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

by Tiago Forte

This digital commonplace book is what I call a Second Brain. Think of it as the combination of a study notebook, a personal journal, and a sketchbook for new ideas.

One of my biggest challenges has been explaining what a Second Brain is in terms of things people already know and do. Creating such a system may seem like a completely novel thing to do, when in fact we already perform lots of similar behaviors in our everyday lives, such as journaling, sketching, and writing Post-it notes to remember things. A Second Brain just makes them digital and combines them into one centralized place. What writing or notetaking practices do you already have the habit of doing, that could be repurposed to start building a lifelong repository of knowledge?