It is June of 2016, and I’m sitting quietly at my computer in a trendy cafe in downtown Oakland, California. I’m gulping down a huge, over-sweetened chai latte and sweating profusely as I log in to my computer. I’m incredibly stressed out, and using the sugar as a coping mechanism. I’m sweating not because I’m working…
In this new video series, I walk you through my own learning process as I get to know Roam Research, the “note-taking tool for networked thought.” From creating my Roam account and opening the program for the first time, I’ll ask the stupid questions so you don’t have to, experiment with every feature through trial and…
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…
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…
There is one guiding question for our team as we design the Building a Second Brain course: How can we make a course that is impossible to fail? So many courses make a big promise of everything you will do and achieve…as long as you perfectly complete every lesson and comply with every requirement. I remember taking these courses….
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…
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…
I couldn’t be more proud to announce that I’ve signed a six-figure book deal with Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, to publish my book Building a Second Brain. Subscribe below to get updates on my progress, sneak peeks at early chapters, and bonus resources to help you build your Second Brain now:…
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…
REPLAY NOW AVAILABLE: You Need a Second Brain Now with Tiago Forte & Rich Schefren Click here to learn more
By Marie-Pier Corbeil, Vice President and Lead Designer at RVE (Recharge Véhicule Électrique), working on solutions for EV charger installation in multi-unit residential buildings To use progressive summarization with PDFs, here’s what I do: 1. I highlight and comment passages in PDF Expert (which is my layer 1): 2. I export my highlights…