How I sort 34 terabytes of info EVERY day

If you have a cell phone and live in a developed country…

You consume about 34 terabytes of information on average each day. 

Basically the same as reading 200 complete newspapers.

I’ll bet you didn’t need this statistic to know it’s impossible to keep track of all the information you come across.

I’ve found a way though. 

My second brain.

(Technically my 3rd if you count the one in a jar under my bed)

Haha, jk…

It’s really just a digital repo that keeps track of all the info you consume.

Your second brain picks up the slack.

And it feels like freedom.

“Organizing for action gives you a sense of tremendous clarity, because you know that everything you’re keeping actually has a purpose.” - Tiago Forte

Here I’ll show you my second brain framework:

1\ Structure your info-diet

Your info diet is everything that you consume. 

These can be inputs like TikTok videos, Medium articles, Tweets, or Kindle highlights. 

Mine:

• Medium articles

• Newsletters

• YT videos

• Podcasts

• X lists

• Books

Newsletters are the biggest one here for me at around 60% of the total. It’s where I get most of my news, info, ideas, etc.

Podcasts are the next biggest source (~30%). Shout out to the OG, Tim Ferriss. For this, I use Snipd, which is an AI tool for saving text from sections of podcasts. You can save snips from the transcription on the fly. Super handy.

My book reading is between physical books and Kindle books. 

This is a mind numbing amount of information and data to keep track of. 

Luckily, there are tools that can curate from all of these sources. The one I use is Readwise.

Readwise curates saved data from all of the sources in my info diet. 

The best part is that it will sync directly to your note-taking, curating, synthesizing second brain.

2\ Second brain

I use Logseq as my second brain.

It’s my main tool for gathering and analyzing info.

The magic in Logseq (much like Roam Research or Obsidian) is that it forms automated backlinks. 

You can manually create links by tagging or linking pages within other blocks OR you can rely on the “Unlinked Reference” that Logseq automatically creates.

Then, when I add new information through journaling or any other source, it will automatically get tagged and added to that page.

3\ Review + work

All the previous steps, capturing and organizing, are geared toward one ultimate purpose: sharing your own ideas, your own story, and your own knowledge with others.

To do this you have to distill all of this information using your perspective and insights. Only then will it be useful to you and your audience. 

Distilling is centered around two activities: journaling and reviewing.

I journal everyday, and review content weekly, monthly, and annually, depending on the review.

For instance I have an annual review, a monthly review of annual plan/goals, and I review curated info on a weekly basis.

During these journalling and reviewing exercises I will take information that has been curated and rewrite or make my own notes and thoughts.

The biggest benefit that I’ve found using this system though is clarification of thought. 

When I write about information I have consumed, it forces me to confront my own biases, beliefs, and come up with ideas. 

4\ Outputs

At the end of the day, the distilled information doesn’t provide an impact on anyone else until you share it.

My email list is the main outlet, but I also have The Optimalist blog and X where I post long form and short form content daily.

So, if you want to keep track of the vast amount of information you consume on a daily basis and turn it into knowledge that you can use to enrich your personal experiences, use a second brain.

Try it, it will make a difference.

Swanagan