Tiago Forte shared an acronym that one of his readers made up to help them remember what they want to save to their second brain. The acronym is INPUT.
INSPIRING
This is probably the most obvious of what to save: those things that pique your curiosity, excite you, or make you want to do something with the item.
- Does this spark inspiration in me or move me in any way?
NEEDED
These are things that are relevant to something you already have in progress. It could be a project, area, or resource. It also could be useful for an idea you’ve planted or want to start.
- Is this useful for any of my projects, areas, resources, or planted ideas?
PERSONAL
I mainly think of saving external input, but this is a good reminder that we want to save our personal things in an organized way as well. This might be anything from blood test results to journal entries to therapy transcripts.
- Is this personally relevant (thoughts, reflections, memories, lessons learned)?
UNEXPECTED
Sometimes we come across things that surprise us; we may not know what to do with them but we’re drawn to them anyway.
- Is this surprising information?
TOPICS
It’s good to have a list of your enduring problems/questions/topics that can guide your attention and efforts; this is building on physicist Richard Feynman’s practice of having a list of twelve problems. More about that here and here.
- Is this related to one of my 12 favorite problems/questions/topics?
Seed Source:
Tiago’s Forte’s newsletter
