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: - [[#Two New Videos 📹]] - [[#My New Podcast 🎧]] - [[#Reflections from the Second Brain Summit 🧠]] - [[#The practice of becoming more wise 💡]] - [[#Trying out the new writing app Kortex ✏️]] ## In My Life Apologies, it's been a while 😅 I was 90% done writing this at Friday, but I had a little coding obsession over the weekend that took over the past few days 😵‍💫 Before I dump my thoughts, I wanted to share some of the things I've uploaded recently… ### Two New Videos 📹 #### Hack Your ADHD Brain with a Second Brain After getting diagnosed with ADHD in February this year and diving into the rabbit hole of neuroscience books related to thinking and ADHD, this video marks my basic understanding of why a second brain helps me overcome some of these biological limitations.  #### Set up a POWERFUL Obsidian Task and Time Management System with Morgen Adding Morgen has been helpful in integrating my trifecta of productivity tools - notes, tasks, and calendars The features and workflows I go over in this video have unlocked a new sense of freedom when planning and working on my projects. This is also the start, as they're soon releasing a new feature that will transform the way we seek intention in our videos :)  ### My New Podcast 🎧 *How can we find meaning and purpose in a world that favors hedonism and traditional success?* *How can we cultivate intelligence, creativity, and wisdom? How can we reach our full potential using modern technologies?* These are the guiding questions that Aidan Helfant and I explore in our new weekly podcast, **Digital Self-Actualization** — a new bi-weekly podcast that we started a week ago 🤩 The first episode is out and available on YouTube and all other major podcast platforms, in which we share our stories on how we went from self-improvement enthusiasts to self-actualization connoisseurs 😋 If you're interested, you can choose your preference to listen at https://beacons.ai/digitalselfactualization. Although I've been a bit anxious prior to both recordings, being able to explore these topics with my best friend has led to immersive states of flow. ## Reflections from the Second Brain Summit 🧠 My LA trip to attend the Second Brain Summit has been one of the most meaningful and memorable experiences of my life. I've been a part of the personal knowledge management and productivity space for years, but this participation has solely been through a screen from the comfort of my home. A cerebral endeavor as I watched my favorite creators online, had discussions through text or online video calls, and joined virtual communities. But for the past few days, I've had the chance to immerse myself in this esoteric mixture of fields in an embodied way. Countless keynotes, sessions, experiences, and conversations later, I've finally had a chance on my flight back home to go through all my notes and journals to understand what feels like a month's worth of insights and ideas. In this piece, I wanted to appreciate and reflect on the experience. Not to necessarily share all my notes (yet) as I want to give those ideas the time they deserve, but my own personal perspective throughout the event. ##### My three intentions At the beginning of the event, we were asked to create three intentions that would act as our inner compass. One intention came from the logical mind: *to explore the adjacent ideas and fields related to my current knowledge in this space*. I was already familiar with things like extended cognition, networked thought, and AI, but I wanted to spend time being receptive to any other adjacent topics that could complement my existing interests. The second intention would be one that came from the heart. Mine was *to connect with and strengthen my relationships with the people part of my online social circle*. The last intention came from the gut, which was *to prioritize the embodied presence during this event*. Having your senses fully immersed in a physical environment is what I believed would make the event special, and I wanted to try and be less intellectual during my time there. So, how did these intentions unfold throughout the event? ##### Heart - The diverse social environment This was what I wished school was. I didn't socialize with new people as much as I could have, but it was a stimulus-rich environment to fuel discussions and nurture my relationships with the people I knew. It was also a super fun time to get to meet and chat with some of the influential online figures part of my productivity and PKM journey: - Danny Hatcher, a fellow productivity/Obsidian YouTuber - August Bradley, my biggest inspiration for life design systems - Sonke Ahrens, my gateway drug into the practice of networked thought through his book [[How To Take Smart Notes]] - Tiago Forte, the second brain CEO himself - Nathan Barry, CEO of Kit, the service that powers this very newsletter + my email courses - David, CEO of my new favorite calendar app Morgen Although I did have some insecurities on trivial things like my age and online capital that prevented me from fully connecting with some of them, I'm just very grateful to see them as actual people beyond a screen. But as amazing as all of this already was, some of my most cherished moments happened outside of the event. %% Disclaimer: This is also a natural byproduct of my own personal reflections, so it won't be purely actionable or "value" advice. %% Since quitting my job in February, I've joined the Linking Your Thinking team as a product manager to help with their Obsidian products and an in-progress website. During this trip, I had a chance to stay at their AirBnB and meet them for the first time. Although I've only been with them for less than a year while they've been together for 3-4, I greatly appreciated their hospitality and warmth. Despite only spending a fraction of the time in-person compared to my previous jobs, I feel the amount of quality time spent together nourished my relationships to a similar extent. They were already very kind and accommodating online, but I realized it was only a fraction of their true nature. Their presence helped me appreciate the summit and experience even more. Dan's enthusiasm, Keaton's consideration, and Nick's calmness all shined as social inspiration to bring into my relationships. In addition to the deeper conversations, I also greatly appreciated the small moments. Whether it be trying to slowly discover how to make the shower less cold, enjoying the food cooked, or resurfacing inside jokes from the event, I feel these shared experiences will be a foundation for future collaborations. These experiences helped me feel more connected with my online social environment, but what about the intellectual aspect? ##### A place of non-propositional knowledge nourishment One of my biggest revelations from the 50-episode series [[Awakening from the meaning crisis]] has been the four levels of knowing to which we understand things. The mediums through which I've been exposed to these fields of personal knowledge management and productivity have been virtual. I'm grateful for the accessibility of videos and books, but they're only sources for the most shallow type of knowing—[[Propositional knowing]], which is logic-based understanding in which we know if something is true. We can remember facts, but they're abstract ideas that have little personal significance. This is like knowing what a bike looks like and knowing the step-by-step instructions on how to ride one. But in reality, the deeper the type of knowing, the deeper we're involved and the more meaningful our understanding becomes. In the next level of [[Procedural Knowing]], we know how to do something. We learn how to integrate these isolated facts to fit with our personal qualities and capabilities. An example would be knowing how to ride a bike—the instructions themselves are propositional knowing, but we learn how to apply these instructions to our own height, weight, and bodily form. Beyond that is [[Perspectival knowing]], where we understand what it's like to feel and be in a certain situation. To know what it felt like to bike in the summer on a windy day with friends. Part of this also includes knowing how to prioritize what you pay attention to in a certain scenario, which John Vervaeke refers to as one's [[Salience landscape]]. To know that in an upcoming sharp bend in the path, I'll need to apply certain skills like slowing down and tilting just enough so I make the turn without falling over or going off path. Lastly is [[Participatory knowing]], which is our relationship with the world. While [[Perspectival knowing]] is like a snapshot in a moment of time, participatory knowing relates to our holistic and ongoing identity of being a cyclist. This is the prerequisite to get into a state of flow, where we can work with the other prior levels of knowledge to best engage with the situation at hand. An essential part of achieving this is understanding the relationship between the agent (myself) and the arena (environment). All this to say, my time at the Summit gave me an opportunity to engage in these deeper forms of [[Non-propositional knowing]]. Instead of the mundane and irrelevant environment of my computer desk at home, the physical environment was a powerful part of the learning experience. First, procedural knowing was reflected in some of the hands-on events I attended there: - In Jo Franco's live journaling event, I got to deepen my understanding of journaling not just by answering my prompts, but also by hearing other people's perspectives and reflections. - In an event from Art of Accomplishment, we were forced to partner up with people and intimately ask each other questions. Instead of simply verbally answering, we were asked to enact our answers and ideas. When asked, "How can you enjoy difficult situations a little bit more?" instead of saying by being less tense about the situation, you physically relax your body and lighten your expression. Second, it's one thing to discover these insights from books and think, "Hmm, yeah, I should follow that". It's another to have imbued it with people you're close to as you explore complex topics with them. A memorable example was one conversation revolving around death, ranging from how we could live a regret-free life to how our deaths would affect the people around us and how coming face to face with it makes us appreciate life so much more. The personal significance of these explorations and insights made them much more emotionally resonant and memorable. Instead of knowing what book or something I remembered a piece of information from, I can vividly recall the physical places and moments where these insights emerged, making them more meaningful. I also found this unexpectedly prominent when I experienced Nick Milo's speech on "The Dawn of Networked Knowledge". I've been learning about linked note-taking and have been watching his media for years, ever since I learned about Obsidian in 2021. Still, the embodied feeling emerging from his highly interactive and illustrative presentation gave me goosebumps. Even though it was a beginner-friendly keynote on networked thought, it felt like a magical experience of re-experiencing the initial realization. His goal was not to explain concepts like a zettelkasten or idea emergence but rather to make you FEEL what it is like to harness the potential of linked notes. A feeling that would linger and inspire a transformation in how you view your notes. Lastly, the relationship between the agent and the arena was highly fitting. I rarely get to be in a place with like-minded people, especially ones with behavior tailored explicitly to developing this part of our character, which is what the countless events and discussions afforded. For me, my moment for deepest contemplation on my identity was during Tiago's closing remarks. My own emotions washed over me as I witnessed him try to manage his own. I am grateful that such a unique experience happened, but it is painful that it might not happen again due to the practicality, experienced from two different perspectives of the organizer and the attendee. His final suggestion was to explore how the knowledge we capture and manage can be beneficial in some way. It reminded me a lot of his [[Servant Hedonism]] philosophy. During this moment and beyond, I began thinking about what I want to achieve. Do I want to continue helping people who are unfulfilled in the traditional school system find more joy in learning? Do I want to share the newest innovations in tech and trends for PKM and productivity? Do I want to continue exploring a neurodivergent-friendly approach to using online tools? Do I want to help contribute to developing what these apps could look like with my skills in software development? Although I don't have any crystal-clear answers yet, they are all fortunately a part of my existing brand philosophy of [[Digital Self-Actualization]] 😅 ## My new shining stars 🌟 _A place to share the new stars and constellations inside my digital galaxy_ ### Inputs #### The practice of becoming more wise 💡 Would you consider yourself a bodybuilding expert if you extensively researched the best exercises and scientific strategies to gain muscle but rarely went to the gym? This was my dilemma when it came to cultivating [[Wisdom]] — I was reading all these books and taking all these notes on cognition and feeling connected with the world, but didn't spend much time practically applying it. Fortunately, every week, I've been discovering ways to do so by watching [[After Socrates]] alongside Aidan. It's the self-learner paradise, with a rich mixture of teaching, further research, and exercises to do. Internalizing the first two episodes has allowed me to adopt a daily meditation habit. This has been the compass for the soul part of my [[Wheel of life]]. ### Notes #### Trying out the new second brain app Kortex ✏️ I took some time to look into Dan Koe's new writing app [[Kortex]] — I don't see myself switching off of Obsidian since I already have similar setups and even started brainstorming how to map some features into the app via [[Kortex setup in Obsidian]], but I do enjoy some of the process ideas he has for it, like the idea of easily remixing writings by playing around with their elements feature. If you're curious to see how I used my notes to prepare for my podcast with Aidan, I used the power of a type of note I have in Obsidian, [[Brainstorms]] 🤩 These notes are for helping me systematically explore a central idea through the power of headers and prompts. You can see [[Self-improvement after self-improvement]] and our second one at [[Understanding Motivation]] for them. ## 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)