“It’s very hard to google a feeling.”

I have to agree with this statement.

Tiago Forte shared it during the Building a Second Brain course I took last year. The point is to help people understand what content found online is worth saving somewhere. Data, information, and anything that doesn’t deeply resonate with you is not worth hoarding. You can search for it when you need it.

Keep the content that resonates with you; that is not easy to search.

Leveraging the triage and reading routines.

I described my workflow to decide what to read and keep.

In addition to the main pipeline, I have a few additional sources: Kindle eBooks, actual books made of trees, and apps like Refind or Twitter. Readwise is an app that connects to all these sources, and in the case of books, allows to capture highlights with a phone camera.

It only collects the parts of the texts I highlighted, and it comes with several very convenient features.

First, of course, it allows me to browse and search my catalog of highlights. Even better, it presents me with a daily selection of a handful, which is a great way to resurface the thoughts triggered when I read them the first time. As I review them, I can, of course, mark some as favorite, to see more often, or discard others, to remove them from the daily rotation.

Last but not least, Readwise is connected to Roam Research.

Input becomes output, and vice-versa.

Roam is where I write everything.

I’ll cover my usage of Roam Research in detail very shortly. The ability to gather all my notes and the essential bits I have read in the same app is crucial in my thinking process. Content is never created from scratch; I never need to start with a blank page anymore. Instead, I assemble building blocks, listen for feedback, and iterate.

Creating content and building products follow the same principles.