Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential

by Tiago Forte

We spend countless hours reading, listening to, and watching other people’s opinions about what we should do, how we should think, and how we should live, but make comparatively little effort applying that knowledge and making it our own. So much of the time we are “information hoarders,” stockpiling endless amounts of well-intentioned content that only ends up increasing our anxiety.

When you transform your relationship to information, you will begin to see the technology in your life not just as a storage medium but as a tool for thinking. Like a bicycle for the mind,II once we learn how to use it properly, technology can enhance our cognitive abilities and accelerate us toward our goals far faster than we could ever achieve on our own.

I’ve come to believe that personal knowledge management is one of the most fundamental challenges—as well as one of the most incredible opportunities—in the world today. Everyone is in desperate need of a system to manage the ever-increasing volume of information pouring into their brains.

Recent advancements and discoveries in the field of “extended cognition” have shed new light on how practical and powerful it can be to “think outside the brain.” This book isn’t focused on the science, but for an excellent introduction to extended cognition I recommend The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul.