Commoncog   Commoncog

“I can’t remember what I read last week!”

You know how it is. You’re a busy professional. Your industry changes rapidly due to new technology and new threats.

You read widely to ensure your career doesn’t get left behind. You devour news articles, social analysis, Medium stories, pithy Facebook posts, long Twitter threads. You want to know how this affects you tomorrow. 👓

But you can’t remember what you read last week!

And how can you? The internet is a battleground for our attention! You can’t remember what you’ve read if you don't process it, and you can’t process it when you have Instagram, and Facebook, and chat. 📱

But what if you could?

I created Commoncog to help you with exactly that.

Every article you read can be highlighted in Commoncog. When you’re done, Commoncog asks you to record your takeaways. 🤔

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Twice a week, you get summaries of your takeaways emailed to you. (You can tell it to stop if you’re done with that particular article.) 📬

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When you want to remember what you’ve learnt, you run a search. 🔍

You may also tag your takeaways with a topic tag, for browsing later. 📖

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Eventually, your collection of links and your takeaways serves as your external brain. You’ll see Commoncog as a log of ideas that you want to remember. 💡

This is why I call Commoncog an idea bookmarking service. 💡📚

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An article with no takeaway is time you’ve just wasted. (Unless you’re reading for fun, that is!)

My name is Cedric. I created Commoncog for myself. This software is how I track ideas for my career growth.

Commoncog’s blog is where I write about building career moats in a world of rapid change. I update it twice a week, and I use Commoncog to track the ideas I write about. Here are the latest posts:

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Commonplace, the Commoncog Blog

The Gap Between Reputation and Personal Brand

Reputation is old. Personal brands are new. It is useful to know that they are not the same thing.

What Bill Gurley Saw

Some careers can be made on the back of a single, wonderful idea. We take a look at what that looks like, through the lens of venture capitalist Bill Gurley's career.

Enthusiasm Half-Life

Over the long term, enthusiasm for most projects fade with time. Here's one useful way to think about it.

The Games People Play With Cash Flow

One way that first principles thinking fails is when you build your analysis up from a deficient set of base principles. Everything is correct and true, but you still end up mistaken. Here's how that looks like in practice.

You may follow the blog here, if you’d like ideas for finding an edge in your career. 🚨

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Thanks for reading! ❤️

Warmly, Cedric