BUILDING A SECOND BRAIN by Tiago Forte


Second Brain - Expanding Your First Brain With Technology.

Building A Second Brain is a methodology for saving and systematically reminding us of the ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections we’ve gained through our experience. It expands our memory and our intellect using the modern tools of technology and networks.


Second Brain Is Needed Where Our First Brain Lacks.

Our brain can only store a few thoughts at any one time. Our brain is for having ideas, not storing them.That's why we need to stop competing with intelligent machines and use their power as our second brain.


Four Step Process To Build Your Second Brain

CODE or Capture,Organize,Distill and Express is the 4 step process that we can use to build our second brain.Buidling a second brain is all about how you use the information in digital space.So every step is related with how you capture,organize,distil and express an information.


Capture - Keep What Resonates

We can capture anything that you came across like highlights from what you read,meeting notes,quotes or images.We can also capture our internal thoughts,reflections and stories.Capturing Everything is not useful as you have to organize it later so just keep what resonates.


Organize - Save For Actionability

The best way to organize your notes is to organize for action, according to the active projects you are working on right now.Surprisingly, when you focus on taking action, the vast amount of information out there gets radically streamlined and simplified.You can use PARA system to organize your notes on the basis of actionability

How To Set-up P.A.R.A System

PARA is the simple system for organize your digital life created by Tiago Forte


What is it PARA?
PROJECT: is a series of activities linked to a goal

AREAS : It is a sphere of activity to be maintained over time

RESOURCES : Themes that interest you

ARCHIVE: Anything that is not part of the other 3 categories

Project Vs Areas

Project examples:
• Writing a Book
• Run a marathon
• Writing a Proposal

Areas examples:
• Fitness
• Writing
• Business
• Finances
• Spirituality


Distill - Find the essence)

At this stage you have information in an organised manner,the missing part is only this "How can you find your notes in future ?".

The solution is simple,it is to progressively summarize the notes you have.Progressive summary is nothing but distilling your notes to find the essence.

You can do Progressive summarization in two steps,

Step 1 - Bold the important part in notes.
Step 2 - Highlight the important part from what you have already bolded.

Now,you have your original note along with bolded and highlighted parts.

So next time when you visit that note then you will have a ready made summary.

Express - Show Your Work

All the previous steps—capturing, organizing, and distilling—are geared toward one ultimate purpose: sharing your own ideas, your own story, and your own knowledge with others. What is the point of knowledge if it doesn’t help anyone or produce anything ?

The Express step is also where we practice and hone our ability to retrieve what we need, when we need it. It’s the step where we build the confidence that our Second Brain is working for us.

You can retrive your notes by,

- Searching for a keywords
- Browsing through your notes
- Using tags


Maintaining Your Second Brain

Like every system, a Second Brain needs regular maintenance.One of the way to maintain any system is to review it from time to time.Similarily Weekly and Monthly Reviews helps you to periodically review your second brain and decide if you want to change anything.