Pierre Mouchan is an engineer with a passion for time management, psychology, and the brain. He is eager to learn new things and to build apps on X (Twitter) that are public and based on science.

Check out his X (Twitter) here.

Brain Tour

Pierre uses the PARA method, the GTD method and some periodic reviews to organize his day. It helps him stay focused and get all the things done that he needs to do in his typical workday.

Using a combination of these 3 methods helps him to align his actions with his goals.

The only app Pierre uses is Obsidian (and his custom template Obsibrain) to do everything from task management, periodic reviews, goal tracking to note-taking.

How would you use your 2nd Brain to plan a trip to Japan?

I'll first create a goal called "Travel to Japan in 2024" (these goals need to be SMART).

I'll then attach 1-3 projects (think of them as sub-goals to be achieved) like "Japan Travel Budget", "Japan Travel Planning", 2 things that are related but will drive different actions and metrics.

The project "Japan Travel Budget" will contain tasks with due dates such as:
- Save $300 this month
- Budget the activities I will do there
- Look for savings on flight companies

And I will have a SMART subgoal such as "Save $4000 for our 2 weeks travel in Japan before mid-2024"

The project "Japan Travel Planning" will contain tasks with due dates as:
- Look for good restaurants
- Book hotel
- Book visits in Japan

And will have a SMART sub-goal like "Plan every day of our 2-week trip to Japan by mid-2024".

This is how I approach goals in my workflow.

Q&A

What is your number one tip for building a 2nd Brain from the ground up?

Get some inspiration, go look for what other people are building, don't hesitate to try new things if that doesn't work for you, and don't be ashamed. 

Just think like a scientist, make experiments, keep what's working and discard what's not.

Why are you building your 2nd Brain?

I'm building my second brain to actually help me work smarter and organize my life to reclaim some peace of mind. I haven't been diagnosed as having ADHD yet, but I suspect that I may be affected by it.

This whole system and the long hours I take to work on my second brain is actually to reclaim vital hours in the middle term.

If I had to summarized in 1 sentence, it will be: "My whole Second Brain is helping me reducing a lot of mental fatigue every single day."

How did you customize your 2nd Brain?

I'm building in public my Obsidian template called Obsibrain at https://www.obsibrain.com.

Since I'm an engineer, I have the ability to extend Obsidian's default capabilities and create custom code to meet my needs.

What features in one of your 2nd Brain apps have you found most beneficial?

Task Management:

• I usually follow the GTD "2-minute rule". 
  Any task that takes less than 2 minutes, I do it now.

• I plan my tasks for tomorrow the night before, I wake up and can get to work within a minute.

• I always set due dates and try to keep my inbox empty for both my emails and my to-do list.

What was your biggest challenge while creating your 2nd Brain?

Creating something that works for me but that could benefit other people as well, I really want to have some impact on other people's lives and organizations.

If what I do serves me well, I hope I can also teach other people and help them be more organized, save some time, and in the end, be happier.

How do you manage to keep your 2nd Brain up-to-date?

Since I'm building it publicly, I'm constantly improving my system and my Obsidian template through my daily posts on Twitter. 

I also use it daily, so if something doesn't work well for me or is broken, I can easily find a solution, code it, or use a community plugin that already exists.

I've been building this system for over 2 years now, drawing on my 8+ years of time management experience and knowledge.