(While Having Our First Child During a Global Pandemic) Writing and publishing my book Building a Second Brain was by far the longest and hardest project I’ve ever completed. From the first call with the agent (who would eventually represent me) in January 2019 until June 2022 when the book was released to the world,…
I sat down in person with my friend, productivity YouTuber Ali Abdaal, for a 1-hour deep dive conversation. We covered a lot of ground, including… How having a child impacted my productivity My journey into the world of productivity How to keep up with managing information flows Is the world moving away from productivity? What productivity…
I joined Jan Black & Laura Owens on the Nobody Told Me! podcast to discuss all things Second Brain. We discussed: How to improve your digital notes by learning about traditional notetaking Why no one app will save you How to organize the creative process The chronic medical condition that jump-started Building a Second Brain…
I joined Francesco D’Alessio, the host of Keep Productive, on his YouTube channel. His mission is to help you find the most suitable productivity tools for your work and life. We discussed: Why I’ve used Evernote for 10 years My favorite capture, to-do, and calendar apps What is the bottleneck to creativity The power of a weekly review…
I sat down with Ryder Caroll, the creator of the Bullet Journal, to discuss all things personal knowledge management (PKM) and the differences between our first and Second Brain. We covered: The differences between PKM and productivity The biggest misconception about PKM The true purpose of PKM How to deal with “data debt” My project-oriented approach…
I joined Anne-Laure Le Cunff founder of Ness Labs, a mindful productivity school for knowledge workers, to talk about all things productivity and notetaking. We covered: The evolution of my Second Brain The difference between note-taking vs note-making The need for mindful productivity My book writing system Are there 3 or 4 notetaking archetypes? It was…
Imagine you sit down to work at your computer determined to really get things done. You brew a strong cup of coffee, turn off your phone, put on your favorite playlist, and resolve to not get up before you’ve made real progress on your most important tasks. Even if you already know what your top…
“Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.” —Gustav Flaubert “We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.” —Sir Thomas Browne “The ability to ‘fantasize’ is the ability to survive. It’s wonderful to speak about this subject because there have been so many…
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…
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…
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…
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