Complete Second Brain: COC Productivity Method
by Parker · 38 things on Twos
- Why do we need a method or system?
- We consume more information today than at any point in history.
- Social media made everyone a news outlet. We're in constant communication with our families, friends, and coworkers. Our attention spans are shrinking and ADHD is on the rise.
- We need a system to capture things we need to do and want to remember before our minds jump to the next thing. We need it to help us keep track of this important information to feel less anxious and overwhelmed.
- The COC productivity method helps clear our minds, stay organized, and remember things. Vardhan Shafi created it to help us get things done and achieve greater peace of mind.
- What's the COC productivity method?
- COC stands for Capture, Organize, Check.
- Capture
- “Your brain is great for having ideas, not for storing them.” - David Allen, the founder of the GTD (Getting Things Done) method.
- We can't keep track of everything in our heads.
- When you write things down, you free up your mind and relieve it from needing to manage everything.
- Whenever you have anything you want to remember, write it down.
- Vardhan uses a system I built called Twos. It helps people to capture and remember all types of things—thoughts, notes, to-dos, reminders, events & more—in one place.
- Twos gives you a daily list to quickly capture ideas and snippets. It also has text and email integration so you can funnel information into it.
- You want a system to store fleeting thoughts, tasks, and things you want to remember. You'll feel organized and it'll save you time when you need to remember something.
- Organize
- Once you've captured something, it's important to organize it so you'll be able to remember it.
- How you organize something may depend on when you'll need to remember it.
- If you need to remember something on a specific day, you'll want to organize it on a calendar. If you need a notification at a specific time, you'll want to create a reminder. If you're organizing notes for a project, you may want to keep a list or document.
- Twos combine these into one simple system using different types of things. You can change a thought into a to-do. You can set a reminder just by typing "... at 5 pm on Friday,"
- You can also create lists, nest lists with sublists, and move things between days and lists. These help you stay organized.
- Vardhan also recommends following Tiago Forte’s PARA method to organize your projects, tasks, lists, notes, and blogs.
- Check
- It's important to check your agenda daily so you don't forget anything. You should also review the information you've captured close to weekly to make use of it.
- "The palest ink is better than the best memory." - Chinese Proverb
- You should also use your project lists to plan your days and weeks.
- Things will always come up so you can edit your plan throughout the day. Move things around and be sure to capture things that pop up so they don't distract your mind.
- Twos is great for this with its daily lists. You can move things to your daily list from other lists. You can reorder things on your day to make your plan. Twos even carries over unfinished to-dos each day.
- There are many ways to regularly review your information in Twos. The to-dos view, a view for reviewing your days and lists, a week view, a memories view & many more.
- We write things down so we can remember them and find them when we need to. Having a system that makes this easy will save you time and energy many times over.
- The COC method makes a difference
- The COC method helps you stay organized, be productive, and remember more.
- Don't let the thoughts of things you need to do cloud your mind.
- Don't waste time searching notebooks, emails, texts & many looking for important information.
- The COC productivity method helps you plan and organize your whole life seamlessly. Use it to keep your peace of mind and get things done.
- If you want to see what Vardhan and I are talking about, start writing things down in Twos today.
- If you want to learn more about PARA, check out Vardhan's blog here.
- Thank you for reading and have a happy Twosday ✌️