I’m incredibly proud to share news that’s been two years in the making: my next book is coming in Fall 2026! It’s called Life in Perspective, and it represents the culmination of a reflective practice I’ve been refining since 2008: the annual review. If you’ve read Building a Second Brain or The PARA Method, you…
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…
I remember the exact moment I was radicalized about climate change. Standing on the front porch of our new home in Southern California in the summer of 2020, I watched the sky turn a burnt orange as wildfires blazed in the inland summer heat. The particles of smoke didn’t just fill the air—they filled our…
I spent 2 years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Eastern Ukraine from 2009 to 2011. I lived in the town of Kupyansk, a couple hours outside Kharkiv, near the Russian border. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, teaching me so much about myself and life and the people and…
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…
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…
One of the aspects of writing a book I most looked forward to was releasing it in my family’s country of origin, Brazil. I’d spent years daydreaming about what that would feel like, returning to my homeland bearing the gift of hard-won knowledge to share with the people who had given me so much. Criando
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…
In August of 1998, when I was 14 years old, my parents pulled my three siblings and me out of school, packed up our house and our bags, and left the country. Instead of starting 8th grade in the wealthy suburb of Laguna Niguel, I would be attending a public school in a working-class neighborhood…
When it comes to storing and organizing digital information, photos are in many ways the elephant in the room. They’re highly valued and meaningful, yet require a lot of storage space. For many people, photos are probably the earliest experience of having too much digital content to manage. I first felt this sensation of information…
I couldn’t be more excited and proud to unveil my first new course in 7 years: Pillars of Productivity (which we call POP). I’ve spent the last 7 years dedicated to teaching people how to build their “Second Brain” – a long-term and personalized system for notetaking. With thousands of students taught, two bestselling books…