Tiago Forte
17 years ago, at the age of 22, I uploaded my first YouTube video. My high school friend Derick and I had set up a digital camcorder, faced the camera with our backs to his bedroom wall, hit record, and just started talking about 3D printing, which was to be the first episode in a…
This is a proposal I wrote for a television show based on my bestselling book Building a Second Brain. If it resonates with you and you’re in a position to make a TV show happen, please let me know by emailing [email protected]. I’m open to a variety of formats, funding sources, routes to production, and…
In this blog post, I share a deeply personal journey through an unexplained illness that affected my voice for years. What began as a small scratch in my throat eventually spiraled into debilitating pain and silence, leaving me without answers after visiting dozens of doctors across four countries. It wasn’t until I explored the mind-body connection through the work of Dr. John Sarno and other experts that I finally began to understand the root cause of my suffering.
I’ve read hundreds of books on productivity and self-improvement over the years. Many of them are filled with vague prescriptions or clichéd advice, but a small number were truly transformative for me. They served as intellectual lighthouses on my journey, helping me understand what was happening to me as I explored my past, my psyche,…
In June 2024, I attended VidCon, the preeminent global conference on YouTube and all things Creator Economy. It was the first large-scale event of its kind I’ve ever been a part of, and it introduced me to many fascinating and surprising trends emerging on the Internet. Here are my top takeaways from the conference that…
I’ve long believed that our choices about which projects to take on are among the most important decisions we make, and now I have evidence to back it up. In an article on the TED blog and a paper called The Methodology of Personal Projects Analysis, research professor Brian R. Little examines how the pursuit…
It’s now been two years since the release of my book Building a Second Brain. It has already reached and surpassed every goal I had for it, with 250,000 worldwide sales and many new countries and languages still to come. On this occasion, however, I want to answer a longstanding question that is only just starting to come into focus: Has the success of this book grown the underlying business?
I recently attended a 3-day intensive program designed to shift people’s attitudes toward money, hosted by executive coach and teacher Joe Hudson and his team. I didn’t really know what I was in for. I went mostly to accompany my wife Lauren, who said she needed a new perspective on money and thought I might…
I recently came across a Substack post by Venkatesh Rao called Oozy Intelligence in Slow Time that was one of the most insightful I’ve ever read for understanding the nature of Artificial Intelligence. We tend to think of Artificial Intelligence as being in an arms race with Human Intelligence. Which one is smarter? When will…
Creativity is often described as an elusive, even magical, phenomenon. In reality, it’s a skill – and there are many ways to prime your brain to be more creative. Surprisingly, one of them is procrastination. We generally think of procrastination as a bad habit, a mental hurdle we need to overcome. But research shows that…
I recently announced my next major book project: a book on how to complete a year-end life review as a ritual for self-reflection and growth. I’ve had an annual review practice in some form since 2008, and I can’t think of anything else that has more dramatically impacted my life in that time. I can’t…
Like so many others, I’ve spent the past year exploring and experimenting with emerging AI tools. Throughout that time, there has been one question I’ve been trying to answer: Will AI replace the need for Second Brains entirely? A lot of people seem to think so, and I admittedly have a self-interested motivation: to decide…