I recently sat down to attempt something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time: using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automatically create a high-quality book summary. As I wrote in my Ultimate Guide to Summarizing Books, writing book summaries is one of the very best ways I’ve found to absorb an author’s ideas deeply into…
One of my current obsessions is understanding exactly how a new idea, such as the “Second Brain” meme I’ve spent the last 5 years working on, moves from the fringes of society to become a part of mainstream culture. This isn’t idle speculation: in 6 months, on August 2, 2022, my book Building a Second…
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…
In my PARA Method, I teach people how to organize all their digital notes and files using a simple, 4-part system. Your computer is your working environment for many of your waking hours. Until you take control of it and design it to support the kinds of thinking you want to do, every minute spent there…
One of the most common questions I’m asked is “What should I save in my digital notes?” My typical answers include “highlights from books,” “website bookmarks,” and “social media favorites.” Those are the bread and butter of online content. But they are also just the very tip of the iceberg. There is a whole universe…
Here are the best online articles and blog posts I read in 2020. For each one I’ve provided a short excerpt and an explanation of how it shaped my thinking. #1 Seeing Like an Algorithm “Understanding how the algorithm achieves its accuracy matters even if you’re not interested in TikTok or the short video space…
As I start writing this year-end review, the latest in a long line of year-end rituals, I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Even more than usual. In 2020 so many people around the world got sick, lost their jobs or businesses, or their lives. I want to start this ritual grounded in that…
This guide is also available in Spanish. In 2016, I read 57 books. I read like I was running out of time. It felt like an achievement, yet by the end of the year, I could scarcely recall even one useful idea from each book. That moment was a turning point. I realized very little…
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…
My Praxis blog is joining Everything, an online publication curating the very best content on productivity, organizing, personal effectiveness, and strategy on the web. Click the button below to join, or keep reading for the full story. Join Everything When I first started Praxis, my mission was to “dramatically increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the…
I interviewed Oliver Sauter, the Co-Founder of a knowledge management and online bookmarking platform called Memex. Memex is built by a company called WorldBrain, whose vision is “A well informed and less polarized society where everyone can use their full attention to create knowledge and make sustainable, effective and compassionate decisions.” Their vision is “To…
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…
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