Welcome to Weekly Wonderings, a newsletter exploring the journey towards Digital **Self-Actualization**: > *realizing our meaningful potential through the synthesis of digital tools, life management systems, and humanistic philosophies* Here's a quick galactic overview of this edition: - [[#Leverage your second brain's unique knowledge with AI 🤖]] - [[#Celebrating my first stream 🥳]] - [[#I'm Attending BASB Summit 🧠🏔️]] - [[#The science behind self-actualization ✨]] - [[#The secret power of being a generalist 🌐]] ## In My Life ### Celebrating my first stream 🥳 Thanks for everyone who stopped by and say hi! We did 2 hours of focused work, chatted about a wide range of topics (ADHD meds), and explored the existing ways to integrate AI into Obsidian (more on that later) 😉 Unfortunately I wasn't able to stream on my main channel since I had to wait 24 hours to be approved, so I ended up just doing so on my second channel and Twitch. - Would like to do more but I'm in the middle of a lot of creative projects right now 😅 - You can view the [recording here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3EXIWMdqrM&ab_channel=johnmavrickwanders) If you want to be reminded of the next one, you can be notified of when I go live on Discord and by following me on [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/johnmavrickvt). ### I'm Attending BASB Summit 🧠🏔️ If you're not already familiar, the BASB summit is an in-person event hosted by Tiago Forte for those passionate about digital PKM and productivity. Even thinking about it feels surreal. To meet the people that have been my role models and have had such significant influences on my life and personal brand 🤯 And so, I will be in LA in October 2-6th for BASB Summit and LYT morning on the 5th. Feel free to send a message if you're planning on attending one of those events! ## Leverage your second brain's unique knowledge with AI 🤖 Reminded by the idea on how [[AI will not make PKM obsolete]], I believe it is going to be indispensable for the future of knowledge work. There's an infinite amount of information online, so a second brain helps you intentionally select only the best and most relevant ideas to use and refer to in your life. When mastering a skill or area, it gives you a place to externalize nuanced knowledge to nurture your unique preferences that you've been slowly collecting from the corners of the internet and in conversations. The problem with large language models like [[ChatGPT]] is that they require lots of prompt engineering and context to give more than just general responses. But with existing AI models like [[Claude]] which have insane limits of 150,000 word context windows (that's 3 copies worth of The Great Gatsby!) where you can upload any form of files (markdown files, PDFs, transcripts), then the possibility of personalized agents is soon approaching. Especially with GPT-o1's release highlighting the rational potential of these models, I'm eager to see how we can create specific agents for well-defined tasks. Instead of having to do all manual intellectual labor, how much can we outsource it to AI as virtual assistants? This is what I'm currently exploring with [[Claude]] and their projects feature. Fortunately, it's already possible. I was surprised to see how someone I saw in a local Vancouver event went viral as they [used it to create a fusor in their bedroom](https://x.com/hud_zah/status/1827057785995141558). Using Claude Projects, he turned the specific data he was collecting into a highly contextualized database he could pull information from. Unsure of what parts to use? Just ask and it will naturally query the conversations you had. Unsure of the structural layout? Just ask for it to create a diagram, and it will quickly code up a detailed one in React based on the Want highly digestible and contextualized expert information? Just copy paste the whole page of documentation (or entire forum discussions about the topic) and use the model's conversational abilities to break it down into concepts you already know by meeting you where you're at. If you're interested he shared a bit of behind-the-scenes in this [podcast interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK5U-ejFj0k&t=312s&ab_channel=AarthiandSriram), to which I've copied his prompt in [[AI prompt to break down a goal]]) For my personal implementation, my first thought came when thinking about ideation for YouTube titles. I can feed it existing that performed well, my personal notes like [[YouTube Titles]], and ask it to suggest titles that work well with my video idea or existing script. With less time worrying about packaging, I can continue focusing on creating 😋 So far I'm thinking my process would look like this: - Create an agent - Manually look for these notes myself through keyword search and browsing links - Use [[Smart Connections Plugin]] to find semantically similar notes that could be useful for context that I may have forgotten about - Feed these all into [[Claude]] as I continue working on a project related to the information (in the case of YouTube titles, when creating a new YouTube videos) If you have any ideas or experiences with this, I'd love to have an open discussion in my Discord community :) ## My new shining stars 🌟 _A place to share the new stars and constellations inside my digital galaxy_ ### Inputs #### The science behind self-actualization ✨ When I read a book, I don't highlighting advice that tells you to only highlight 10% of a book. If a book resonates deeply with my worldview and sheds insight on my core values or interests, then I think it should be treated with [[Sacredness]] — an inexhaustible resource you continue coming back to. This has been the case for the first self-help book I read [[Limitless]], and books that cover integral parts of my personla brand like [[Building a Second Brain]] and [[The Extended Mind]]. Unfortunately, this is where my enthusiasm turned into a curse as with Transcend, I had 300+ highlights with 20,000+ words 😭 Despite Transcend being one of my all-time favorite books, I haven't actually fully created book notes from it because of the mountainous task that would entail. But to prepare for a new content project I'm starting soon that heavily focuses on self-actualization, I felt it was time to do so. After 5 hours of going through my highlights, I've created my [[Transcend Application]] note. I've only created a mental scaffolding for thought by organizing the ideas, but still, the process was largely fulfilling. It reignited the intensity of some of [[My Values]]. Combined with other transformative resources on self-actualization like [[Awakening from the meaning crisis]], despite being away from this book for over one and a half years, I felt the sense of empowerment and awe that I sometimes find hard to cultivate when reading new books. This is why I love Obsidian and linked note-taking so much 🥰 It's glimpses of these experiences where I feel the symbolic meaning of a [[Digital Galaxy]] If you're longing for a science-based comprehensive guide towards self-actualization that is deeply interwoven with the research and experiences of Abraham Maslow himself, I think this is a highly rewarding read. My three sentence summary: 1. Self-actualization is going beyond societal success metrics and living a comfortable life, but rather discovering your unique and altruistic potential by fulfilling [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]] 2. Self-actualization is not the end, the next level is [[Self-transcendence]] 3. The power in self-actualization lies in the [[Meaning]] and [[Connectedness]] we cultivate throughout our life through [[Peak experiences]] You can read my full notes on it at [[Transcend Application]]. #### The secret power of being a generalist 🌐 My three sentence summary: 1. Although being a [[Specialist]] is helpful for [[Established environment]], being a [[Generalist]] is powerful for thriving in the uncertainty of [[Complex environment|complex environments]] 2. We become masters in our own unique domains - [[Diversity in knowledge helps with triangulating wise insights]] and [[Being a generalist promotes creativity]] 3. The most important qualities are [[Finding and following your interests and passions]], as well as [[Open-Mindedness|Active Open-Mindedness]] You can check out my book notes in [[Range Application]]. Made me want to continue learning about the polymath life, next reads are going to be those related to Leonado Da Vinci :) ### Notes - [[AI in Obsidian]] explores my notes on some of the plugins I checked out during my AI research ## My Free Resources Thank you for being a part of this journey :) If you want to level up your productivity or personal knowledge management, you can check out the following free resources: 🧠 [Organize your life and knowledge by building your second brain](https://free.johnmavrick.com/code-method) 📃 [Get my FREE 4-part Obsidian beginner course with 20+ templates](https://free.johnmavrick.com/obsidian-templates) 🕸️ [Set up a powerful zettelkasten in Obsidian for learning](https://free.johnmavrick.com/zettelkasten) 👩‍🏫 [3 Days to Lecture Note Taking Mastery](https://course.aidanhelfant.com/3daystolecturenotetakingmastery?ref=JohnMavrickYT): 🤖 [Get my FREE Ultimate Guide to using AI for PKM with 15+ prompts](https://free.johnmavrick.com/ai-pkm) %% - Leverage your second brain’s unique knowledge with AI 🤖 - Celebrating my first stream 🥳 - I’m Attending BASB Summit 🧠🏔️ - The science behind self-actualization ✨ - The secret power of being a generalist 🌐 %%