Joan Westenberg: I Deleted My Second Brain

The “second brain” metaphor is both ambitious and (to a degree) biologically absurd. Human memory is not an archive. It is associative, embodied, contextual, emotional. We do not think in folders. We do not retrieve meaning through backlinks. Our minds are improvisational. They forget on purpose.

Everyone needs to find what works for them, but I feel like the "second brain" movement is the movement I've most wanted to be a part of but didn't ever feel like I actually belonged. Since I'm a person who has made a (side-hustle) career by talking about software I use online, people ask me what I use to take notes, and I embarrassingly have to say: nothing. Apple Notes has whatever serial numbers and whatnot I maybe want to be able to search on one day and Obsidian has things I'm writing for blog post or podcast show notes, but there are not "notes" in here.

Respect to those who benefit from deep note-taking systems, but it's just not my bag.