Use the CODE Method to Manage Your Digital Accumulation

There is so much to consume online, from the millions of pieces of content shared, posted and viewed on social media platforms every minute, to the endless stream of news, data and commentary being published. We’re constantly faced with choices about what to watch and read, which leads to information overload, decision fatigue, and what creator Jorge Medina calls digital hoarding : saving things for later, like the millions of tabs you keep open (due to FOMO) that you’ll never get back. Instead of being inspired by content, he writes, we become overwhelmed and ultimately less creative.

The “second brain” movement , a productivity concept created by Thiago Forte, suggests that we need external storage to store information and resources, which frees up our real brain to be more creative rather than trying to remember and organize everything we’ve consumed.

A key building block of your second brain is the CODE method , which helps you manage the flow of content so that it is meaningful and useful, rather than overwhelming. Here’s how it works.

C: Gather the most important information

The first step is to only store what is worth keeping, or the most relevant and useful information. Forte suggests paying more attention to content that relates to something that excites, interests, or intrigues you, rather than passively storing what is sent to you from a contact or fed to you through an algorithm.

In practice, you can take notes using a variety of digital tools, such as a follow-up app, a notes app, or a transcription app. You can also highlight or annotate in the eBook app or save websites in the web clipper app.

A: Organize by practicality

Once you start saving, you’ll need to start organizing. Forte recommends keeping your organization simple and flexible rather than rigid and hierarchical, and focusing on what’s practical.

To organize along a spectrum of most effective and least effective, use the PARA structure:

• Projects: Short-term and with specific goals.
• Areas: Long-term and manageable over time.
• Resources: May be useful later.
• Archive: Inactive content from the three above segments.

You should also start with a clean slate rather than trying to reverse engineer this system for files you’ve already saved. Move everything into a legacy archive folder—that way you know you can go back if you need to, but you don’t have to do the work of sorting through it.

D: State the essence of the information

The third step involves doing a little preliminary work to make it easier to use what you’ve written down later. You’ll do this by turning your notes into “actionable, concise summaries.” A few ideas:

• Define key terms and add links to relevant resources.
• Use progressive summarization to identify different levels of detail, from the big picture to specific topics.
• Add value (like a section heading or highlight) every time you interact with a note, analyzing it over time.

E: Express your ideas

The final part of CODE actually uses the information you’ve collected, organized, and cleaned. Instead of passive consumption, actively create by using and sharing your work. Forte suggests creating small, reusable pieces of a project (the first and most impactful unit of an organization) called “staging packages,” such as meeting minutes or an action list. Ultimately, everything is iterative; nothing is final.