The Forte Labs Blog

Dedicated to Exploring the Frontier of Modern Productivity

Project-Based Learning: Designing a Capstone Project

By Will Mannon, Forte Labs Course Manager This memo outlines the Capstone Project that students will complete for Cohort 10 of Building a Second Brain (BASB). It was originally written for our internal team, but in the spirit of “working with the garage door open”, I’ve decided to share it here. Overview Each student will be…

Read More →

Tiago Forte on the Everything is Teachable Podcast

I recently sat down with Melissa Guller on the official Teachable podcast, Everything is Teachable. Teachable is the online learning platform we use to deliver all our programs. In this episode, we talked about why I believe pre-produced content isn’t necessarily the best approach for online courses of any size. I made my most forceful…

Read More →

The Automation of Note-Taking and the Just-In-Time Future of Work

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…

Read More →

Own Your Writing Platform

Publishing a book is like running for political office.

There are a lot of people out there who you want to take a certain action, at a certain time and place in the future. With political campaigning, that action is to vote. With book campaigning, it is to buy your book.

Read More →

Evaluating Your Book Idea

In the beginning, is a message.

You have something to say. A message that wants to get out of you. That needs to get out of you or else it will keep you up every night and drive you crazy.

Read More →

The Complete Guide to Landing a Book Deal

I recently signed a six-figure book deal with Simon & Schuster for my book Building a Second Brain.

As a first-time author, and in the midst of the greatest economic crisis in a generation, this is a spectacular outcome. It took a year of hard work, a team of editors and advisors, and countless proposal drafts and revisions, along with a heavy dose of luck.

Read More →

The Lifecycle of a Profitable Online Course

I recently joined Chris Sparks to discuss the evolution of online education and identify the fastest path to creating profitable and sustainable online courses. In case you didn’t know, I’ve created 5 successful online courses which have generated over two million dollars in sales. My flagship course, Building A Second Brain, has been taken by more…

Read More →

How To Work Effectively With A Personal Assistant, with Tim Francis

It is NOT easy OR cheap to “hire a VA.” But if done right, it is profoundly transformational not just for your daily workload but for your quality of life. I recently hosted a comprehensive, two-hour online workshop with the founder of Great Assistant, Tim Francis. Tim’s company is a three-part hydra: one part recruiting service, one part…

Read More →

Interview on the Talk of Today Podcast with Sam Barton

I recently joined Sam Barton on his podcast Talk of Today. We had a pretty wide-ranging discussion, covering where people go wrong when it comes to organizing their information, general thoughts about Twitter, the social platform responsible for this conversation, my life philosophy Servant Hedonism, a bit about trauma, and why I’m an arms-dealer for smart people. Listen on Stitcher or…

Read More →

Latinos Who Tech: How to Become a Digital Nomad with Lauren Valdez

My partner in business and life Lauren Valdez recently sat down to speak with Hugo Castellanos on his podcast Latinos Who Tech. They talked about our path to becoming digital nomads and moving to Mexico City, how we navigate disagreements while running the business together, and her uniquely Latina take on productivity and knowledge management….

Read More →

I Got a Book Deal for Building a Second Brain!

Series Navigation: Book UpdatesBook Update #1: Popularizing the Second Brain >>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…

Read More →

Topics I Write About Include

Explore Our Articles By Category

Please note that our blog posts may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

We’re committed to being transparent about our use of AI tools—you can read our full AI-generated content policy here.