Cover image “beauty in the brains” by bedelgeuse A student recently asked me, “How do you have the self-discipline to open up your notes app every time you encounter an interesting idea?” Suddenly I realized: I don’t. It’s so critical that note-taking be easy and frictionless, that even opening an app is too much of a
After years of being a guest on other people’s podcasts, I finally pulled the trigger and made one of my own. Introducing the brand new Building a Second Brain Podcast, where I’ll talk about the main ideas from my course of the same name. I think people have enough long-form interviews, so I’m making my
On Thursday, March 26 at 5pm ET I joined Srini Rao for an in-depth workshop on Progressive Summarization, my technique for highlighting the information you consume and turning it into bite-sized nuggets of wisdom. Srini is the founder of The Unmistakable Creative, a blog and podcast for creative people who don’t accept the status quo. He’s interviewed more than 600 experts and
On Thursday, March 19, at 9am ET, I will be interviewing Sönke Ahrens, author of the breakout book How To Take Smart Notes. This is your chance to ask him your burning questions on note-taking and non-fiction writing. Ahrens is a Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the University of Duisburg-Essen and also coaches students,
I long ago stopped reading books on note-taking. They were always too vague and boring, full of platitudes that had little to do with the world outside academia. I especially avoided “how-to” style books on the subject. They would often list dozens of tips and tricks that had little to do with each other. There
I raised the tennis racket high above my head once again, the gloves on my hands failing to prevent the blisters already forming. My eyes were wide with fear as I struck the pillow before me with all my strength. I felt at the edge of control, at the edge of what I knew. The