- [x] finish writing 3 intentions 📅 2024-10-15 🆔 t7yaax 🔺 > Get the right kind of music going, it's time to focus 😎 ## Brainstorming ### Topic %%What is the big idea you're thinking about? Why are you writing this? %% - Just to better process my insights ### References %%Are there any existing notes, resources, or experiences that come to mind related to the topic? For each thing, why is it related and how can it be helpful? %% - [[BASB Summit]] ### Brain Dump %% Write out any other thoughts that come to mind, then create a cognitive scaffolding that combines your references and brain dump. Break it down into branches and sub-ideas for further elaboration %% - Intro - Something #### Highlights - Most feels - end of summit - keaton opening up im happy so grateful for such an experience talk about three intentions first off, possible hospitality of the team, made me really appreciate in person interactions more. wow. dan lively, keaton welcoming and amazing listener and conversationalist, actually having time to spend with the team !! the power of tapping into feelings and embodied experiences i want to do something in this space. more with my background. i dont know if ill attend an in person event that lively almost teared up during Tiago's final speech Constantly looking at crowd needs to be more mainstream imo i enjoyed the disconnect from my self a lot of food for thought not as talkative during dinners - i think its okay, a huge stepping stone for me nonetheless body cues - dan asking about ai, didn't realize at all #### Summary 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 come up with our own three intentions that would act as an 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, and to me that 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. %% Ever since I quit my job in February, I've joined the Linking Your Thinking team as a product manager to help with their Obsidian products as well as 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 own relationships. On top of the deeper conversations, I also heavily appreciated the small moments as well. 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 group to 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 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]]: logic-based understanding where we know if something is true or not. We can remember facts, but they're abstract ideas that we don't really have much personal significance with. 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 [[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 learning how to apply these instructions with your 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 important 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 own 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 of the situation, you physically relax your body and lighten your expression. Second, it's one thing to read these insights in books and think "hmm, yeah I should follow that". It's another to have imbued with 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 own 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 experiencing Nick Milo's speech on "The Dawn of Networked Knowledge". I've literally been learning about linked note-taking and have been learning from his media for years ever since I learned about Obsidian in 2021, but the embodied feeling that emerged 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 the way 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. Grateful that such a unique experience happened, but 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 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 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 the development of 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]] 😅 #### Prior Context Lot of things I was overthinking about: - I have not went to a conference before - Probably one of the youngest people there - Meeting all these online people for the first time - Neglecting my social skills recently as I've moved to a quiet city and mostly spent time with the same people - Self-concious about getting to meet people for the first time I would consider myself to be more of a [[Highly Sensitive Person]], so to do all these firsts made me feel a bit anxious. It's interesting how despite your past experience and passion for a project, you can feel such a sense of impostor syndrome. Usually people felt that when I was in software engineering, but now I realized I just needed the stakes genuinely high I even felt a bit sick and fatigued the days prior. A part of me was imagining a future scenario where I wake up not physically fit to go. But thankfully, I'm writing this on my last connecting flight to Los Angeles. How did I overcome communication? Blend of two books helped Was already reading [[Quiet The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking]] In there I realized an important highlight: - > Quote about how someone felt at ease because they were finally given a space to express that side of them, and to better understand it. That it wasn't necessary to conform to some ideal - I realized the same Started reading Supercommunicators, and their introduction already gave me tremendous clarity: - > Emphasizing connection just by [[Listening]] and sharing your own relevant experiences - Realized that if I don't choke, there's an endless rabbit hole of things to explore - Reminded of my first experience in [[Atelier S3 1]] - the like-minded nature of the environment led me to be much less socially anxious and much more curious. Even when people were discussing things I had never heard about (biology is my conscious area of ignorance), I still could follow along - Initially starting off with what and how - Reminds me of [[Start with why]] - [[Wonder is the negative antidote to uncertainty]] - Plan to enter these environments with a sincere and deep curiosity for the ideas and people there To prepare for the summit experience we were asked to write our intentions for the event: - To explore new areas through the workshops - To meet online figures I look up to But as I continue to write this, I think something more transforamtive would be: - to connect with my values of curiosity and technological empowerment more deeply All learning, interactions with people, and experiences have been online due to the local scarcity of interest in these topics. And in some sense, this immersion in the online world caused me to prioritize the cerebral over the sensory. But now I have a chance to experience it from a new perspective. I wanted to double-down on these uncertain feelings I was experiencing. #### Summit Specific - [x] Three intentions mentioned in [[BASB Summit#2024-10-03]] - Will only mention my three most insightful experiences - [[BASB Summit#Dawn of Networked Knowledge]] - feeling - Journalling - Importance of patterns and AI - Going to look into using AI for it - [[BASB Summit#Nathan Barry Podcast]] - [[BASB Summit#Sonke Ahrens]] taking a therapy approach to PKM - Not just understanding external ideas, but also for understanding our beliefs - By the end of it, I almost teared up - So many people - All the creators I've found inspiration in - Getting to meet Morgen CEO - Found myself being an inspiration as well bruh #### After I'm trying to figure out how I should be moving forward. How can I bring some of these mindsets back into my daily life? How can I overcome some of my limiting beliefs and actions the same way I did at the summit? I began thinking about how I want to contribute to this. The first thing that came to mind was doubling down on my idea of [[Digital Self-Actualization]]. I do genuinely enjoy learning more about emerging tools for productivity and thought. I don't need to limit myself to Obsidian, there's a lot of other apps I use that I can continue exploring - [[Readwise Reader]] - [[Morgen]] - A voice-first, AI-based quick capture app that syncs with Obsidian (a work in progress?) Human connection powerful Being someone who is transformative The power of i have a lot of things planned so i can't spend my whole days just in contemplation, but these experiences i know i can refer to in the future :) ## Organized Ideas %% A place to start your rough (or maybe even final) draft. What writing framework or checklist best works to guide you towards your ideal finished product? %% - First start by having a rough summary of the ideas - Writing is for me as well, to explore how I can apply the ideas - Also an introspective journal that is coupled with my thoughts ## Potential Outputs %% What can I use these ideas for? Content, new notes, etc. %%