What? The... Hey friends, welcome back to the channel. All jokes aside, regular viewers know I have huge respect for Tiago, Ali, and Thomas, but their ultimate productivity systems can be intimidating for the everyday person. So, in this video, I'll be sharing a simple two-step process that'll get you 80% of the benefit with just 20% of the effort. I'll also share a lot of real-world examples so you can see how I use this productivity workflow to manage a full-time job in tech while creating videos part-time. Let's get started. In a nutshell, step one, I literally capture all my ideas and tasks related to my work and my personal life into an app called Todoist. Then, when I sit down in front of my laptop where there's a keyboard, I step two, organize all those ideas and tasks into their corresponding locations: Google Workspace, Calendar, Notion. Let's quickly break this down. Step one, capture. If you clicked on this video, you're probably familiar with David Allen's famous quote, 'your brain is for having ideas, not holding them.' So, you should do whatever you can to minimize the friction between point A, having the idea in your head, and point B, writing that idea down. I want to emphasize, the app itself does not matter. I use a free version of Todoist because it has a very responsive widget. I literally just click the plus icon on my home screen, and I can input the idea or task in less than 10 seconds. And that's all I use Todoist for. As a counter example, I've tried using Thomas Frank's Notion template to capture tasks, but the loading animation and having to fill in one or two property fields added too much friction, and that decreased my motivation to write things down. On to a simple example. I'm on my way to work and a colleague messages me with a link to a document for me to review. I can't really focus during the commute, so I add 'review email copy and reply to Jane' into Todoist and get back to browsing something actually important, like memes. Another example, as I'm about to leave for work, I receive a message reminding me of a colleague's birthday on Friday. I immediately bring up Todoist, type in 'buy birthday present for Michelle today' and add another task 'bring present to office on Friday.' After buying the present today, I check off the task, and thanks to Todoist's natural language processing feature, it will remind me on Friday to bring the present to the office for Michelle. Pro tip, you should always start your quick capture with an action verb. This way you won't be left with something ambiguous like 'present.' Not a present, it's the present. So, on a typical day when I wake up, my Todoist starts off with recurring tasks and reminders I've input previously. Then throughout the day, new action items and ideas are added. Which brings us to step two, organize. The biggest pro tip here is from Tiago Forte. The wrong way to organize information is by where you found it. The right way is to organize by the location you will USE that information. Jumping right into a simple example. For some reason, I'm super creative when I'm at the gym. Like, working out at the gym, not hanging out there for for no reason. In between sets of 800 kilograms, I would have ideas on new marketing campaigns to run at work, advice I need from my manager, and content ideas for YouTube. I capture all that into Todoist, finish the workout, and when I'm back on my laptop, I add the marketing campaign idea in our team's weekly meeting agenda, email my manager with the problems I'm facing, and include new video ideas in my content pipeline page in Notion. As you can see, to make step two work well, you first need to identify suitable locations, then organize to those locations. I like to do this step on a laptop rather than on my phone because I just type so much faster on a keyboard and navigation on the desktop app is usually much easier. Another example, I'm in a car and I come across a video editing tutorial. I save the link into Todoist, and when I get home, I add it to the post-production section of my video page in Notion because I want to watch it right before I start editing where it is the most useful. On to a more advanced example. At the government tax bureau place, I was told to apply for a tax refund in eight months by submitting three documents. The moment I was told, I opened up Todoist, added the date and the documents required. When I got home, I saved that information in a Notion page, and while that isn't wrong, I'm probably going to forget about it in eight months. So, in addition to this record, I block off a time slot on my calendar for eight months later, add the three documents I need to prepare beforehand, and link the Notion page within the description. In this instance, it's fine to keep a record within Notion, but my calendar is the place where that information will be used since my calendar basically tells me where to be and when. Funny story, a friend of mine, uh, missed the deadline and lost out on quite a bit of tax refund, so that's like a real-life consequence. Not exactly a funny story, but I got to say I told you so, so, you know, silver linings. Anyways. At this point, you can probably see how this process plays out throughout the day, right? Capture, capture, capture, organize. Capture, capture, capture, organize. Capture, capture, capture... Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. No, but you get the point, right? Pro tip, it's fine to skip the calendar and leave tasks that are not time-specific within Todoist. For example, it doesn't matter when I take my probiotics every day. It doesn't matter when I physically hand the present over to Michelle as long as I do it before I leave the office. The second those are done though, I check them off and allow my brain to forget about them. The next example relates to inbox management because email plays such a huge role in our lives. Specifically, how the snooze feature within Gmail is so underutilized. When you receive an email requiring you to take action more than a week from now, for example, you need to present in next month's team meeting, you should snooze that email until the Monday of that week when it is the most relevant. In a way, when the email arrives in your inbox, that's like the capture step. And the snooze feature is the organize to location step, if that makes sense. I have an entire video teaching you step-by-step how to achieve inbox zero, so I'll link that down below. In summary, capture all ideas and tasks in as frictionless a way as possible. Then organize those in locations where that information will be used. Once you're comfortable with these two steps, check out Tiago Forte's second brain video because capture and organize is actually part of his four-step process: capture, organize, distill, and express. CODE. See you on the next video. In the meantime, have a great one.
A man in a white t-shirt leans over his desk, opens a grey laptop, and begins typing.
Setting: home office — soft, ambient light from an unseen source, likely a desk lamp.
People (1):
• sitting at a desk, leaning forward, wearing plain white t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — concentrating, looking down at laptop
A user types 'best productivity system' into a Google search bar on a white screen.
Setting: digital screen — bright, digital screen light
Text: "Google", "best productivity system"
A mind map graphic appears, showing various app icons connected to a central image of a man (Ali Abdaal).
"This is Ali Abdaal's second brain."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• headshot in a circle, wearing white t-shirt, short, dark hair — smiling, looking at camera
Text: "Book Notes", "Text", "Web Pages"
The man at the desk watches the video on his laptop, looking thoughtful. He then picks up his phone.
"So capture is about getting it outside of your brain, social media, the world, and into some trusted single place where you can start to work with it."
Setting: home office — soft, ambient light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, watching screen, wearing plain white t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — thoughtful, slightly pursed lips
The man looks from his phone to his laptop, looking surprised and engaged, gesturing with his hands.
"What are the different ways that you you capture information? Okay."
Setting: home office — soft, ambient light
People (1):
• leaning forward at his desk, wearing plain white t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — engaged, slightly wide-eyed, mouth open as if speaking
A complex flowchart diagram animates on screen, showing a workflow for 'Ali's Second Brain'.
"yes, yes, yes, no, cut. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, cool."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "Ali's Second Brain", "CAPTURE", "ORGANIZE"
The man at the desk stares at his laptop with a shocked and confused expression, his hands raised in disbelief.
"What?"
Setting: home office — soft, ambient light
People (1):
• leaning forward, staring at the screen, wearing plain white t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — eyes wide, mouth agape, eyebrows raised in disbelief
The man, now wearing a jacket, sits in front of a microphone and speaks directly to the camera with a friendly expression.
"Hey friends, welcome back to the channel. All jokes aside, regular viewers know I have huge respect for Tiago, Ali, and Thomas,"
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light from the left, creating a gentle shadow on the right.
People (1):
• sitting at a desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket over a white t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — smiling, friendly, making eye contact with the camera
A montage of screenshots and video clips of other productivity YouTubers (Tiago Forte, Ali Abdaal, Thomas Frank) and their complex systems appears on screen.
"but their ultimate productivity systems can be intimidating for the everyday person."
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "Tiago Forte x Ali Abdaal", "Thomas Frank: Ultimate Brain"
The man gestures with both hands as he explains the premise of the video. A graphic with arrows appears on a black background.
"So, in this video, I'll be sharing a simple two-step process that'll get you 80% of the benefit with just 20% of the effort."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "STEP 1", "CAPTURE", "STEP 2", "ORGANIZE"
A shot of the man in a gym, leaning against a squat rack and looking at his phone. Text overlays appear, connected by lines to show how he captures different types of tasks.
"so you can see how I use this productivity workflow to manage a full-time job in tech while creating videos part-time."
Setting: gym — bright, even overhead gym lighting.
People (1):
• leaning against a squat rack, one leg crossed, wearing dark blue athletic t-shirt and grey athletic shorts, short, black, styled fade hair — focused on his phone
Text: "WORK", "Discuss new acquisition campaign with team and run it by Alvin for sense check", "YOUTUBE", "Input video idea: how to manage complex projects in either Notion or Google Workspace"
A diagram appears on a black background. The man's video feed is in a small circle on the right. He draws arrows on the diagram as he speaks.
"In a nutshell, step one, I literally capture all my ideas and tasks related to my work and my personal life into an app called Todoist."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — speaking, explaining
Text: "CAPTURE", "step 1", "All Tasks and All Ideas"
The diagram on screen evolves. The man continues to draw arrows pointing from a central app icon to other app icons representing different categories.
"Then, when I sit down in front of my laptop where there's a keyboard, I step two, organize all those ideas and tasks into their corresponding locations:"
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — speaking, explaining
Text: "ORGANIZE", "step 2", "Work", "Personal"
A title card appears with the word 'CAPTURE' in large white text.
"Step one, capture."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "CAPTURE", "STEP 1"
A quote appears on a white background with a picture of the author, David Allen.
"your brain is for having ideas, not holding them"
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• headshot in a circle, wearing blue collared shirt, short, light brown hair — smiling gently
Text: ""your brain is for having ideas, not holding them"", "David Allen", "Author, Getting Things Done"
The man speaks to the camera while a simple animation appears next to him, illustrating the concept of capturing an idea.
"So, you should do whatever you can to minimize the friction between point A, having the idea in your head, and point B, writing that idea down."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — expressive, explaining a concept
Text: "Idea", "Capture"
A close-up shot of a person's hands holding a smartphone. They are interacting with the Todoist app widget on the home screen.
"I use a free version of Todoist because it has a very responsive widget."
Setting: living room or office — bright, natural light
People (1):
• sitting, not visible hair — not visible
Text: "Today"
The man speaks to the camera, looking slightly to the side with a definitive expression.
"And that's all I use Todoist for."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — serious, making a point
A screen recording of a smartphone shows the user opening the Notion app. The Notion UI is shown, highlighting the process of adding a new task, which involves multiple steps.
"As a counter example, I've tried using Thomas Frank's Notion template to capture tasks, but the loading animation and having to fill in one or two property fields added too much friction,"
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light on speaker
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — speaking, explaining
Text: "View of All Tasks", "Untitled"
The man, wearing a face mask, stands inside a subway car, looking down at his phone. A graphic overlay of a chat conversation appears on the right.
"I'm on my way to work and a colleague messages me with a link to a document for me to review."
Setting: subway train — bright, fluorescent overhead lighting
People (1):
• standing, holding onto a pole, wearing light blue t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — partially obscured by mask, looking down
Text: "Hey I've finished", "Could you please review"
The man, wearing a backpack, stands by a door and looks at his phone.
"Another example, as I'm about to leave for work, I receive a message reminding me of a colleague's birthday on Friday."
Setting: apartment entryway — soft, indoor lighting
People (1):
• standing by the front door, about to leave, wearing dark grey t-shirt and light grey pants, short, black, styled fade hair — looking down at his phone
A close-up of hands typing into the Todoist app on a smartphone. The natural language processing highlights 'today' and 'on friday'.
"I immediately bring up Todoist, type in 'buy birthday present for Michelle today' and add another task 'bring present to office on Friday.'"
Setting: unspecified indoor — bright
People (1):
• holding a phone, not visible hair — not visible
Text: "Buy present for Michelle", "Bring present to office on friday"
The man speaks to the camera, with a screen recording of the Todoist app on the left showing a task being checked off and a new task appearing for a future date.
"After buying the present today, I check off the task, and thanks to Todoist's natural language processing feature, it will remind me on Friday to bring the present to the office for Michelle."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — smiling, explaining
Text: "Buy present for Michelle", "Bring present to office"
The man continues speaking while the Todoist screen recording on the left highlights the action verbs at the start of each task.
"Pro tip, you should always start your quick capture with an action verb."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — serious, giving advice
Text: "Take Probiotics", "Bring present to office"
A clip from the TV show 'The Big Bang Theory' plays. Sheldon Cooper is correcting Leonard in front of two whiteboards.
"Not a present, it's the present."
Setting: TV show set — bright studio lighting
People (2):
• standing, wearing blue t-shirt with '73' logo over a grey long-sleeve shirt and dark pants, short, brown hair — annoyed, correcting someone
• standing, wearing red hoodie, curly, brown hair — confused
A graphic shows a smartphone screen with the Todoist app. Arrows point to different types of tasks that populate the list at the start of the day.
"So, on a typical day when I wake up, my Todoist starts off with recurring tasks and reminders I've input previously."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "DAILY / WEEKLY RECURRING TASKS", "PREVIOUS REMINDERS"
A title card appears with the word 'ORGANIZE' in large white text.
"Which brings us to step two, organize."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "ORGANIZE", "STEP 2"
A quote appears on a white background with a picture of the author, Tiago Forte.
"The biggest pro tip here is from Tiago Forte. The wrong way to organize information is by where you found it, the right way is to organize by the location you will USE that information."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• headshot in a circle, wearing dark t-shirt, short, dark brown hair — neutral expression, looking slightly off-camera
Text: ""the wrong way to organize information is by where you found it, the right way is to organize by the location you will USE that information"", "Tiago Forte", "Author, Building a Second Brain"
The man speaks directly to the camera with a slightly humorous, self-deprecating expression.
"Like, working out at the gym, not hanging out there for for no reason."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — smirking, looking directly at camera
A repeat of the gym scene, where the man is on his phone. The text overlays for 'WORK' and 'YOUTUBE' tasks appear again.
"In between sets of 800 kilograms, I would have ideas on new marketing campaigns to run at work, advice I need from my manager, and content ideas for YouTube."
Setting: gym — bright, even overhead gym lighting.
People (1):
• leaning against a squat rack, wearing dark blue athletic t-shirt and grey athletic shorts, short, black, styled fade hair — focused on his phone
Text: "WORK", "YOUTUBE"
A screen recording shows a Google Sheets document titled 'The SuperStar Working Group'. The user types an idea into the agenda section.
"I capture all that into Todoist, finish the workout, and when I'm back on my laptop, I add the marketing campaign idea in our team's weekly meeting agenda,"
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "[Shared Externally] Team Meeting Notes", "The SuperStar Working Group"
A screen recording shows a Gmail compose window. The user is writing an email.
"email my manager with the problems I'm facing,"
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "Pre-Read for our upcoming 1:1", "Hi Prisca!"
A screen recording shows a Notion page. The user is adding a new video idea to a database.
"and include new video ideas in my content pipeline page in Notion."
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "Ideas", "How to manage complex projects in Notion!"
A repeat of the diagram showing tasks from Todoist being organized into Google Workspace, Google Calendar, and Notion.
"As you can see, to make step two work well, you first need to identify suitable locations, then organize to those locations."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — speaking, explaining
Text: "ORGANIZE", "step 2"
The man, wearing a face mask, sits in the passenger seat of a car, looking out the window. A smartphone screen overlay on the left shows a YouTube video.
"Another example, I'm in a car and I come across a video editing tutorial."
Setting: car — natural, overcast daylight from the window
People (1):
• sitting in a car, wearing black t-shirt, short, black, styled fade hair — pensive, looking out the window
Text: "10 Things You're Doing Wrong In Final Cut Pro"
A screen recording shows the user copying a link from Todoist and pasting it into a checklist on a Notion page titled 'Video Editing Checklist'.
"and when I get home, I add it to the post-production section of my video page in Notion because I want to watch it right before I start editing where it is the most useful."
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "Video Editing Checklist", "Watch tips video (link)"
A man in a black t-shirt walks towards the entrance of a building. A text overlay appears with the objective.
"At the government tax bureau place, I was told to apply for a tax refund in eight months by submitting three documents."
Setting: outside a government building — daylight
People (1):
• walking away from camera, wearing black t-shirt and light shorts, short, black hair — back of head visible
Text: "OBJECTIVE", "Submit 3 documents in 8 months to qualify for a full tax refund"
A split screen shows a Todoist task on the left and a Notion page on the right. An arrow points from the task to the Notion page, showing the transfer of information.
"When I got home, I saved that information in a Notion page, and while that isn't wrong, I'm probably going to forget about it in eight months."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "Tax Refund Information", "Documents to bring"
A screen recording of a Google Calendar. The user navigates forward eight months.
"So, in addition to this record, I block off a time slot on my calendar for eight months later,"
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "July 2022", "August 2023"
A diagram illustrates the difference between where info is stored (Notion) and where it is used (Google Calendar).
"In this instance, it's fine to keep a record within Notion, but my calendar is the place where that information will be used since my calendar basically tells me where to be and when."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — explaining, looking at camera
Text: "PLACE WHERE INFO IS STORED", "LOCATION WHERE INFO IS USED"
The man tells a short anecdote, pointing down and then shrugging with a wry smile.
"Funny story, a friend of mine, uh, missed the deadline and lost out on quite a bit of tax refund, so that's like a real-life consequence."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — wry smile, telling a story
An animation of a clock face appears. The words 'CAPTURE' and 'ORGANIZE' pop up around it, illustrating a daily cycle.
"Capture, capture, capture, organize. Capture, capture, capture, organize. Capture, capture, capture..."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "CAPTURE", "ORGANIZE"
A clip from Monty Python shows three men in red cardinal outfits bursting into a room.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."
Setting: TV show set — studio lighting
People (1):
• bursting into a room, wearing red cardinal robes, various hair — intense, yelling
The man speaks to the camera, giving a final piece of advice.
"Pro tip, it's fine to skip the calendar and leave tasks that are not time-specific within Todoist."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — friendly, giving advice
Text: "PRO TIP", "YOU CAN LEAVE TASKS THAT ARE NOT TIME-SPECIFIC WITHIN TODOIST"
A split screen shows the man speaking on the right and a Todoist screen on the left, highlighting two non-time-specific tasks.
"For example, it doesn't matter when I take my probiotics every day. It doesn't matter when I physically hand the present over to Michelle as long as I do it before I leave the office."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — explaining, looking at camera
Text: "Take probiotics", "Bring present to office"
A close-up, angled shot of a computer monitor displaying a Gmail inbox.
"The next example relates to inbox management because email plays such a huge role in our lives."
Setting: home office — The light from the monitor illuminates the scene.
Text: "Follow Up", "Read Through Later"
A screen recording of a Gmail inbox is shown, with the speaker's video feed in the bottom right corner. A specific line in an email is highlighted.
"When you receive an email requiring you to take action more than a week from now, for example, you need to present in next month's team meeting,"
Setting: digital screen — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — explaining
Text: "5-min Sharing in Next Month's Team meeting?", "For next month's team meeting"
The user clicks the 'Snooze' button in Gmail and selects a date on the calendar pop-up.
"you should snooze that email until the Monday of that week when it is the most relevant."
Setting: digital screen — digital
Text: "Snooze until...", "September 2022"
A diagram shows an email icon representing 'Capture' and a snoozed email icon representing 'Organize'.
"In a way, when the email arrives in your inbox, that's like the capture step. And the snooze feature is the organize to location step, if that makes sense."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — explaining
Text: "CAPTURE", "ORGANIZE"
A final summary diagram is shown, reiterating the main points of the two-step process.
"In summary, capture all ideas and tasks in as frictionless a way as possible. Then organize those in locations where that information will be used."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
People (1):
• head and shoulders shot, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — speaking
Text: "CAPTURE", "ORGANIZE"
A final complex flowchart diagram is shown, with the four steps of the CODE method circled in green.
"Once you're comfortable with these two steps, check out Tiago Forte's second brain video because capture and organize is actually part of his four-step process: capture, organize, distill, and express. CODE."
Setting: digital graphic — digital
Text: "CAPTURE", "ORGANIZE", "DISTILL", "EXPRESS"
The man smiles and points at the camera, ending the video on a friendly note.
"See you on the next video. In the meantime, have a great one."
Setting: home office/studio — soft key light
People (1):
• sitting at desk, wearing dusty rose-colored zip-up jacket, short, black hair — smiling broadly, making eye contact