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Productivity19 min read
Building a Second Brain
by Tiago Forte
A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
Published: November 14, 2022
4.5 (1220 ratings)
Book Summary
This is a comprehensive summary of “Building a Second Brain” by Tiago Forte. The book explores a proven method to organize your digital life and unlock your creative potential.
what’s in it for me? double your brain power.#
Introduction
tiago forte.
building a second brain.
a proven method to organize your digital life and unlock your creative potential.
how often does something like this happen to you?
you have a brilliant idea on your morning commute, but by the time you get to the office, it's vanished.
or you've just read about a new study that's totally relevant to the meeting you're in, but you can't remember what it was.
if you're like most people, stuff like that happens to you all the time.
we're living in an age of information overload.
according to the new york times, the average person processes the equivalent of 34 gigabytes of information every day.
that's simply too much for one brain to deal with.
luckily, technology offers us the tools to file, recall, and recombine information as efficiently and intuitively as a second brain might.
in this chapter, you'll learn how to build a second digital brain.
in the process, you'll free up your actual brain for deep thinking and creativity.
and you'll never forget an important piece of information again.
sound good?
let's get started.
building a second brain begins with effectively capturing information.#
building a second brain begins with effectively capturing information.
meet john and amelia.
they're both knowledge workers.
john has a second brain.
amelia doesn't.
a typical day for amelia looks something like this.
amelia wakes up, and her mind is flooded with scattered thoughts and ideas.
but before she can follow through on them, she's distracted by the ping of email notifications.
she spends the morning putting out fires in her inbox.
there's no time to gather her thoughts before an afternoon meeting.
worse, she spends half the meeting sifting through files trying to find the numbers she needs and loses the thread of discussion completely.
after work, exhausted, she carves out a little time to work on her passion project, but gets quickly discouraged.
she can't remember where she left off last time and has no idea what to prioritize now.
she goes to bed, and the cycle repeats the next day.
john's typical day looks a little different.
john also wakes up to scattered thoughts, but he quickly types down promising ideas in his notes app.
on his way to work, he mulls the ideas in more detail, making an audio voice note of potential challenges and solutions.
when his afternoon meeting rolls around, he has the agenda ready to go, as well as extra information he thinks could be pertinent to the discussion.
and that idea he jotted down this morning?
it's refined enough by now to present to the board.
that evening, with time to spend on his passion project, he knows just where to begin work.
john isn't smarter or more capable than amelia.
he simply has a second brain.
so, how do you build a second brain that works as well as john?
it's easy.
once you crack the code.
that's code as in c-o-d-e.
each letter stands for one of the four steps for building a second brain.
capture.
organize.
distill.
and express.
this section, and the three that follow, will break down each of those steps.
and each section will end with an extra credit assignment, designed to help you build your second brain as you listen.
let's start with that first step.
capture.
we're surrounded by information inputs, both external, like quotes, images, articles, meeting notes, and internal, like memories, musings, and insights.
capitalize on those inputs.
when you encounter a piece of information you want to remember, you should capture it.
that might look like taking a screenshot, bookmarking an article, or even recording a quick voice note.
simple.
now, you might be thinking, hang on, i do this already, and i definitely don't feel like i have a second brain.
well, you're probably making two mistakes.
first, you're capturing the wrong things.
often, we capture things because we think we should, even when we don't feel any connection to them.
we end up with way too much information that doesn't mean very much to us.
try and capture only information that sparks something inside you.
it might help to think of the pieces of information you want to capture as knowledge assets.
they're more than a fact or observation, they're solutions, time savers, sparks of inspiration, perspective shifters.
second, you're not centralizing the knowledge you capture.
there are all kinds of digital tools that let you capture knowledge assets.
you can highlight ebooks, like and bookmark on social media, excerpt audio clips from podcasts, the list goes on.
but these tools aren't the whole story.
think of everything you capture with these tools as nerve endings.
they should all lead back to one central nervous system, your second brain.
any standard digital notes app should do the trick.
set all your modes of capture to export, and automatically update, everything you save to that one central digital space.
still feeling overwhelmed by all the information you're capturing?
follow the lead of nobel prize-winning physicist richard feynman, who had a reputation for innovative, out-of-the-box thinking.
feynman wrote a list of about a dozen core questions that he wanted to answer in his research.
whenever he came upon a new piece of information, he would test it against these core questions.
using this method, he often found solutions in the most unexpected places.
maintaining a list of core questions will help you focus your captures, even while you build an eclectic library of knowledge assets.
ready to start capturing yourself?
here's your extra credit assignment.
everything you capture should feel potent and urgent.
tiago forte, creator of the code system, captures on average just two assets a day.
so, think back on your last 24 hours.
what are your two key knowledge takeaways?
capture them.
create a digital space designed to optimize productivity.#
create a digital space designed to optimize productivity.
ever heard of the cathedral effect?
basically, the space you're in affects your thinking.
you're more likely to think lofty thoughts about your life's purpose when you're in a cathedral, with gothic arches, vaulted ceilings, and marble floors than you are in a dentist's waiting room.
and more likely to find focus in a spare, sparsely furnished studio.
more likely to find focus in a spare, sparsely furnished studio than in a room overflowing with clutter and mess.
the same effect applies when it comes to digital space.
think of the knowledge assets you've captured as the building blocks of your second brain.
with the next step, organize, it's time to start building them into a cathedral that will inspire awesome thinking.
if you capture without organizing, all your precious knowledge assets begin to feel less inspiring and more overwhelming.
you're facing yet more information overload.
and this time, the person responsible for that overload is you.
so you have to be a cathedral builder and organize those assets.
your first instinct might be to organize by subject category.
ignore that instinct.
your second brain shouldn't feel like a library, but a kitchen.
confused?
well, imagine if you organized your kitchen by food.
it wouldn't work.
kitchens are organized by process and outcome.
pots in the cupboard above the stove, a dish rack next to the sink, and so on.
to make your second brain outcome-oriented, organize your knowledge assets in order of actionability.
ready for another acronym?
para stands for projects, areas, resources, and archives.
these are the four domains of your second brain.
each domain can contain as many or as few dedicated folders as you like.
projects are short-term objectives, usually with a deadline that you are actively working toward completing.
a work project might be designing a new website.
a personal project might be planning a holiday.
areas are ongoing commitments.
your personal finances, for example, are an area, not a project.
they don't have a delivery date.
they're dynamic and need consistent oversight.
the area we're calling resources is a holding pen for topics you're interested in exploring but haven't translated into projects or areas just yet.
your weirdest, wildest hobbies and daydreams can find a home here, from beekeeping to astrophysics.
finally, your archives are for finished projects, areas that are no longer relevant, and interests that aren't speaking to you right now.
just because they're not immediately relevant doesn't mean you should jettison them from your second brain, but you should move them into cold storage, so to speak, so they're not getting in the way of more actionable knowledge assets.
of these categories, projects are the most actionable, archives the least.
each knowledge asset you capture should be assigned to one of these four areas.
that way, they're placed in order of immediate actionability.
but don't get too excited.
it's best not to organize as soon as you capture.
wait until you have a batch of assets to sort through, then organize them.
this gives you the distance to look at each asset analytically and as part of a broader context of information.
ready for some extra credit?
your mission is to clear your digital workspace.
archive everything.
seriously.
having to sort through a mountain of old files is the biggest deterrent to building an effective second brain.
once you have a fresh, clean space, do a mental stock take.
what projects do you have on the go right now?
think of two or three, then assign them folders.
you're ready to start building your digital cathedral.
take what you need, forget the rest.#
take what you need, forget the rest.
you wake up in the middle of the night.
you've had an amazing, life-changing idea.
you jot it down, then fall back asleep.
when you wake up in the morning and read the note next to your bed, you think, huh?
alien cucumbers?
let enough time pass between filing a note and encountering it again, and no matter how much it resonated with you in the moment, six months later it makes about as much sense as alien cucumbers.
how can you avoid this problem?
well, you don't want to just save knowledge, but save knowledge in a way that it's accessible and relevant when you next come across it.
the irony is, the better you get at capturing and organizing, the less discoverable all your information becomes.
there's an old chinese proverb that goes something like this, if you want to get knowledge, add something every day.
if you want to achieve wisdom, subtract something every day.
the next step in the code system, distill, is all about subtracting.
working in layers, you identify, extract, and distill key information.
the more layers, the more potently distilled your knowledge assets can become.
here's what four layers of distillation might look like in action.
first, you save an article that sparks your interest.
second, you read through it and highlight key passages.
third, you bold key ideas and phrases within those passages.
fourth, you write an executive summary of those key ideas, no more than a few sentences.
remember, when you're distilling, you don't need to summarize the entire article, only the parts that sparked your interest and are relevant to your objectives.
and make sure the most distilled information is also the most discoverable.
for example, your executive summary should be the first thing you see when you navigate back to a knowledge asset, making it easy for you to re-familiarize yourself with any asset's most critical takeaways.
distilling takes time, but i promise, it saves you far more time than it takes up.
next time you engage with your captured knowledge, you won't have to go back through everything to remember why it's relevant, and you can choose the level you engage at, skim the summary, refresh the key ideas you've highlighted, or go through the content again.
if you need further encouragement to start distilling, take some inspiration from the much-awarded documentary filmmaker ken burns.
his documentaries on subjects such as jazz or the american civil war are masterclasses in distillation.
burns relies heavily on found and archival footage.
by his reckoning, for every 50 hours of footage he captures, only one hour makes the final cut.
ready to try distilling for yourself?
set aside 30 minutes, grab your beverage of choice, and sit back with an article you've been meaning to read.
then, go through the layers of distillation.
read the text, highlight key passages, bold critical ideas, and create an executive summary.
don't just store knowledge.
don’t just store knowledge – use it!#
use it.
we've reached the last step in the code system.
express.
this step is pretty self-explanatory.
you've built a working second brain.
you've gathered information, organized it, and distilled it into key takeaways.
now it's time to put that knowledge to use.
create new deliverables at work, action-fulfilling personal projects, get side hustles off the ground, and innovate new solutions to nagging problems.
well, what are you waiting for?
off you go!
have fun!
don't worry.
we're not finished just yet.
for many people, this final step is the most daunting.
so here's a final hack to help ensure you use all that knowledge you've captured, organized, and distilled.
get your projects off the ground using intermediate packets.
what are intermediate packets?
they're small, actionable chunks of a larger process.
think of lego.
the more pieces you have, the more intricate and awe-inspiring constructions you can create.
in just the same way, you'll be able to pull off astoundingly big and complex projects if you just break them down into discrete, achievable steps.
in fact, many professionals already do this.
software developers work in modules, and tv producers develop pilots before they create whole seasons of television.
tackling an intermediate packet is, of course, more achievable and interruption-proof than trying to tackle a whole project at once.
but there's another advantage.
intermediate packets allow you to solicit feedback early and often.
that way, if you need to change course, you can do so with a minimum of lost labor.
even better, once you create an intermediate packet, a meeting agenda or a mission statement, you can use it again and again, repurposing and modifying it to suit your current projects.
in fact, if you've been using your second brain for a while, you probably already have dozens of pre-built intermediate packets in there already.
the tagging function and the search bar are your friends when it comes to resurfacing intermediate packets.
you'll need to lay the groundwork here by tagging the information and knowledge assets you capture with a cross-section of relevant keywords.
trust me, you'll thank yourself later.
let's say you need to write an faq section for your company's website.
luckily, you've tagged anything that comes up frequently as faq.
search the tag and voila, your faqs are basically written for you.
if you notice any new faqs, tag them as they come up.
when it's time to update, search the tag again and incorporate any new information.
it's really that simple.
but the best incentive to express yourself?
it's nicely summed up by the 18th century philosopher giambattista vico.
verum ipsum factum.
that's latin for, we only know what we make.
we can't truly understand something, in other words, until we've gotten our hands dirty.
when you use the knowledge and insights you've gathered to create something new, that's when you can truly consider yourself an expert.
one final piece of homework before you go.
try and complete a project.
it doesn't need to be perfect.
it just needs to be done.
and if you're a serial non-finisher of things, try this rule of thumb.
only start a project that's 80% done.
when the groundwork is already laid, you're way more likely to see things through.
final summary#
Conclusion
in this chapter, you've learned about the key elements of tiago forte's proven method to organize your digital life and unlock your creative potential by building a second brain.
the main takeaway is, you can change your relationship to information when you create a digital second brain that allows you to intuitively store and sort information.
using the code system, you can capture, organize, distill, and express knowledge.
once you're in this habit, you'll never find yourself forgetting critical information or ideas again.
thanks so much for listening.
and if you can, please leave us a rating.
you'll find the rated button on your screen right now.
we always appreciate your feedback.
see you in the next chapter.
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