threads

• Build an email list of over 230 subscribers

• Grow an online community with more than 100 creators

It can help you do the same in 4 easy steps.

IF you understand three crucial concepts first.

The Content Conversion Cycle

The Content Conversion Cycle is the process of consuming information, formulating ideas from it, and then creating new content, forming a continuous loop.

• Consumption [input] → Formulation [idea] → Creation [output] 🔁

Consumption [input]

• Everything is information. Not just the content you consume online, but everything you perceive IRL.[1]

  • The smell of flowers, the texture of your partner’s skin, the taste of a cookie, the colours of a sunset, the sound of pattering rain. Everything.

• Your conscious and subconscious mind consumes millions of these sensory inputs every day.

Formulation [idea]

• Ideas start formulating based on the sensory inputs you’ve consumed.

Creation [output]

• Creation occurs at the intersection of two or more seemingly unrelated ideas from the Formulation stage.

• Creation connects the dots of preexisting ideas to form a new output.

Every step of the Content Conversion Cycle plays a crucial role in creation.

• Several inputs generate an idea; two or more ideas generate an output.

• The cycle continues when an output evolves into one of several inputs, sparking the next idea.

The MainBrain Myth

The MainBrain Myth is the misconception that the human brain can effectively create and store all ideas, leading to creative burnout and stress.

3 reasons why the MainBrain Myth is bad:

1. Cluttered MainBrain

Your MainBrain is the brain inside your head.

The New York Times estimates it consumes about 174 full newspapers’ worth of content each and every day, five times higher than in 1986 [3].

When you rely on your MainBrain to remember all this content, it becomes cluttered. It’s like your email inbox. How do you feel when you’re at Inbox Zero versus Inbox 1,784?

You see 1,784 emails and you feel overwhelmed and stressed. These feelings limit your creative potential and make your content worse!

2. Mental Masturbation

Mental Masturbation is when you spend time on things that feel productive — like finding, consuming and organising content — but don’t lead to any useful outcome.

Knowledge workers spend about a quarter of their day searching for information, often without success.[4] This amounts to wasting more than one full workday per week.

But why does wasting time actually matter?

• Because of the Time Paradigm (see Lesson 5).

3. Content Trash Can

The average person forgets about 56% of new information within an hour, 66% after a day, and 75% after six days if there is no reinforcement or connection to prior knowledge [4].

So about 3/4 of all the content you consume but do nothing with 6 days after consuming it goes in the Content Trash Can.

• Think about how many shower thoughts are in there…

And if information’s in the Content Trash Can, it’s obviously not gonna make it to the next phases of the Content Conversion Cycle, where ideas formulate and you create content about those ideas.

Can you see how problematic this is?

Here’s how you get the ammunition.

The SecondBrain Solution

3 reasons why you need a SecondBrain:

1. Content Powerhouse

Over time, your SecondBrain becomes a compounding repository of knowledge; a Content Powerhouse containing the best parts of every tweet, podcast, article, video and book you’ve ever consumed.

• And unlike the Content Trash Can — where most inputs are wasted — all this information is ready to be used as inspiration to create great content.

Your SecondBrain is a digital memory aid your analogue MainBrain can’t compete with.

2. BrainGPT

Your SecondBrain is the antidote to Mental Masturbation. It’s like ChatGPT for your brain.

Instead of wasting time on Google sifting through shitty SEO articles that don’t give you a clear answer, you simply ask your SecondBrain.

• e.g. Let’s say you want to refer to a cool insight from one of Hormozi’s latest YouTube videos in your next newsletter.

• If you’re a victim of the MainBrain Myth, you’d forget 75% of the info, so then you’d have to:

  • go to YouTube

  • risk getting distracted

  • find the video

  • scrub through the video to locate an insight

  • transcribe that insight

  • insert it into your newsletter…

• OR you could get that insight from your SecondBrain in seconds.

That’s just one of an infinite number of ways you can use your SecondBrain to save time and prioritise what actually matters: creating.

3. Decluttered MainBrain

Relying on your SecondBrain for memory declutters your MainBrain, boosting creativity and freeing mental RAM.

I. Boost creativity

Remember: your SecondBrain is an interconnected digital memory aid that stores your ideas.

• Creativity lies at the intersection of ideas.

• These intersections, vague in your disorganised MainBrain, become clear in your organised SecondBrain. This is how you unlock your creative potential.

Your SecondBrain helps you notice connections in a way that would be impossible in the physical world.

II. Free mental RAM

Having a SecondBrain drastically changes your relationship with all the information you consume.

• As you highlight key parts of your favourite content, your MainBrain gets better at filtering out irrelevant information.

• You create a composed internal environment that helps you navigate the chaotic external.

• You improve your quality of life.

And that’s why you need a SecondBrain.

Here’s how you can build one.

The Notion Second Brain System for Creators: Unleash Your Creativity & Productivity in 4 Easy Steps

The Notion Second Brain System for Creators organises your content in 4 easy steps, helping you reduce stress and save time.

Why Notion?

Better Organisation:

• It allows you to navigate your ideas in a way that mirrors the interconnectedness of your brain.

• Relying on scattered tools like Google Docs and Evernote doesn’t allow you to make those connections as easily, which disrupts your creativity.

Better Integration:

• Notion combines features from various tools, allowing customisation to fit your needs, unlike other software like Trello or Asana.

Better Sharing:

• Notion lets you share whole pages or databases, offering more control over collaboration compared to tools like Microsoft Word or Dropbox.

Here’s how you can set up the system to reduce stress and save time in 4 steps:

1. Craft Vision Statement [VISION]

Your Vision Statement is one general sentence that encapsulates your vision by outlining:

1. What you’ll do [what]

2. How often you’ll do it [when]

3. Desired identity [identity]

e.g. I will consume, ideate and create authentic content [what] every day [when] so I can become a 6-figure creator who has fun serving his people [identity].

2. Organise Inputs [CONSUMPTION]

A. Setup Notion & Readwise accounts

Check out the footnotes for specific instructions if you get stuck with this!

B. Select inputs

Select types of inputs you want in your SecondBrain.

• Audiobooks

• eBooks

• Articles/blog posts/misc websites

• PDFs

• YouTube videos

• Podcasts

• Voice memos

• Tweets

• Newsletters/email

• Q+As (ChatGPT)

• Misc. thoughts

C. Connect inputs

Connect the software you use to consume each input to Readwise or Notion.

• e.g. eBooks [input] → Kindle [software used to consume input] → Readwise → Notion SecondBrain

Specific instructions in the footnotes/description below!

3. Store Ideas [FORMULATION]

As a SecondBrain Creator, the input phase becomes easy.

• Simply consume information and let your SecondBrain store the best parts.

• As more content is stored, your MainBrain is freed to find connections among these ideas.

4. Create Content [CREATION]

When your MainBrain links two or more ideas stored in your SecondBrain, you either:

• Document the connection as an input for later expansion; or

• Use it to create content you’ll share.

And that’s how you go from a burnt out MainBrain Creator to a relaxed SecondBrain Creator.

Simple Summary

The Content Conversion Cycle = consuming information, formulating ideas from it, and then creating new content, forming a continuous loop.

The MainBrain Myth = Believing your brain can create and store ideas, causing creative burnout and stress.

The SecondBrain Solution = A digital brain that remembers everything for you, boosting creativity and reducing stress.

Notion SecondBrain System for Creators = Organises your content in 4 easy steps, helping you reduce stress and save time.

1. Craft Vision Statement

2. Organise Inputs

3. Stores Ideas

4. Create Content

The Lesson

Overcome the MainBrain Myth and embrace the SecondBrain Solution with the Notion Second Brain System.

Cya

With the creator economy growing rapidly at over 20% per year,[7] this is true now more than ever.

But you don’t need to do it alone!

This Lesson has given you an overview of the Notion SecondBrain System for Creators. But I also have an entire course inside my online community showing you exactly how to set it up.

Click here to join Saints College and get the entire course for free!

Anyway, that’s it for this Lesson.

Keep it simple until the next one.

P.S.

I spent about 100 hours putting this Lesson together.

• If you liked it and know someone who could benefit from it, please refer them to Lessons.

• It’s the best free way you can support my work and keep getting more. I appreciate you! 🫶🏽

Community Acknowledgements

• Roya, Han, Rohith, Heather, Marshall, Jo. Thanks for your help!

Notion Second Brain System for Creators: set up instructions

Vision Statement Notion template

Bibliography

1. Dan Koe, The Art of Focus, 2024

2. David Allen, Getting Things Done, 2001

3. Daniel J. Levitin, “Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain,” New York Times, August 9, 2014.

4. David Schubmehl & Dan Vesset, The Knowledge Quotient: Unlocking the Hidden Value of Information Using Search and Content Analytics, IDC Corporate USA, June 2014.

5. Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain, 2022

6. Youki Terada, Why Students Forget – and What You Can Do About It, Edutopia, September 20, 2017.

7. Global Creator Economy Market Size and Share Analysis – Growth Trends and Forecasts (2023 - 2030), Coherent Market Insights, January 2024.