For the best reading experience with links to my second brain notes, I highly suggest you read the full edition in my uploaded second brain here.

Welcome to Weekly Wonderings, a newsletter exploring the journey towards Digital Self-Actualization: realizing our meaningful potential through the synthesis of digital tools, life management systems, and humanistic philosophies.

Here's a quick galactic overview of this edition 🌌:

• The cheapest supplement for enhanced cognition 💊
• A gift for those going back to school 🏫
• My new shining stars 🌟

Would you take a pill to enhance your cognition? 💊

If I told you that there was a pill you could take every day to grant you the following benefits:

• An increase in the capacity to focus attention and resist distraction
• Greater verbal fluency and cognitive flexibility
• Enhanced problem-solving and decision-making abilities
• Increased working memory
• Strengthened long-term memory for what is learned
• Increased efficiency of information transmission throughout neurons

Would you take it?

(For the record, I'm not talking about nootropics)

When I learned about this from reading The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul, I was amazed at how many simple scientific-backed strategies were available for enhancing our cognition. Initially, I read the book to explore my obsession with Obsidian and other productivity apps; I wanted to understand the fundamental science of why and how a second brain empowers us with benefits similar to this pill.

However, after reading the book, I realized that the idea of an extended mind wouldn't be given justice if it only consisted of digital apps. Rather, our extended mind expands to encompass everything beyond our physical brain. As Annie puts it,

This felt liberating.

Instead of being limited through biological impairments like having ADHD, my brain is only part of a larger system that determines my capabilities for focusing and getting things done. By adapting to my capabilities and exploring the other tips for embodied cognition, I've adopted a growth mindset to overcome my symptoms.

Besides using Obsidian, this pill has been one of my most effective daily energizers before my morning deep work or writing sessions...