Hey, it's Andy 👋

How did the Mind Map exercise go??? Thanks so much for all the great responses, I loved discussing these with you last week!

Today, I wanted to share a little bit more about creative workflows, and then in October we will voyage into some other directions for a bit. So far this month we've covered:

• Stepping into new creative spaces
• Capturing the little things so we can focus on the big things, and...
• Organizing the big things a chunk at a time with mind mapping

The last piece of this puzzle, for now, is where to store all of these ideas, aka our "second brain." I want to introduce just a top level glance at how I've been handling this, and I'll also share a free hour-long talk on the topic, where you can dig in deeper if you're interested.

Let’s move the needle!

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Quote of the Week “Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than static ‘snapshots.’” — Peter Senge

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BACKGROUND

We are living in a time where we receive and encounter an unprecedented amount of information, more than any other generation of humans have ever managed. Digital connectivity has revolutionized the world, but also put staggering pressure on our internal CPU.

Several years ago I began using Notion (affiliate), which has been a fundamental shift in how I approach digital work. I use it as my "second brain" and it's the single source of truth for most areas of my life.

While it's helped me bring clarity to many of life's roles, it has had the greatest impact on how I manage creative work - from performance and writing, to curriculum and live event production.

Last Spring I unpacked some of the ways I've used Notion while I was a guest on Learn OmniFocus, hosted by the incredible Tim Stringer.

Check out the Free Notion Training HERE

During the talk, I introduced a few case studies from my Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system and how I've used Notion as a compliment to the Capture methods I've covered using OmniFocus. It's been an enormous shift in how I work over the last few years so I thought today would be a great time to open up the topic. We will certainly dive deeper in future issues and webinars!

MOTION = MOMENTUM (YOUR CTA)

I'm going to leave a few of the staple resources around this topic in this week's "Favorite Things" below. My primary purpose for today is exposure. Hopefully this plants some seeds that we can harvest in the future.
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Consider systems thinking. Consider personal knowledge management. Consider how building a second brain could open up or optimize some analog RAM.

And of course, keep the suggestions coming for future topics! I have some exciting things planned as we voyage further into the Fall.

Best wishes,

Andy 🆎

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RECENT FAVORITE THINGS

1. If you're interested in checking out Learn OmniFocus, please consider using this affiliate link to give it a try. I'd love to drive some support to what Tim is doing over there — he's a wonderful mentor, friend, and advocate for everything we're discussing here. I spent the better part of a year absorbing his videos and participating in the community and I got tremendous value from the site.
2. If you're not familiar with Tiago Forte's book Building a Second Brain (affiliate), I highly recommend. I have plans of launching a book club here and think this would be a great read for the group! I've especially enjoyed the audio book via Audible as I commute to and from work.

AB News & Notes I'm excited to share that next week Ensemble Knox will be performing John Luther Adams' Drums of Winter at the University of Tennessee College of Music's Dedication Concert as we celebrate the opening of the new College. The following night, for Knoxville-based friends, Nief-Norf will be performing at the Arts & Culture Alliance's Emporium Gallery as part of the Bailey Opportunity Fund Grantee Celebration. Please join us downtown on Fri Oct 6th for First Friday in Knoxville!

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