The Building a Second Brain Podcast

About

Learn how to save your ideas, organize your learning, and dramatically expand your creative output with digital notetaking. My name is Tiago Forte, and I am your host and the creator of the Building a Second Brain course, where I’ve taught people from around the world how to build their own “Second Brain” – a trusted place outside their head where they can collect their most important ideas and insights, and use them to do their best work and live a better life.

Borrowed Creativity
Creativity is not a mysterious force to be conjured from nothing – it emerges organically from practical efforts to gather, organize, and digest your own ideas, and the ideas of others. Before you create novel work of your own, you can prepare by...
The Capture Habit
Don’t play “catch and release” with your thoughts. Your ideas have value, but tend to arrive when you least expect them. By making it a habit to “capture” and save them, you can allow them to live forever in a trusted system that reflects...
Idea Recycling
Ideas are not single-use only. They can outlive the projects they were originally a part of. Every document or deliverable you create represents valuable thinking you’ve done, and can be recycled and reused in future projects. By putting in a little...
Projects Over Categories
Instead of organizing ideas by category – such as “psychology,” “marketing,” or “economics” – which leads to silos that they can’t escape from, organize your ideas according to the projects where they will be most useful and...
Slow Burns
Stop completing your projects via “heavy lifts” – grueling slogs of painful work where you create everything from scratch. There is another way – you can slowly gather ideas, in the background and over time, using “slow burns.” Once the...
Start With Abundance
Creativity flows from abundance. Instead of sitting down to a blank canvas and trying to think of something clever, start your creative process by sifting through a plentiful supply of interesting ideas, insights, and inspirations that you can build...
Intermediate Packets
Cranking out work in one big push or digesting information in one big gulp requires a lot of motivation and self-discipline, which are in scarce supply. By breaking down your work into a series of small, “intermediate packets,” you can make...
You Only Know What You Make
Don’t just passively consume huge volumes of information that soon gets forgotten. Instead, use what you’re learning to make new things. Applying what you learn in tangible projects not only helps the learning stick, it allows you to get feedback...
Make Things Easier for Your Future Self
If you make your notes a little better each time you touch them – a little more organized, a little more succinct, a little more clear – then your future self will find it easier and easier to access the knowledge you’ve saved. Instead of doing...
Keep Your Ideas Moving
Systems that must be perfect to be reliable are deeply flawed. Instead of trying to create a perfect organizational system before starting to create things, concentrate on consistently moving your projects and goals forward. Your Second Brain will...
The 10 Principles of Building a Second Brain
Building a Second Brain is based on ten principles. Each episode in this podcast series corresponds to one of the principles. This episode summarizes what we've discussed, and also shares information about the Building a Second Brain course.
Myth: Maintaining a Second Brain will force me to sit in front of a computer all day
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: Second Brains are for people who aren’t actually out in the world doing the hard work
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: If I create a Second Brain, it will kill my creativity
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: There is a ‘right way’ to build a Second Brain
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: A Second Brain requires me to have technical skills
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: Building a Second Brain is just self-help for note-taking nerds
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: A Second Brain is just a bunch of random ‘life hacks’ for knowledge work
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: A Second Brain means tediously overhauling and restructuring my entire digital life
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
Myth: I haven’t built a Second Brain yet
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...
The 9 Biggest Myths about Building a Second Brain
Overwhelmed by the information you have to consume and keep track of? The Building a Second Brain Podcast gives you the tools to overcome Information Overload and thrive in the Information Age. Tiago Forte will teach you how to build your own "Second...

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Episodes