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There was a time in my life when I would quote Seneca from memory, I would recall my favorite passages from Sapiens, and I could seamlessly make connections to my favorite novels in conversation.
Today, I can’t do that. And I bet you can’t either. That part of my life was kind of magical. It was the epitome of actually learning what I set out to remember. I loved it, and I tried to optimize my systems to remember as much as I could.
I had Roam Research and Notion as my second brains. Fueled by my Readwise integration, which was powered by my kindle highlights, I thought I had my system optimized to a T.
But the more I optimized, the less I remembered. Because in my effort to store more and more in my second brain, I forgot its purpose — to give my first brain material.
The number of books I put on my Goodreads was a badge of honor. Switching from one book to another willy-nilly was a sign of getting more and more information. My second brain is now bursting at the seams while my first brain can’t even name the last 5 books that I read.
Here’s the “radical” idea powering my new strategy for learning more: learn less.
The Computer & The Brain
Computers are awesome. You give them information, and they’ll hold on to it. As a…
