A story about memory, focus, and the second brain

Back in the 2000s, I knew dozens of phone numbers by heart - landlines first, and then the mobile numbers when they showed up. I could list 20+ numbers without even thinking.

Fast forward to today? I can barely remember 4 or 5, including my own. It’s humbling, and a little funny. 😅

Our brains are incredible machines… but they have limits.

Memory champions show us what’s possible 🧩

Some people push these limits in amazing ways. Take Chao Lu, who memorized 67,980 digits of pi in 24 hours. Sounds impossible, right?

He actually used techniques:

• Mind palace (method of loci): imagine a place and “store” information in rooms

• Chunking: break info into digestible pieces

• Mnemonic linking: connect unrelated things into a story

The point? We remember better when information has meaning and links to what we already know.

Tools that expand your mind 🔨

Humans have been extending their minds with tools for thousands of years - from cave drawings to notebooks, from mathematics to computers. Today, apps, knowledge systems, and AI assistants act as a second brain, helping you:

• Capture ideas instantly

• Connect new info to what you already know

• Collaborate with others

• Keep context and sources intact

With the right tools, your brain’s natural limits aren’t a barrier, they’re a starting point.

Capture insights, link them meaningfully, and share them with others. Small actions like these add up, giving your memory, understanding, and creativity a serious boost.

The collective brain is unstoppable 🧠

Even if one brain has limits, the collective brain of humanity doesn’t.

Thanks to the internet, shared knowledge, and collaboration, ideas spread, connect, and multiply faster than ever. Human knowledge is now thought to double every 12 hours.

That’s the beauty of connected minds, a global brain we’re building together.

Full Circle 🛞

Remember all those phone numbers I used to know by heart? I can’t recall most of them anymore and that’s fine. 

What matters more are the ideas, connections, and stories we capture and share. Every note, every insight you add helps build a collective brain that’s bigger than any one of us.

Speaking of memory… how’s yours these days?

I’ll be checking the results! Maybe we’ll all get inspired! 💡

Until next time,

Gordana
and the Collabwriting Team 💛

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