In our everyday lives, we are always dealing with tasks from different fields, and the way we prioritize and organize them defines our mood and well-being much more than we realize.

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Being aware of our actions and being truly present in the moment can bring us more clarity to deal with day-to-day responsibilities. But how is that possible with so much to do?

Your second brain

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"Good organization is like a box of colored pencils. It is necessary to have different colors but that they all fit in the same box." - Barbara Corcoran.

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Abraham Lincoln, H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Jefferson, and other leading figures adopted what we now know as Commonplace books, a technique of quickly taking insights using a notebook to jot down thoughts and interpretations about other works in a practical way.

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Another example of an optimized tool is the Bullet Journal, created by Ryder Carroll, a designer who noticed that technology professionals like him used paper to plan and assemble their to-do lists and routines.

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But what do these two examples have in common? They externalize our thoughts, making them palpable and, above all, real.

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When we express our ideas, we put much more than quick and abstract concepts, words with meaning. With organizational models and methodologies or not, we can keep some things outside our heads.

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“Our brain is for having ideas, not for storing them.” - Tiago Forte

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The 5 Pillars

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From a personal point of view, every organizational structure needs 5 pillars: coherence, autonomy, personalization, compassion, and support tools.

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Coherence: The first one could not be anything other than coherence between the way you think about your methodology and your goals. It’s essential to always keep in mind why we do what we do and this will guide us throughout our journey. A well-established objective is a key to a fail-safe system.

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Autonomy: It doesn't matter what your sources of information are, whether or not you use ready-made structures or are adept at templates. At the end of the day, what matters is how your system and methodology allowed you to stand on your own feet, making the right decisions for yourself to try if it fits you.

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Customization: Here is where the magic happens. As we build our system and apply it to our routine, we notice small points of improvement and changes that help us optimize something or make it more of our own. At this point, it’s vital for us to already have autonomy said before for us to be able to go for the last topic.

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‍Support tools: We are free to use what we like the most for our organizational system. The important thing is that all four pillars above are always taken into account when choosing, whether it’s a more analogical choice, such as notebooks, or the virtual one, like Notion or Crafter.