How do I collect information?

How I'll collect 3000 interesting things in 10 years, A dagger that cuts swords, Looking for Story Hunters and many more...

Oct 6, 2021

Every week, I publish an Essay & 10 interesting things that will help you become healthy, wealthy and wise 👇

Hi 👋 Prado here

How do I collect information?

A couple of weeks ago, I tweeted my vision about collecting just 1 interesting thing every day and how will I connect the dots and create more interesting stuff in the future. I got lots’ of DMs asking how will I do it. What’s my process.

Here’s how I’ll do it.

After lots of trial and error, copy-pasting stuff, trying out hundreds of apps, integrating multiple apps, spending days trying to create the second brain.
I finally nailed it.

The way I currently do is paid. But I also found a free version of it too.

Tools I use:

Roam Research - Note-taking app.
Readwise - My favourite content collection app (Get 60 days free)
Notion (Free)
Obsidian (Roam alternative and free)
Pocket Premium (You can also use Instapaper)
1Password

That’s it.

Before I share the process, I’d like to talk about why to set up these things.

The goal is to optimise the work. The goal is to save time.

Not just save current time but also future time. Have you ever written something and couldn’t find it when needed and then some random day it pops out again.
This is what I’m not willing to sacrifice. To not waste my future time finding something I need. We are doing this for our future self. LFG.

Here’s how the process looks…

I use three note-taking apps - Roam, Notion and Obsidian (for backup)

I use my guy readwise as the middle man. That’s it.

The simple idea is to read and document.

Now I will share how do I collect information from different platforms.

1. Blogs.

Let’s say we are reading one of the essays by Paul Graham. The first thing I do is send it to pocket. For both documentation and highlighting.

I usually read pocket at the end of the week (all the blogs together) and if the blog is really, I read it right away.

Here I need to do 3 things:

Add chrome extensions for Pocket & Readwise.
Go to readwise and add import and export (Import Pocket and Export to note-taking apps)
If you are reading the blog right away, Right-click and save to readwise. (It’ll send the content directly to readwise and note-taking apps)

Most of the content we come across can be streamlined with this process.

2. Twitter

There are two ways you can do it.

DM the tweet or thread to Readwise and it will save it and send it to your note-taking app.
P.S: If you are saving threads, you can add “t” or “thread” in the reply.
Simply right-click and save to readwise. (You can do the same on Reddit)

I save threads and lots of quotes from Reddit.

3. Books (Physical and Digital)

Physical: I use a readwise camera that can capture the content and make it digital for us.
Here’s me explaining how I do it 👇
Digital: Reading and highlighting on Kindle will directly send the highlights to readwise and readwise will send it to the note-taking app.

It seems like everything I do is connected with readwise and even more so it feels like this newsletter is written for and probably paid by readwise. I wish but it’s not.

That being said I think the amount of time readwise saving me is enormous.

If we are destined to do great things, how can we comprise collecting the information and connecting the dots?

If you haven’t started any note-taking apps yet. Start now. Connect it with readwise and pocket.

You are destined to do great things, you just need to collect 1 interesting thing every day.

PEACE.

P.S: Feel free to DM or reply to this mail if you have any doubts.

10 Interesting things for you 🙌

If a book can be summarized, is it worth reading? (Austin Kleon’s Blog)
I enjoyed watching Aries Spears’s standup (Blog)
The Stories Behind 20 Inventions That Changed the World (Blog)
Something from my Twitter👇
- Buying things with your own money has a different feeling altogether (Tweet)
Interesting Human of the week:- Charles D. B. King holds the record for the most fraudulent election in history. In 1927 he was elected President of Liberia with 234,000 votes in a country that only had 15,000 registered voters at the time.
Picture of the week:- A dagger made to break swords by catching the blade in its tines
Question of the week:-
“No one can compete with you on being you.
Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most” - Naval

I ask myself, “What needs me the most?”
Meme of the week:- Trueee… I guess.
Current read: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (Started last Sunday)
Quote of the week:
- “Expressing creativity using the most basic, accessible methods is the hardest thing to do and the purest. The very best steak houses serve their filet on a plate with nothing else. Shi*ty franchises cover theirs in sauce and other stuff to distract you from the fact that you’re eating dog food” - Casey Neistat
- 'How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? ' - Satchel Paige
  (Tweet this quote)
- "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
  (Tweet this quote)