Over the last few weeks I’ve been obsessively binge-watching the sci-fi TV series The Expanse. The year is 2350. The solar system has been settled and is divided into warring factions. Earth is still the greatest economic power, its industries unrivaled. But Earth’s society has grown stagnant, losing its sense of ambition and vitality over the centuries….
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting in my high school U.S. History class. We watched in horror as the aftermath of the twin towers’ collapse unfolded on live TV. I was in my third year, and at 16 years old thought I was just beginning to understand the world and my…
By Praxis Fellow Christina Luo Productivity is about managing emotions as much as projects. Yet we often focus on productivity as a toolset more than a mindset. Our proximity to an abundance of information makes us think we’re making progress when we’re merely deciding how to react to stimuli. The means of note-taking, task-making, and…
I recently discovered a treasure trove of family home videos stretching back almost 40 years. The earliest video was from my parents wedding in 1981 in São Paulo. The footage was grainy and barely in color, and looked like it was taken by a professional crew. Consumer camcorders hadn’t even been invented yet. The more…
Over the last year I filmed a short documentary on the life and artistic career of my father Wayne Forte. He has been one of the strongest influences on me, not only as a father, but as a prolific lifelong artist. I wanted a way to share his remarkable story with a wider public, to…
One day in your early school years, a teacher probably told you to “take notes” for the first time. Looking around at your fellow classmates, this seemed to involve writing down what the teacher said, word for word, on lined pieces of paper. For most of us, this is how our experience of note-taking started:…
This guide details the exact gear I used to make my personal documentary film Wayne Lacson Forte: On My Way To Me. For the full story behind the film, read here. My priorities were: The most minimal and affordable gear possible, since this was an experiment Products that were highly adaptable and could be repurposed for other…
In order to get where you’re going, you need to know where you came from. When it comes to learning, you need a way to measure your progress toward your goal. How will you know whether you learned it? How will you compare your performance before and after? What concretely will you be able to…
To celebrate the launch of the 11th edition of Building a Second Brain, we’re co-hosting the first ever Second Brain Week, a series of free events with 8 top creators and experts. Come join us to learn about digital note-taking, organizing, productivity, knowledge management, and online education, and how creating a system of knowledge management for yourself can…
I recently interviewed Kent Sisco, the creator of a knowledge management app called Speare. It provides a flexible interface for capturing thoughts and ideas as building blocks that you can organize into a “visual thought library.” Here are some of the features we demonstrated and discussed: Find & Replace – Locate words and phrases and replace…
There is no perfect algorithm that will tell you how to maximize your time for the things you most care about. You need to rely on your intuition. You need self-awareness to know what is truly important and understand what is actually stopping you from getting something done. But this perspective is often missing because…
I am unbelievably excited to share with you my first ever documentary film! For more than a year, I’ve been working on a documentary short about my dad, Wayne Forte. He is a lifelong painter who has been one of the main influences on my ideas about productivity, creativity, and using art for personal growth. It…
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