🧠My Second BrainV4🧠

Second Brain

3 min read

Second Brain

My Second Brain is the external system I use to store, organize and work with information so it doesn’t have to live in my head.

It’s not “just notes”. It’s a trusted environment where ideas, references, configs, projects, and insights land, get processed, and become something I can actually use.

The tools (Obsidian, Quartz, Synology, etc.) can change.
The concept stays the same: reduce mental load, increase clarity, keep knowledge alive and usable.

What my Second Brain is

  • A reliable external memory for things that matter long-term
  • A place where I can connect ideas across domains (work, homelab, mindset, hobbies)
  • A workbench for thinking: not just storage, but a space where notes are actively refined
  • A source of truth I can trust more than my short-term memory or scattered apps

In short: my Second Brain is the system that helps me remember, understand, and act better.

What my Second Brain is not

  • Not a random dump of links I’ll never revisit
  • Not a place where everything is “urgent”
  • Not a social feed, inbox or chat log
  • Not meant to be perfectly pretty or finished – it’s operational, not decorative

If something doesn’t deserve time or attention later, it doesn’t belong here.

Core principles

  1. Capture, don’t trust your brain
    Anything I don’t want to lose (ideas, configs, decisions, lessons learned) gets captured.

  2. Link related ideas
    Notes should talk to each other. Backlinks and internal links turn isolated notes into a network.

  3. Make it useful, not perfect
    A rough note that I actually use is better than a polished note I never touch.

  4. One place, many domains
    Work, personal, mindset, tech, homelab, coffee – different areas, same system. That’s the power.

  5. Evolves over time
    Notes can be updated, split, merged or deleted. The system is alive, not frozen.

What goes into my Second Brain

  • Concepts and mental models
  • Project notes, plans, and decisions
  • Homelab and infrastructure documentation
  • How-to’s, runbooks, and troubleshooting steps
  • Personal reflections that are actually useful to revisit
  • Hobbies I take seriously (coffee, etc.)

If it helps me think, decide, or act better in the future, it belongs here.

Tools I currently use

  • Obsidian as the main editing and linking environment
  • Quartz to publish part of the vault as a public-facing Second Brain
  • Storage/infra (e.g. Synology, Git, backups) to keep it safe and versioned

The exact stack can change. The requirement is simple:
I must be able to trust that the system is available, backed up, and not fragile.

Why this matters

A Second Brain gives me:

  • Less mental clutter, fewer “I’ll remember this later” lies
  • A stable place where knowledge accumulates instead of evaporating
  • Better decisions, because I can see previous reasoning and lessons learned
  • A clearer view of how my thinking evolves over time

This isn’t about building a perfect system.
It’s about having a reliable partner for my own brain, so I don’t have to run everything on willpower and memory alone.

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