[[Grow 21 skills that pay you forever by Building your Second Brain ]]

Based on 21 Important Skills

Ability to convey what you think and feel (2)

When maturing your permanent notes in your Second Brain you invest in high quality knowledge artefacts that you can just pull from your Second Brain when needed.

When you regularly invest in Journalling and externalise your feelings throughout the day you practice awareness of your emotions and also how to articulate emotions.

Ability to read, understand and memorize (6)

Applying Progressive Summarization and practicing Building a Second Brain - Insights supports our understanding and connects our newly acquired knowledge with existing knowledge. Our Second Brain extends our brain with the capability to memorise much more effectively.

In contrast our brain is made for having ideas not for holding them.

In addition we grow our ability to read with higher focus and sensitivity on truly new information that extend our knowledge. Focus, because we can rely on our system to work with information and that we take one step at a time.

When we read, we read. Without jumping between different stages of working with information we read. And we avoid any other distraction.

Ability to manage time effectively (8)

With having a clear structure, we become more efficient. And we also become more effective, because we Building a Second Brain - Insights what truly extends our knowledge.

Likely this skill also should include managing time efficiently. Working with your Second Brain increases efficiency on the following areas:

• With clarity on your organizing principles and a clear underlying structure you can add new information fast
• By focussing on the stage of information processing and the requirements of that stage you avoid switching between different task types. You reduce switching costs. When we read, we read. When we write, we write. …
• When we want to express our thoughts, we build on a high quality foundation of knowledge. We save time of wasteful re-reading/listening caused by having forgotten most of the information.

Ability to make decisions based on facts not based on emotions (10)

First, I think we should invite our emotions as an important dimension when taking decisions. But in a conscious manner.

And you can base decisions on strong facts, when you leverage previous investment in maturing your permanent notes. There you already connected with data and further sources. You already checked for consistency and clarity of your understanding.

Ability to speak in front of large audience (11)

Growing your Second Brain partially touches that skill as it allows you prepare your presentations efficiently and effectively. You gain more time to focus on extending your presentation skills.

Ability to self analysis (15)

This ability is influenced by growing your Second Brain in several ways:

• Your journalling with self reflections on note taking (and beyond)
• Your reflections in notes with your comments and revising knowledge

Ability to learn how to learn (16)

By becoming a master in working with your Second Brain you actively invest in your abilities to learn. You use technology to extend your brain with capabilities our brain is just not made for.

Ability to remain consistent (18)

Applying a clear structure and process to work with information. And forming a habit to continuously grow your Second Brain also grows your ability to remain consistent. It requires discipline to invest in maturing your permanent notes.

Ability to master your thoughts (19)

When we externalize thoughts and visualize in written or graphical form we enable further working with these thoughts over a longer period of time. And we also relief our brain from wasting energy to maintain an open status for keeping information in our brain.

So based on a thought you can link to adjacent topics, you can drill down on a thought. You can share and discuss with others. You can build on top of that thought. And you can come back to that thought at any point in time.

Ability to write words to persuade and influence others (20)

By growing your Second Brain and extensively writing notes and advancing notes through maturity levels, you also advance your writing skills.

Especially when you invest in Building a Second Brain - Insights you influence others. And let’s not underestimate the side-effects of your overall growing abilities that will not stay unnoticed. This too will influence others and will make them wonder what you special ingredient might be.

Linking

• MOC Building a 2nd brain

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