My Information Capture Workflows and Tools

This post is part of a series I am writing about building a second brain course and how I am building my second brain in RoamResearch. Check out the other posts 

• Part 1 – Introduction to Building A Second Brain(BASB)
• Part 2 – My 12 Favorite Problems
• Part 3 – Project List
• Part 4 – My PARA setup in Roam Research
• Part 5 – My Information Capture Workflows and Tools

The goal of the information capture system is to funnel the information we consume and create, into our second brain. You might ask why capture?

When we start to express our ideas and thoughts, often we find ourselves staring at the blank sheet not knowing where to start and what to do. That is because our mind has a limited working memory. It can not retrieve ideas when we need them. A better way is to capture the ideas and thoughts into your second brain.

By offloading the information to the second brain, we can retrieve it when we need them and focus on the creative work of expressing our ideas. So what kind of information can we capture in our second brain?

Capture only what you might need in the future. Tiago Forte says, “Capture Inspiring, Useful, Personal, and Surprising information for your future self”.

Capture Tools

Roam Research is my second brain. All my highlights and notes get to my second brain in Roam. I also have set up my personal systems like task manager and daily planner in Roam.

Instapaper is my read later app for articles and newsletters.

I use Kindle to read most of my books and PDFs

Readwise is my integration tool. It syncing highlights and notes from Instapaper, Kindle, and Twitter to Roam automatically.

Roam Highlighter Browser Extension – If I am reading directly in the browser, I use the Roam highlighter browser extension. This tool collects the highlights and notes in markdown so that I can save it directly to Roam. Unlike Readwise, this is a manual process. So I try to avoid reading directly in the browser.

My Capture Workflows

There are three types of information I capture

Consuming Notes

These are the highlights and notes from what I consume. Articles, blog posts, newsletters, books, social media posts, online community forums, podcasts, videos, and photos.

• Articles – As I come across interesting articles to read, I save them to Instapaper using their web clipper extension. Once a day I read the articles in the Instapaper app. Instapaper lets you highlight and add notes to the articles you read. Sometimes I read articles in the browser. I use the Roam Highlighter browser extension to capture markdown highlights and notes. I can then save it to roam.
• eBooks and PDFs – These days I read most books in kindle. As you know, kindle allows you to highlight, add notes, and export the notes.
• Physical Books – If I am reading a physical book, I can scan the highlights and notes from using the ReadWise scanner.
• Twitter – The only social media I use is Twitter and ReadWise has a great way to save tweets and threads.
• Community Forums – Community Forums are a great place to learn. I use the Roam Highlighter browser extension and store the highlights to Roam manually.

I am still working on my workflows for how I capture notes from podcasts, videos, and photos.

Creating Notes

These are the notes I create. Conversations and meetings with others. Journals, thoughts, and ideas. Most of these notes go directly into Roam.

• Inbox – If I am away from my computer, I capture the notes in the Inbox and clear it once a day during my daily planning.
• Journal – I write all my journals in Roam. I have an individual page setup for morning pages and gratitude journals. But I write my journal in the Roam daily pages.
• Notes – I capture my notes from conversations, meetings, and the courses I watch.

Personal Systems

The last kind of information I capture is from my personal systems. I manage my Task Manager, Project List, Planners, and Reviews inside Roam Research.

Roam research along with Readwise has been a game-changer for my capture process. Readwise has automated my capture process for both books and articles. How do you capture your notes? What tools do you use for your information capture workflow?

This post is part of a series I am writing about building a second brain course and how I am building my second brain in RoamResearch. Check out the other posts 

• Part 1 – Introduction to Building A Second Brain(BASB)
• Part 2 – My 12 Favorite Problems
• Part 3 – Project List
• Part 4 – My PARA setup in Roam Research
• Part 5 – My Information Capture Workflows and Tools