I’m very proud to announce the first ever New Year’s Bundle for Building a Second Brain!

It has been a VERY eventful two years since I first launched this course (known as BASB for short), including:

  • Over 600 students from all over the world learning how to build their own second brain
  • 13 podcast interviews I’ve done about the method and the best practices I’ve discovered
  • 9 free case studies about how graduates are putting their second brains to use
  • More student testimonials that have continued to pour in
  • A steady stream of blog posts I’ve written (free and members-only) expanding on or diving deeper into related topics
  • At least three universities integrating BASB methods into their courses, including Stanford University

I’ve just published version 7.0 of the course, which includes valuable new content and features. You can see the full history of every version here. I’ll continue making updates and improvements for the foreseeable future, and new updates will always be available to all past customers.

The new features include:

  • One-time live bootcamp version of the course from Jan. 16–Feb. 6, 2019
  • Access to book summary archives (in-depth summaries of 59 best-selling books related to knowledge management, note-taking, and visual thinking)
  • New and improved RandomNote app version 2.0 and walkthrough tutorial (a customized web app we created to randomly resurface notes from your Evernote notebooks for review)
  • Fixed broken links and clarified instructions and wording
  • New advanced tutorial for premium tier only: Creating Note Templates with Evernote (with Stacey Harmon)

But that’s not even the most exciting part!

This year, I’m partnering with Taylor Pearson, best-selling author of The End of Jobs and a well-known entrepreneur, consultant, and speaker. Taylor took the course and implemented my note-taking methods last year. He’s written a new article about what he learned through that experience, how he uses it in his own writing and business (including examples), and his take on how personal knowledge management fits into a changing economy and workplace:

[button link=”https://taylorpearson.me/unlock-creative-potential/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Read Taylor’s new post[/button]

I’ve also followed and gained a lot of insights from Taylor’s extensive writing on productivity, innovation, and the future of work. We learned so much from each others’ perspectives, that we’ve decided to join forces and combine our courses into a complete curriculum for transforming your productivity in 2019, including:

Taylor and I take opposite, but complementary approaches to productivity and effectiveness.

My approach is “bottom up,” starting with clearing work spaces and organizing material that has accumulated over the course of the year. I prefer starting with tangible, practical tasks and notes and working my way up toward ambitious projects and goals.

Taylor takes a “top down” approach. He begins with a 25-year vision, translating that into a quarterly plan, then a weekly review, and then a daily ritual. In this way, the decisions and actions of each day are reflections of the long-term vision. Every task you complete, no matter how small, becomes a brick in a grand monument you are building in your business or career.

Neither approach works all the time. Both perspectives are needed to give you the clarity, confidence, and motivation you need through the year. Together, they provide an integrated approach for aligning every little nook and cranny of your life toward the goals you want to achieve.

Don’t spend years and countless dollars trying out every productivity tip out there! Allow Taylor and I to distill the thousands of ideas we’ve tested into a clear, coherent set of principles that are tried and true. In our courses, we provide all the instructions, templates, examples, and case studies you’ll need to skip years of trial and error and advance toward your goals at light speed.

I know that taking self-paced courses can be a challenge on your own, so to tie it all together, we are also offering The Annual Review, a live virtual workshop on Saturday, Jan. 5 and Sunday, Jan. 6 to show you how we do our “annual reviews.” This is a one-time exclusive that we can’t promise will ever be available again.

These reviews are carefully designed reflections on the past year combined with visualization and planning for the next year. We each rely on our reviews to update our productivity systems for the new year, and set powerful goals that reflect our latest priorities. Yes, January 1 is an arbitrary date on the calendar. But it’s as good as any for elevating your perspective and recalibrating your strategy for the coming year.

The workshop will be delivered online using the Zoom video-conferencing software, so you can participate no matter where you live. Each call will be uploaded to a private curriculum shortly after they finish, so you can follow along even if you can’t attend live.

This curriculum will contain not only the call recordings, but dozens of templates, checklists, and examples we will share with you from our own knowledge collections, organized in a step-by-step flow. This curriculum will be available to you indefinitely for review, reference, and of course, next year’s review!

The Annual Review workshop will take place in two parts:

  • Part 1: 10–11:30am Pacific time on Saturday, Jan. 5
  • Part 2: 10–11:30am Pacific time on Sunday, Jan. 6

In Part 1, we’ll show you our annual review protocols and guide you in curating your own process. Then we’ll give you a full day to work your way through the process you’ve designed on your own, while Taylor and I will be available all day on Slack to encourage you and answer any questions. This way you’ll benefit from both group learning and private reflection time. We’ll encourage everyone participating to share bits and pieces of what they produce in real time, so you can borrow the parts that inspire or resonate with you. When it comes to setting goals, borrowing is encouraged!

With this dedicated time to complete your own annual review, you’ll have clear start and end times, and the accountability of a dedicated group working alongside you. On Sunday morning, we’ll debrief what you learned and fine-tune your review, leaving you with goals and an action plan for 2019.

You’ll have everything you need to then complete our two courses with your own goals and projects in mind. You’ll be able to apply everything you learn to the priorities you’ve just identified for yourself. And you won’t be on your own here either: we each have private student groups where you can receive feedback from us and fellow students.

Version 7.0 of BASB also includes a “live bootcamp” running from Jan. 16, 2019 to Feb. 6, 2019. It will take place in four 90-minute calls on the dates below. Two unit videos and exercises will be assigned for completion before each call, and Tiago will use the call to answer questions, expand on key concepts, and demonstrate new tools and techniques. All these calls will also be recorded and posted to the course curriculum shortly afterward, so you can follow along even if your timezone doesn’t allow for live attendance.

Here are the bootcamp dates:

  • Session #1 (units 1-2): Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 9am Pacific time
  • Session #2 (units 3-4): Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 9am Pacific time
  • Session #3 (units 5-6): Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 9am Pacific time
  • Session #4 (units 7-8): Wednesday, Feb. 6 at 9am Pacific time

While Building a Second Brain focuses on creating a system of personal KNOWLEDGE management, Taylor’s course The Effective Entrepreneur gives you a system of personal PRIORITY management. One gives you a powerful engine for leveraging your knowledge and insights. The other tells you where to point it for maximum results.

With these two incredibly powerful tools in hand, you’ll start the year with the cards stacked in your favor. You’ll still need to do the work, but this time with all the usual obstacles and distractions removed from your path.

Click below to purchase our New Year’s Bundle before Jan. 4, 2019 at 11:59pm Pacific time, and you’ll be automatically enrolled in three of the most valuable learning experiences on the planet. You’ll be able to get started on the courses right away if you’d like, and join live on Jan. 5 when we kick off The Annual Review workshop.

[button link=”http://learn.fortelabs.co/p/building-a-second-brain5″ type=”big” color=”blue” newwindow=”yes”] Enroll now[/button]

If you have any other questions, check out our frequently asked questions, email us directly at [email protected] or [email protected], or ping us on Twitter @fortelabs or @taylorpearsonme.

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