026 Ways to Build Your External Brain for Greater Productivity – ProductivityCast

In today's world, it's impossible to remember everything we can know. From passwords to tasks to calendar appointments and more, there are data out there that simply don't belong rolling around clouding up our focus. And, thankfully, we have the ability to externalize this information from retention to recall. In this cast, the ProductivityCast team looks at the concept of the external brain as a productivity enabler. Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade Art Gelwicks Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Getting Things Done by David Allen Evernote OneNote TheBrain Workflowy Google Drive OneDrive Amazon Cloud Drive Dropbox Box Instapaper Pocket IFTTT OTIXO Raw Text Transcript Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). Read More 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,840 are you ready to manage your work and 2 00:00:02,129 --> 00:00:06,060 personal world better to live a 3 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,080 fulfilling productive life then you've 4 00:00:06,060 --> 00:00:09,510 come to the right place 5 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,880 productivity cast the weekly show about 6 00:00:09,510 --> 00:00:13,920 all things productivity here are your 7 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:16,490 hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto 8 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:18,840 Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks 9 00:00:16,490 --> 00:00:20,760 welcome back everybody to productivity 10 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:23,160 cast the weekly show about all things 11 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,660 personal productivity I'm Ray Sidney- 12 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,900 Smith and I'm here with Augusto Pinaud 13 00:00:24,660 --> 00:00:30,090 Frances Wade and art Galax welcome to 14 00:00:27,900 --> 00:00:33,660 productivitycast gentlemen wait the 15 00:00:30,090 --> 00:00:36,510 year hey how you doing we're gonna be 16 00:00:33,660 --> 00:00:38,790 talking about today the idea of the 17 00:00:36,510 --> 00:00:40,530 external brain and I and I just wanted 18 00:00:38,790 --> 00:00:42,180 to disclaim this for anyone who might be 19 00:00:40,530 --> 00:00:45,149 listening to us I know a couple of our 20 00:00:42,180 --> 00:00:46,079 listeners are medical doctors and so for 21 00:00:45,149 --> 00:00:47,969 those of you who are medical 22 00:00:46,079 --> 00:00:50,690 professionals please know that we are 23 00:00:47,969 --> 00:00:54,000 not talking about the the the assistive 24 00:00:50,690 --> 00:00:55,500 devices and and so forth that are called 25 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,809 external brains we're talking about the 26 00:00:55,500 --> 00:00:59,820 productivity focus concept of the 27 00:00:57,809 --> 00:01:01,859 external brain but what we're gonna do 28 00:00:59,820 --> 00:01:04,769 today in this episode is really define 29 00:01:01,859 --> 00:01:06,720 what an external brain is we're then 30 00:01:04,769 --> 00:01:08,760 gonna talk about why it's important in 31 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:11,100 at least personal productivity for you 32 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:13,619 to have an external brain once we are 33 00:01:11,100 --> 00:01:15,960 all sort of on the same page in terms of 34 00:01:13,619 --> 00:01:18,150 what it is and then we're going to talk 35 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:21,090 about how each of us potentially uses 36 00:01:18,150 --> 00:01:22,979 the functions of building an external 37 00:01:21,090 --> 00:01:25,590 brain so I'm gonna I'm going to turn it 38 00:01:22,979 --> 00:01:28,979 over to you art to to start sort of the 39 00:01:25,590 --> 00:01:31,770 co defining process of how do you define 40 00:01:28,979 --> 00:01:33,090 what an external brain is all right 41 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:34,850 we've talked about this in previous 42 00:01:33,090 --> 00:01:37,470 episodes this idea 43 00:01:34,850 --> 00:01:39,240 Speirs of access and where information 44 00:01:37,470 --> 00:01:42,930 is really to you and how do you get to 45 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:45,720 it and to me this idea of an external 46 00:01:42,930 --> 00:01:48,530 brain the information that is relevant 47 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,729 to you but does not need to be 48 00:01:48,530 --> 00:01:51,570 immediately accessible or at your 49 00:01:50,729 --> 00:01:54,000 fingertips 50 00:01:51,570 --> 00:01:57,869 falls into that category because it's 51 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:00,270 not information that I need to keep in 52 00:01:57,869 --> 00:02:02,040 my head it's not information I need to 53 00:02:00,270 --> 00:02:03,869 have on a post-it note on the monitor in 54 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,579 front of me but it's information that 55 00:02:03,869 --> 00:02:08,369 I'm going to encounter during my day 56 00:02:05,579 --> 00:02:10,289 that I may need again in the future 57 00:02:08,369 --> 00:02:13,860 it feels like it's relevant it has 58 00:02:10,289 --> 00:02:15,990 interest and value to me but I need to 59 00:02:13,860 --> 00:02:19,320 someplace where I can go get it later 60 00:02:15,990 --> 00:02:20,760 and when I think about this model I have 61 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:23,010 to think that this is almost one of the 62 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:25,530 most challenging areas that we have when 63 00:02:23,010 --> 00:02:28,440 we think about productivity because this 64 00:02:25,530 --> 00:02:31,800 stuff is probably the big biggest 65 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:34,560 candidate of productive clutter that I 66 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,000 can imagine just thinking about this as 67 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,340 we brought this topic up 68 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,390 I went digging back through a lot of my 69 00:02:38,340 --> 00:02:43,560 external systems looking at things like 70 00:02:41,390 --> 00:02:46,200 pocket for example which I use for 71 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,480 offline reading Instapaper and feedly 72 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,910 and starting to dig through OneNote and 73 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,790 I'm thinking more about it just the 74 00:02:50,910 --> 00:02:56,160 plethora of things that I have that 75 00:02:53,790 --> 00:02:57,600 every time I look at them I go yeah 76 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,280 that's interesting that's relevant I 77 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:01,350 mean I want to keep that and then 78 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:03,600 literally 10 minutes later I have no 79 00:03:01,350 --> 00:03:07,470 idea that that's even in the system so 80 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:11,640 I'm curious one how how we all handle 81 00:03:07,470 --> 00:03:15,630 this idea of important but not critical 82 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:17,459 stuff how do we organize it and really 83 00:03:15,630 --> 00:03:20,220 probably the biggest thing how do we 84 00:03:17,459 --> 00:03:22,590 keep it from becoming overwhelming I'll 85 00:03:20,220 --> 00:03:25,170 say that for me the idea of the external 86 00:03:22,590 --> 00:03:27,660 brain was first introduced to me through 87 00:03:25,170 --> 00:03:31,080 really discussions of getting things 88 00:03:27,660 --> 00:03:33,269 done by David Allen and the idea of your 89 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,790 brain is for having ideas not holding 90 00:03:33,269 --> 00:03:38,730 them as David is often quoted as saying 91 00:03:35,790 --> 00:03:41,360 and this always led me to the 92 00:03:38,730 --> 00:03:44,430 Einsteinian Khan step right that 93 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,440 colloquially or sort of mythically 94 00:03:44,430 --> 00:03:49,049 Einstein never remembered the phone 95 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,850 numbers of any of the people he knew and 96 00:03:49,049 --> 00:03:52,350 he would always say I don't need that 97 00:03:50,850 --> 00:03:55,799 information because it's in the phone 98 00:03:52,350 --> 00:03:57,570 book and that really did clue me in to 99 00:03:55,799 --> 00:03:59,850 something very important which was that 100 00:03:57,570 --> 00:04:02,489 yeah we have these tools that were 101 00:03:59,850 --> 00:04:04,799 available to us like an address book or 102 00:04:02,489 --> 00:04:06,299 a contact database you know a piece of 103 00:04:04,799 --> 00:04:08,489 software where we can put all of this 104 00:04:06,299 --> 00:04:10,350 information so that it didn't have to be 105 00:04:08,489 --> 00:04:13,980 rolling around in my head taking up 106 00:04:10,350 --> 00:04:15,840 space that was unnecessary I've always 107 00:04:13,980 --> 00:04:18,720 had the conflict between the external 108 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:20,700 brain and our real brain in the sense 109 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:24,720 that my concern is that when I need 110 00:04:20,700 --> 00:04:26,880 something to be in in my for mind at a 111 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,780 particular time and location I want to 112 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,850 be able to Reza 113 00:04:27,780 --> 00:04:31,980 that information very very quickly I 114 00:04:29,850 --> 00:04:34,050 want to be able to you know not only 115 00:04:31,980 --> 00:04:37,290 retain it but be able to recall it very 116 00:04:34,050 --> 00:04:39,180 very quickly when necessary so there's 117 00:04:37,290 --> 00:04:41,510 actually a toggling back and forth 118 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:44,850 between what information do we commit to 119 00:04:41,510 --> 00:04:47,190 you know long-term memory and what 120 00:04:44,850 --> 00:04:50,070 ...