C.O.D.E stands for Capture, Organize, Distill, Express. I learned about this acronym from Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte, a system he introduced to remember (or at least document) everything. This has changed how I write my notes and how I capture and remember ideas that come across my mind day by day, how to look for things, and has been one of the reasons that inspired me to start this blog.
C for Capture
Capture everything—photos, notes, screenshots, recordings, anything you think might help your work or project, what inspires you, or what you believe will be helpful in the future.
O for Organize
Look into what you’ve captured and organize them into folders with tags, categories, or subjects—whatever helps you find them in the future. You don’t need to overthink it; you can always reorganize them later. Over time, you’ll develop an organization system that works for you.
D for Distill
Now that you have a folder filled with captured material—it could be a paragraph from a book, an article online, a post on Instagram, or short videos from YouTube—you need to distill them into coherent ideas. Trim the fat, put the stove on simmer, and reduce what you’ve captured and organized to the best parts.
E for Express
Share what you’ve captured, collected, and learned from your own point of view with your own voice. The best way to learn or remember something is to teach—it helps you hone your thoughts, express your ideas, and discuss them with peers and like-minded people, which, in turn, opens new doors and subjects to learn from. You can even build a community and inspire others to do the same.
I’m still learning to utilize this system to the best of my ability. I struggle with capturing too much stuff without organizing or distilling it into a particular subject. That’s why I built this blog—to help with the process of capturing, organizing, distilling, and expressing.
I highly recommend checking out the book and reading more about C.O.D.E in Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte. I definitely plan to explore more ideas I’ve read from the book on this blog.
Talk to you later!