114 Comments
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Steve Ruiz's avatar

Impressive.

Took me 40 years to build my first brain.

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Greg's avatar

It's taking me 60 and still building...

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Aashima's avatar

lmao made my day

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Sharyph's avatar

this is cool...thanks for the detailed guide, man

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Jay's avatar

Try MacWhisper (or SuperWhisper if in PC) + Obsidian

+ some of the excellent community plugins for Obsidian

MacWhisper is one shot cost, not subscription. After that, this is free.

Add Fabric (or similar) if you want to transcribe YT videos and get key insights from AI. Saves an incredible amount of time.

I am processing 10x more info and far more relaxed about it.

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Jeff Harrison's avatar

Thank you for the share and the very descriptive steps by step in making your second brain. 40 vs 150 makes this workflow compelling and I can see how the notes I take can be eliminated (and easier to locate). I tend to now record meetings using the recorder on my iPhone. I wonder if this could be integrated? Thank you again. New to substack and you were the first read! Brilliant.

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Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

Hmm probably not? I doubt the iPhone recorder has webhooks

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The 2020 Report's avatar

Building multiple brains atm

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Shyam Vora's avatar

This is brilliant! The voice-to-AI classification workflow is exactly what I've been looking for. The insight about AI assistants being too chatty for simple transcription really resonates - I've noticed the same issue. The workaround using Notion pages to bypass the 2000 character limit is clever. Thanks for sharing the specific prompts and Make.com scenario structure. One question: have you experimented with different voice note apps, or did Voicenotes.com prove to be the clear winner?

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Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

I had a quick look at the alternatives but settled on Voicenotes for reasons outlined in the post - still using it today, no complaints so far!

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Patrick Schaber's avatar

I subscribed, Jonas! Looking forward to your automations. I’m loving Make.

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John Technitus's avatar

I need a third brain to manage my second

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Jason Jack's avatar

Just get Obsidian! Much easier.

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Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

What do you like most about obsidian?

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Jason Jack's avatar

Well, not just one thing. It is open source. The file format is open - you're not locked into some vendor's format. Amazing community support - so many good plugins. You can bend it to your will. I am now processing 10x what I was 3 years ago, and it is all searchable. Put the time in to make it right and reap the rewards.

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Lucas Barber's avatar

How come you use Gemini dude? 😎

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Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

It's included in my Google Workspace plan 🤷‍♂️

Gemini 2.5 works well enough for most use cases. What model should I switch to?

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Lucas Barber's avatar

Nothing in particular! Just curious :) I'm gonna copy your second brain voicenote thingy, so smart!

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Ashutosh's avatar

Apple Notes: “pffft, here’s another wannabe. No matter what you try, you know you’re coming right back into my arms”

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Tes Balogun's avatar

Wow. Inspiring thanks for sharing your progress

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Pay Meh (a.k.a. Pai Mei )'s avatar

I built a second heart and a new life. I adopted a stray. 🥰

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Ashish's avatar

Thanks for the details. It helps to learn from your journey to figure out the set-up and saves, time, energy and efforts. I am curious though that given the huge benefit of second brain as a concept, can't Google simplify this and provide a feature to record, translate and categorise.

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Corey Boyle's avatar

This is great, thanks for sharing!

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Jedidiah May's avatar

This is really incredible work!

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