Week 22: Deep Work, hiking around Berlin, Second Brain
I had a rather normal week with two days at the office and three home office days. It was great to meet some of my APX colleagues at the office after quite some time. Some days were packed with meetings, and I had one deep workday this week. This worked well: I switched off all notifications and other potential disturbances and got into flow working on strategic APX projects. I really enjoyed this (and missed some calls and reminders for the two meetings I had planned that day). As I got done a lot, I think I will plan more deep workdays (and not deep work blocks) into my calendar in the future.
One of the best hikes in Brandenburg
On Saturday I hiked with two friends. We did one of my favorite hikes in Brandenburg. If you like diversity in the landscape, forests, lakes, and open views, this is one of my favorite walks around Berlin. It starts with a walk on the edge of Grumsin and then follows through fields and open landscape to a lake with some nice picnic and resting places.
Building my Second Brain
Taking notes, storing them, and then finding them again when I need them is something that I am dealing with for more than 20 years. There were some “enlightening moments” on my journey. The biggest one was 15 years ago when I finally accepted that I - unlike my then business partner Stephan - need to change how I take notes from time to time. Sometimes I like paper notes, digital notes, and sometimes hybrid formats. I always had one digital and “real world” place where I file my notes. For quite some time, this was Evernote. I switched from Evernote some time ago to roamresearch.com. (disclosure: I like the product, team, and philosophy so much that I am a mini-mini-small investor).
For the past 5 weeks, I participated in the Building a Second Brain Cohort by Tiago Forte to a) see how a state of the art second brain system and tech-stack works and b) experience a cohort-based learning first hand since friends of mine recently invested in maven.com and I am very interested in the creator economy as well.
The sessions were interesting, and I got quite some inspiration on processing the notes I am taking. I might write about this in the future. If you are interested, ping me.
What I found fascinating was that there were hundreds of people in the cohort, and all paid a 4 digit dollar amount. In the Q&A sessions, there was an unbelievable diversity in backgrounds, thought worlds, experiences, motivations, and the participants' emotional engagement. The conversations ranged from processing the best queries and tagging structures to parts that felt like individual therapy for the people who shared what they were thinking about. For me, this was another manifestation of humanity's diversity, beauty, and weirdness and the power of digital tools and connections. I am optimistic about what we will be able to do with the digital layer in our lives.
What I watched and read
I am very much looking forward to reading “Let’s Talk” by Therese Huston: And I expect to learn more about giving feedback. I am eager to improve my communication skills and precision in bringing across what I want to say. I think it is one layer more difficult doing this in a second language. Interesting learning for me is that we can learn systematic conversation (i.e., giving feedback in a structured way) in another language than your mother tongue. This language difference is also always interesting to experience for me as there are areas where I speak a lot more English than German, and my vocabulary in the startup world is better in English.
Van Neistat’s video on “How do we summon a breakthrough?” was an inspiration.
I started to read “Work Better. Live Smarter. Be Happier” because this is what I want.
I got some great cooking inspiration from “Eat Your Greens!”
And browsed through “Wanderlust Europe” because the summer traveling season is starting soon. (and might actually happen a bit this year)
Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you found something meaningful.
Have a great weekend and best
Joerg