Inside Ali Abdaal's Second Brain System

We talked with Ali Abdaal about the Idea Factory he used to build a team of 20 employees & a 3+ million subscriber YouTube channel. This is a detailed walkthrough of the four steps of Ali's Second Brain process, where his notes go, and the specific apps he uses every day.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Inside Ali’s Second Brain
00:27 Step 1: CAPTURE (CODE)
00:42 Notebook (Capture Physical Notes, Morning Pages)
00:57 Apple Notes (Capture Offline Notes)
01:34 Readwise (Capture Book & Article Notes)
01:43 Kindle (Capture Book Notes)
01:45 Instapaper (Capture Articles)
01:49 Reader (Capture Articles)
01:58 Day One (Capture Journaling)
02:15 Todoist (Capture Tasks)
02:20 Otter (Capture Audio)
02:45 CleanShot X (Capture Screenshots, Gifs, Video)
03:11 Ali: "You need to combine your capturing and your organizing"
04:08 Apple Notes (Capture catch-all notes storage)
04:15 Roam Research (Capture daily notes - catch-all notes storage)
04:58 Ali's Second Brain (Capture Overview)
05:33 Step 2: ORGANIZE (CODE)
06:02 Notion (Organize YouTube Video Planning)
06:09 Apple Notes (Organize Book Notes + Chapter Structures)
06:38 Roam Research (Organize Book Drafts)
07:08 Notion (Organize Content Production Engine)
07:34 Readwise (Organize content by routing into Roam Research)
08:18 Organizing notes by searchability
08:44 Ali: "Let Chaos Reign, Then Reign in Chaos"
08:58 Step 3: DISTILL (CODE)
09:46 3 Step Progress (Distill for YouTube Videos)
10:11 Notion (Distill - How to Get Started With Investing)
10:26 Distill (Ali's Reading Notes Vs Ali's Content Created in the Past)
11:04 Roam Research (Distill YouTube ideas via search function)
11:35 Tiago: "You don't need to do new research"
12:01 Step 4: EXPRESS (CODE)
12:28 Apple Notes (Express Quick Notes)
12:49 Notion (Express Scripts)
13:35 Ali: "I'm not a huge fan of PARA"
14:01 Apple Notes (Express YouTube Planning)
14:25 Ali's Second Brain (Express Overview)
15:06 Notion (YouTube title character counter)
16:10 Ali's Second Brain (CODE Overview)
16:16 FREE CODE Quickstart Guide
16:26 Start Taking Notes Now!
16:30 Outro

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[aliabdaal]

Thanks for coming over :) had a great time!

[StonedNoob]

Ali Abdaal: The Art Of Complicating Simple Stuff

[Jusangen]

Really enjoyed the graphic representation of Ali's system! I'm betting that took a lot of work!! But this would be awesome to see you do a series on several creators second brains (maybe that's already in the works). In that case, I'm very excited to see the incoming ones! Thanks again Tiago! Keep it up!

[LiveWellBetter]

Reading BASB now—loving it! I hope you’ll do more of these videos showcasing Second Brain setups, it’s both inspiring and educational to see it all in action—Thanks!

[tamaraarnold]

Bwhahaha I love that Ali is reading “Fifty shades” and taking notes in the b-roll

[NoraConrad]

I absolutely love seeing other people's systems and setups. I can visualize the idea of a second brain but seeing other people's methods is so helpful, I hope you guys will do more of these in the future!

[iwantstayhome]

After watching this video you changed everything for me about apple notes. This was life changing

[VeronicaSteele]

Learning CODE and PARA has been life changing! Where I work, we have strict restrictions on what tools we can use which limits my ability to automate (forward emails to systems). Having a framework allows me to stay organized even without the helpful automations.

[ChillwithHan]

Ali is so inspiring, he is the reason I let go of perfectionism and finally started a YouTube channel!! And didn’t immediately delete it😂 love this video, so grateful to be here!! Thank you for your time and work and for bringing Ali on!! 😍✨🙏🏼

[malikamanelva]

Seriously love Ali! Been inspired by him for years! I first started watching his videos when he taught me about Anki years ago. So proud of him!!!! 🎉

[ohthatsjake]

Wow, super helpful video and also very well-edited. You can't help but stay engaged.

[MelissaWiley]

Such a delightful look at Ali's system. I really appreciate this kind of behind-the-scenes look at how people apply BYSB practices. Always helpful to hear specifically how you're using particular apps for different purposes. Evernote is my main Capture tool (for over ten years now) but I have to say I really love my Mac's native Stickies app for quick captures. I have one sticky note set to "float" and while I'm watching a video or in a Zoom call I can jot down notes without having to click away to another app. Then later I can paste the contents of that sticky into Evernote. I also appreciate how tiny the sticky's footprint is on the screen when I'm not using it.

[rafaelziggy]

This is one of the most incredibles series of productivity that I've seen. Very useful to create our own strategies and methods for our own PARA. Keep doing it, please! :)

[arthurlima]

Man... Mind-blowing!!! Thank you guys for so many really practical tips and information.

[nattewaditep]

This is such a great vdo! Thank you so much for sharing and inspiring!. I have to watch and pause, watch and pause while taking notes. I am new to notetaking this way and just can't believe there are so many tools available. Really, thank you so much.

[kalyank]

Loved the bit at 0:38 where Ali's taking notes from Fifty Shades of Grey 🤣

[AnaMarcu]

I loved the graphic representation, I immediately screen-shot that. I wondered why Ali doesn't do this video himself and keeps teasing us with bits and pieces of his system, but now it's here, and my mind is blown. I'm rewatching it the third time and taking notes copiously.

[mard]

Another amazing video! Thanks for the valuable content 💕

[NonstopNeuron]

Two people from whom I learned so much together.

[unswjch]

Without having read the book but watched a few videos from both creators i have used the system for two days. I didn’t think it could work so quickly but after a day of capturing from multiple sources and getting into flow multiple times i came up with some of the best ideas I have had without the procrastination that usually stops me. The end result was two proposals which I shared with my team. I would say this is going to take some time to learn but worth it. Yes they make it look easy as they have made it part of their lives.