Is Recall the Second Brain for the AI Era?
We gave four people on our team Recall, an AI knowledge base and Evernote alternative, for three weeks. Here’s our honest verdict.
Productivity
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The Ultimate Guide to Claude Connectors
In late 2024, Anthropic released a new standard called MCP, which stands for Model Context Protocol. We didn’t know it at the time, but this would end up being a monumental moment in the history of modern AI. MCP would spread and grow to become the universal standard used by all AI platforms as a…
Why PARA Is the Key to the AI Era
I recently did an experiment. I allowed files and folders to accumulate on my computer for a month – just let them pile up without organizing anything. By the end of that month, I had 222 individual items scattered across my desktop and downloads folder. The accumulated files were genuinely diverse… Financial documents: personal tax…
Introducing The AI Second Brain
In early 2023, after teaching 6,000 students over six years, I abruptly decided to stop teaching our Building a Second Brain cohorts. Even at that early stage, with the release of the first version of ChatGPT just a couple months earlier, it was clear to me the impact this new technology would have. Almost from…
A Guide to the Claude 4 and ChatGPT 5 System Prompts
One of the most influential yet under-appreciated parts of how large language models work is something most people never see: the system prompt. This is the block of hidden instructions given to the model before it ever receives your input. It establishes the model’s tone, boundaries, and behaviors. You can’t change the system prompt, but…
Productive Disorder: The Hidden Power of Chaos, Noise, and Randomness
In the early 1700s, Central Europe faced a crisis: the forests were running out. An explosion in mining, shipbuilding, and early industry had devastated old-growth forests that had stood for many centuries. Meanwhile, the population was exploding as well, creating demands on forests that clearly couldn’t be sustained for long. The kingdoms of Prussia and…
The Analog Productivity System: Journaling for Every Season of Life
I’m thrilled to share a special guest post by my wife, Lauren Valdez. Lauren approaches productivity in a way that’s refreshingly different from my digital-first philosophy. She’s deeply rooted in the tactile and intentional, favoring physical tools like journals over digital systems. Journaling has been her cornerstone for reflection, decision-making, and creativity. I’m excited for…
How Your Projects Shape Who You Are
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…
Digital Attention Spans: AI as a Source of Infinite Patience
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…
The Creative Power of Procrastination
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…
Introducing the Second Brain Summit
I’m unbelievably proud to announce the inaugural Second Brain Summit, taking place October 3–4, 2024, in Los Angeles, California! We’re gathering the most dedicated experts and practitioners of personal knowledge management in the world’s creative capital with three goals in mind: To meet other like-minded people and see that we’re not alone To celebrate the…
Test-Driving a New Generation of Second Brain Apps: Obsidian, Tana, and Mem
About six months ago, I decided to evaluate a few of the newer generation of Second Brain apps. I’ve been using Evernote for 10 years and wanted to see if any of the up-and-comers could take over as my platform of choice. I tested three of the most promising ones – Obsidian, Tana, and Mem