CODE for Productivity
There are always new ideas for managing information, time, and productivity. One of the current trends in the productivity world is the idea of building your second brain. In fact, there is a book by Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain, that explains how you can enhance your learning, retention, and productivity by creating a ‘second brain’. The idea is not necessarily new, Forte just sheds a new perspective on the ideas that others have touched on before. There are many elements of GTD (Getting Things Done) by David Allen that get incorporated into the more updated ways of looking at staying productive. The CODE method as outlined in Forte’s work shares many commonalities with the original concepts of GTD.
It can be helpful to have acronyms to remember steps or processes. CODE is just that, a way to help remind you of the steps in managing your process for storing and using information for yourself or your work. As with any of these types of things, it's less about the exact words or even steps, and more about the concept and how you can make it work for you. Let’s look at what CODE is and how it can be of use for you.
CODE stands for Capture, Organize, Distill, Express. They make up Forte’s key points for building your second brain. If you want to learn more about what his methodology is without reading the book first, I would suggest THIS VIDEO to get a preview into the thought process behind this concept.
Capture
The capture process is what you would expect. You need a way to record your ideas, thoughts, tasks, reminders, quotes, and more someplace apart from your brain. Having a notebook or digital process for capturing is a critical first step for any knowledge management system you choose.
The brain is for having ideas, not holding them — David Allen
We all believe that when we have an idea or something we want to remember, that it will stay easily accessible in our heads. Yet it never fails, when we try to remember it, even a few minutes later, the thought or idea is gone. I cannot count how many times this has happened to me. Having a notebook or your digital capture application of choice is imperative to capturing your thoughts. I use my phone most of the time. And while I have a couple of places I may use to capture the initial thoughts, they all get compiled into a single list later (usually the end of the week). I do separate out certain pieces of information. For example, if I come across a great quote I want to use for my leadership quotes, I list those in a specific place. I have a process for capturing article ideas, and then there’s everything else. This begins to lead into the next step of the CODE method.
Organize
How you keep track of and organize the captured ideas becomes the next important step. You can have a great collection of ideas, but if you cannot find them later, when you need them, then the entire process breaks down. Organizing your captured information will be a personal preference, but there are a few things to consider as you begin to set up your process. Think about what topics you utilize most. Perhaps you want to think about it in terms of work and life subjects. In an upcoming article, I am going to cover the PARA method, which stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive. This can be one way of arranging how you capture and move information through your system. I would recommend investing some time in researching different ideas that may work for you.
Where you organize your information is critical as well. This will be a digital solution, so you have your information regardless of where you are. With that in mind, you may want to consider the cross-platform functionality that your application of choice has. If you do your work within a Windows-based world, but have a Mac at home or use any iOS devices, you’ll likely want something that has a Windows version or at a minimum, a web-based version of the application. Most good ones will already have these options. Some quick recommendations and examples are Apple Notes, Microsoft OneNote, or Evernote. There are dozens to choose from, so you can find the one that will work best for you.
Distill
Distilling your information is an interesting concept. It is one that, I believe, will take practice. This is an area I have not implemented fully, but am very intrigued by how it can help keep your information in its simplest form and at top of mind. The process is not much different than you’d think of distilling alcoholic beverages. You’ve heard about six times distilled vodka, with each distillation eliminating impurities from the previous batch. You can do this with your captured information as well. When you capture a highlighted sentence or paragraph, the idea is then to come back to that in a few days and highlight it again, but only the most important elements of that highlight. Then, at a later time (could be weeks or months later), review it, and highlight only the most significant elements of that already reduced amount. Below is an example of using this process, distilling the article, ’What Is Leadership, How to Lead Your Team Skillfully’.
Example Highlight
In its simplest form, leadership is influencing other people to follow. Therefore, anyone who can influence people to follow them has leadership qualities. (23 words)
Distilled Once
Leadership is influencing people other people to follow. Anyone who can influence to have followers, can lead. (17 words)
Distilled Twice
Leadership is influencing people to follow. If you can influence followers, you can lead. (14 words)
Distilled Three Times
Influencing others to follow is leadership. (6 words)
You can see a progression of working through the idea and eventually landing on the most concise terms that matter to you. Remember, this is YOUR information. How you distill it only matters to you. Even within this example, you may pull different elements out of it for yourself. There is no right or wrong, and word count doesn’t really matter. I used that to show a progression. Six words may not be the right final step for you.
Express
Expressing, the final step, could also be called sharing. Having this information for yourself is great; sharing it helps more people. We can all have unique perspectives on the same information. This article is a perfect example. If you search for CODE productivity (you’ll want to add the context of second brain), you’ll find a host of items and videos. The concept isn’t unique, but how people interpret it, and then share it with others, is what allows people to learn and grow. I watched several videos on the subject, and made my own notes and thoughts. They were captured, organized, distilled (to some degree), and now I am in the final step of the process, I am expressing my thoughts on the subject. While I hope that you, as the reader, take away good information from this, it is also part of my own learning journey on the subject. By going through the process of expressing my thoughts, I learn, I distill further, and it reinforces the concept in my mind.
Expressing your work can be the hardest part of this, if you let it. Not everyone has to express the same way through the same mediums. Most people will not write an article about this and share on their website. But you may read this and talk to a peer or friend and say, “I read this article and this was really helpful for me, maybe you could try it too.” That is the Express step in action.
Considering using a system like CODE to help with productivity is another example of the wide-ranging and varied the subject of productivity can be. Each of these seem somewhat intuitive on their own. Most of us even do it in some fashion already. It’s when you combine them and begin to use them intentionally together that you can maximize the benefit for your growth, learning, and development. As I mentioned above, I will have a follow-up article to discuss the PARA process that works specifically with the Organize step in CODE. Combined, they can ensure you are optimizing your time on research and your personal development.
How can you incorporate the steps of CODE into your workflows?
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