In his revolutionary book, “Building a Second Brain”, Tiago Forte introduces us to the intricate choreography of the creative process, a rhythmic interplay between divergence and convergence. This dance is a delicate equilibrium, a dynamic exchange between the intake of information (divergence) and the crafting of something novel from it (convergence).

Here’s the twist: if you’re perpetually in the mode of consumption, you’re only experiencing half of the dance. It’s akin to gathering kindling but never striking the match, accumulating knowledge but never applying it. To truly flourish in your creative pursuits, you need to master this balance.

• You need to discern when to welcome new ideas with open arms and when to channel your focus into molding those ideas into something that is distinctly your own.
• It’s not merely about absorbing; it’s about executing. It’s not just about seeking inspiration; it’s about bringing creation to life.

So, let’s delve into this intricate dance between convergence and divergence, and discover how you can harness it to amplify your creative process.

What are Convergence and Divergence?

Divergence is the process of acquiring external knowledge and information, which can involve activities such as reading books, listening to podcasts, and taking online courses.

Convergence occurs when you use the knowledge you have acquired to establish connections between your ideas, link new information to your existing knowledge, and transform that knowledge into action, content, or novel insights.

Convergence and divergence are the two essential phases of the creative process

Divergence: The Art of Consumption

The biggest mistake people make with their consumption habits is reading the same types of books and listening to the same types of podcasts. When you’re exposed to similar ideas repeatedly, you end up in what Eli Pariser calls “The Filter Bubble“.

• Echo chambers and filter bubbles perpetuate myopic points of view. To avoid this, it’s important to diversify your inputs and consume a variety of content from different sources.
• Consuming similar ideas repeatedly can lead to an echo chamber that reinforces what you already believe, preventing you from considering the possibility that you might be wrong.

Diversity of input is essential for generating original insights and making connections between disparate ideas. By diversifying your input, you can break free from filter bubbles and gain a more nuanced understanding of the world.

During my interview with Robert Greene about his book “Mastery,” he used the analogy of biodiversity: the more species you have in an ecosystem, the richer that ecosystem becomes. He emphasized the importance of developing consumption habits that lead to a rich personal knowledge ecosystem.

Author Ryan Holiday, mentored by Robert Greene, embodies the balance between divergence and convergence. Drawing from varied sources including ancient philosophy, history, and psychology, he synthesizes these diverse inputs into unique insights, creating original works such as “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy.”

What you consume will influence what you create. As Dani Shapiro writes in her book “Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life,” “every good book you’ll ever read has the thumbprints of other writers all over it.” This is a testament to the interconnectedness of knowledge and the power of diverse influences in shaping our unique creative expressions.

The Role of Capture in Divergence

According to Tiago Forte, “knowledge capture is about mining the richness of the reading you’re already doing and the life you’re already living.” To make the transition from divergence to convergence, you need to capture what you consume.

Capture Criteria

To effectively convert knowledge into action, it’s crucial to be selective in what you capture. Tiago Forte, in his book “Building a Second Brain,” provides four key criteria for knowledge capture:

• Inspiring: Capture quotes, images, passages from books, and clips from podcasts to utilize knowledge assets and overcome creative blocks, transforming your second brain into an on-demand source of inspiration.
• Useful: The usefulness of information is subjective, but when you organize information and notes for action, you can connect them to relevant projects, making your notes discoverable for your future self.
• Personal: Meaningful conversations often occur through text messages or phone calls, and these interactions frequently contain personal nuggets of wisdom that are unique and not found elsewhere.

• Surprising: Avoiding confirmation bias in your captures enables you to learn new things, and capturing surprising insights allows you to connect what you learn to what you already know, thereby expanding your knowledge assets.

Capture with a Creative Intention

Embrace a systematic approach to highlighting and saving excerpts as it alters how you utilize them. As Tiago Forte suggests, focus on capturing content that excites you, resonates with you, or seems potentially useful in the future. This approach makes your notes more accessible and useful. Additionally, when capturing new notes, strive to connect what you learn to your existing knowledge.and link new notes to existing ones. This practice enhances the compound interest of taking smart notes, boosting their value exponentially.

Convergence: The Art of Creation

Convergence takes place when you distill something to its essence and turn what you’ve already created into something new. According to Tiago Forte, “the process of convergence involves distilling the captured information, organizing it, and expressing it in a new form.”

Distillation

Distillation increases the value of your notes because it forces you to convert information into knowledge. For most people, taking notes ends when they underline things and save them to a note-taking app. But when you’re building an artificially intelligent second brain, that’s where it begins.

The most effective way to distill information is to write about what you read. When you rewrite something in your own words, not only does it force retrieval practice for the purpose of learning, but it also encourages you to ask questions that encourage elaboration, connect what you learn to what you know, and integrate it into your existing knowledge.

In the process of distillation, you’ll start to make connections between your ideas and other people’s ideas. Your notes evolve into knowledge assets and knowledge building blocks.

Expression: From Knowledge to Creation

Expression is the aspect of convergence that transforms knowledge into creative output. This could be a blog post, a podcast episode, a presentation, or any other form of creative work.

Example: Divergence and Convergence to Write This Blog Post

Writing this article is a perfect example of the balance between convergence and divergence. During the divergence phase, I gathered information by reading Tiago Forte’s book “Building a Second Brain” and taking detailed notes. I also had the opportunity to interview Tiago on The Unmistakable Creative podcast, which gave me even more insight into his ideas.

When it was time for the convergence phase, I used the notes and knowledge I had collected to create something new. I organized my notes and created an outline for this article, which helped guide my writing and keep me on track.

Finally, with my outline and notes in hand, I began to write the article. This was where all my previous work paid off, as I took the information I had gathered and turned it into a unique piece of writing. This process shows how balancing convergence and divergence can help turn information into creativity.

Creative work always requires balancing consumption and creation, divergence and convergence. To effectively make use of both stages of the creative process, you need to be deliberate about what you consume, diversify your inputs, distill the information, and add your own perspective to it. When you do this, your second brain evolves into a rich personal knowledge ecosystem.

Expression: From Knowledge to Creation

Expression is the aspect of convergence that transforms knowledge into creative output. This could be a blog post, a podcast episode, a presentation, or any other form of creative work.

Example: Convergence and Divergence to Write This Blog Post

Writing this article is a perfect example of the balance between convergence and divergence. During the divergence phase, I gathered information by reading Tiago Forte’s book “Building a Second Brain” and taking detailed notes. I also had the opportunity to interview Tiago on The Unmistakable Creative podcast, which gave me even more insight into his ideas.

When it was time for the convergence phase, I used the notes and knowledge I had collected to create something new. I organized my notes and created an outline for this article, which helped guide my writing and keep me on track.

Finally, with my outline and notes in hand, I began to write the article. This was where all my previous work paid off, as I took the information I had gathered and turned it into a unique piece of writing. This process shows how balancing convergence and divergence can help turn information into creativity.

Creative work always requires balancing consumption and creation, convergence and divergence. To effectively make use of both stages of the creative process, you need to be deliberate about what you consume, diversify your inputs, distill the information, and add your own perspective to it. When you do this, your second brain evolves into a rich personal knowledge ecosystem.