As soon as cohort 12 of Building a Second Brain finished earlier this year, my team and I sat down to start designing the next cohort. We looked at everything: Feedback from students Ideas for improvements saved in our notes New apps and features that have been released And our long-term plans for making this
Over the last 18 months I performed an experiment in how I consume content. I became a father in 2020. It was and continues to be one of the most profound, joyful experiences of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But alongside this dramatic shift in my life, I noticed another great
We are officially launching cohort 13 of Building a Second Brain (BASB), our flagship online course on how to save your best ideas, organize your knowledge, and use it to lead a fulfilling life with more ease and less stress. We’ve spent the last 5 months making a new round of radical improvements to every
One of the most powerful shifts I see people make in the way they work is breaking down their large projects or goals into smaller chunks, which I call “Intermediate Packets.” I use the term “packet” because it reminds us that so much of our work today is digital, which means it is malleable and can
The online education industry is blowing up. Projected to grow by 247 billion dollars by 2024, online education is now known simply as “education.” Years’ worth of growth is happening in months as traditional institutions struggle to keep up and everyone from K-12 students to college students to professionals desperately seek ways to connect and learn
I recently hosted Dan Charnas, author of the book Work Clean: The Life-Changing Power of Mise-en-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind (affiliate link), for an in-depth conversation about the most interesting, impactful principles from his work. Dan takes us on a fascinating journey through his career in the music business, as one of the first
I recently joined Vishen Lakhiani, Founder and CEO of the education company Mindvalley, on the Mindvalley Podcast to talk about the 4 essential tools I think every modern professional needs in their toolkit. I also talked through my CODE methodology, which lies at the heart of my approach to building a “Second Brain.” Listen below, or visit
I’m often surprised when people find the idea of a “Second Brain” – a system of knowledge management that lives outside one’s head – to be fanciful or unrealistic. When in fact, the practice of saving and storing important information in a trusted place is ubiquitous. Professionals of all kinds have developed ways of documenting
A system of personal knowledge management, which I call a “Second Brain,” is an indispensable part of any modern professional’s toolkit. Because it is such a personal tool, it’s important to give it a name that evokes the special relationship you have with it. Here is a collection of alternative names for a Second Brain
Octavia Estelle Butler was born in 1947 in Pasadena, CA. Known in her early years as “Estelle,” she was raised by a single, widowed mother who worked domestic jobs to make ends meet. Painfully shy and introverted from a young age, Estelle became an easy target for bullying at school. Her shyness combined with slight
Many of the case studies I share about how I use digital notes involve major writing projects, because that is the most challenging kind of project I use my Second Brain for. But there is a different kind of use case that is just as meaningful: everyday life challenges. Challenges like troubleshooting the wifi at
In 1969, studio executives at Paramount Pictures were desperate to find a film director for a new movie they had purchased the rights to. It was to be a crime drama based on the New York Mafia. One after another, all the top directors of the era turned the project down. They all found it