Intro (0:00–0:30)
Pinterest is where I save ideas when I don’t want to think about them yet.
Articles.
Design references.
Random things I swear I’ll come back to.
And for a long time, I thought that was fine — until I realized something.
I wasn’t losing ideas because I forgot them.
I was losing them because I couldn’t find myself anymore inside everything I’d saved.
The Problem (0:30–1:30)
Over the years, my Pinterest turned into this massive archive.
Thousands of pins.
Dozens of boards.
And whenever I needed inspiration, I’d open it…
and feel overwhelmed instead of helped.
I knew I had saved something useful —
a layout, a quote, a way of thinking —
but it was buried under years of “maybe someday.”
Pinterest doesn’t really let you search your own thinking.
You’re stuck scrolling through your past, hoping you’ll recognize it when you see it.
The Bigger Issue (1:30–2:15)
This isn’t just a Pinterest problem.
We’re really good at collecting information.
We’re terrible at retrieving meaning later.
A lot of second brain systems promise clarity —
but end up becoming another thing to manage.
Another system you have to be disciplined enough to maintain perfectly.
I didn’t want another system.
I wanted memory.
Personal Shift (2:15–2:45)
What I really wanted was a way to talk to my past self.
To say:
“I remember saving something like this…
but I don’t remember the words.”
The Solution (2:45–3:40)
So I built something for myself.
I connected my Pinterest account, and instead of scrolling endlessly,
I just described what I was looking for.
Not keywords.
Not exact titles.
Just the idea.
And it would surface pins I saved years ago —
things I completely forgot about, but instantly recognized.
Pinterest stopped being a graveyard of ideas.
It became searchable memory.
A second brain that didn’t require perfect organization.
Why It Changed Everything (3:40–4:30)
What changed wasn’t productivity.
It was trust.
I stopped feeling pressure to use ideas immediately.
I could save things again — knowing I’d actually find them when they mattered.
Pinterest went back to being what I always wanted it to be:
a quiet place to think, not a place that demanded output.
Closing + Soft CTA (4:30–end)
I ended up making it public, because I know I’m not the only one who uses Pinterest this way.
If you’ve ever thought,
“I know I saved this somewhere,”
it’s linked below.
And if nothing else, remember this:
You’re not bad at organizing ideas.
Most tools just weren’t built for how people actually think.