# Every Knowledge Worker N...  ## Metadata - Author: [[@fortelabs on Twitter]] - Full Title: Every Knowledge Worker N... - Category: #tweets - URL: https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026034884235270 ## Highlights - Every knowledge worker needs a "Productivity Stack" to truly thrive in life and at work. Here's how to create one: ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026034884235270)) - There are four essential activities of modern work: send messages, manages to-dos, make notes, and manage projects. For each activity a technology becomes widespread. “*All great technologies begin as blessings… but end up expanding so wildly that they become a curse.”* ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026042991829000)) - Email started out as a blessing. But we started using it for too many purposes: a notification system, a to-do list, a notetaking tool, a contact database, and an archival system for our digital lives. Now email feels like a curse.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026059739770880)) - Email created thousands of “open loops” – unfinished or incomplete mental tasks – in our lives. This created email overwhelm. Task managers sought to solve this. They gained widespread adoption as people realized just how much easier it was to maintain a to-do list using them.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026074071715846)) - But task managers were so effective at quickly capturing thoughts people began to use them for everything. This created task overwhelm. When the actionable items in your list are crowded out by the non-urgent ones - making it is difficult to find the next important action.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026084934918145)) - Digital notetaking apps solved this problem by letting you easily capture notes in a place separate from your task manager. Notetaking apps unlocked a new form of digital creativity well-matched with our fluid, mobile, always-on, everyday lives. ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026088198033424)) - But the note-taking apps that were so exciting in the 2010s now feel ill-suited to the way we need to organize our knowledge today. Notetaking overwhelm happens when you’re growing a knowledge system – but somehow, you never revisit the notes you’ve captured.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026099598245899)) - Now I notice the seeds of a new revolution are beginning to blossom: the rise of Personal Dashboards. Personal dashboards address notetaking overwhelm by structuring, organizing, and reframing your existing notes on a just-in-time basis to help you make better decisions.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026111866486786)) - Here’s one of our Personal Dashboards at Forte Labs – the Editorial Calendar I’ve used to run our content business for the past few years. As a media business, we need to know and be aware of each piece of content flowing through our pipeline.  ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026153717350401)) - Previously, you had to hire an engineer to create such a dashboard. This was hugely costly. The power of dashboards has now trickled down to everyone, as part of the “no-code” movement: apps that allow for extensive customization, without requiring technical coding skills. ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026161233453058)) - But not everything should be a personal dashboard. A personal dashboard has to be architected – designed, built, iterated on, and maintained over time. ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026163158683654)) - The reality is that we all have a holistic productivity stack, which changes slowly. My term for this stack is a “Second Brain,” because it allows you to offload and utilize all the complex information swirling through your mind. ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026165692047364)) - Each person’s productivity stack is different, but it’s always multi-layered, multi-dimensional, and nuanced. The truth is, all these tools and all these layers only matter to the extent they bring you more of what you want in life. ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026167650824200)) - If you want to get my best thinking on fascinating topics such as productivity, personal effectiveness, and building your own second brain, then sign up for my newsletter: https://t.co/0UQoNaKlsA ([View Tweet](https://twitter.com/fortelabs/status/1499026169466863618))