BASED ON TIAGO FORTE'S WORK WITH THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS AND OVER 25,000 ONLINE LEARNERS

Copyright © Forte Labs LLC

The C.O.D.E. System

This is our 4-step process for consistently turning the information you consume into creative output and concrete results.

Whether that’s better decisions, better opportunities, or new products or services. And as a side effect, the constant worry that there’s some little detail falling through the cracks will fade away for good.

• Includes:

• Building a Second Brain version 7.0
• 
  
• Taylor Pearson's masterclass on strategic planning and long-term goal-setting, The Effective Entrepreneur
• 
  
• One-time live workshop on designing a powerful Annual Review, on Jan. 5-6, 2019

Entrepreneurs 

and freelancers

Who have trouble managing all the information they need to run their business

I’ve spent more than 10 years researching and personally experimenting with a new way of organizing our digital lives and improving our productivity as creative professionals. 

What started as a quest to deal with a chronic illness turned into a life-long mission to help you harness the full potential of your ideas and turn them into reality. I firmly believe this is a crucial part of creating a better future for all of us. 

The system I want to share with you is the result of thousands of hours spent teaching, speaking, coaching, and writing about Personal Knowledge Management.

All live session recordings will be uploaded within 24 hours, remain available indefinitely, and are viewable on demand, on any device.

Week 1: Capture your best ideas and the crucial information in your life

• Identify and overcome the most common limiting beliefs around productivity, thinking, and learning in the Information Age.

• Discover why you need to build a digital notetaking system even though you can “google” anything. 

• Escape the “reactivity loop” and learn how to manage Information Overload. This will have a direct positive impact on your physical and mental health.

• Know and prioritize the digital tools available to you, so you aren’t distracted by the next “shiny object.”

• Identify your personal priorities using the Feynman Method, a simple exercise created by a Nobel prize-winning scientist. 

• Set up your digital capture system with clear criteria for what is worth capturing in your Second Brain and what isn’t. 

Week 2: Organize your ideas for insight and easy access 

• Find out how to “time travel” thanks to your digital notes. 

• Turn your digital notes into "thinking tools" that allow you to access brainpower you didn't even know you had. 

• Implement a simple technique called PARA to bring order to your entire digital life in minutes. 

• Set up your Second Brain as a dynamic system that evolves along with your needs and priorities. 

• Discover the incredible power of an up-to-date Project List, with in-depth feedback and guidance on how to create one for yourself.

Week 3: Distill your notes to make them easily discoverable 

• Find out what the real purpose of notetaking is (Hint: It’s not to remember things). 

• Design your notes for “glanceability,” making them easily discoverable for your Future Self 

• Master Progressive Summarization, a new take on highlighting specifically suited to digital content.

• Train your ability to decide what's important and what's not in the moment.

• Embrace strategic laziness over rigid rules – our notetaking strategies leverage human nature instead of fighting it. 

Week 4: Express your ideas and turn them into concrete results

• Maximize your Return-on-Attention and get value out of every bit of attention you spend.

• Switch your default approach from “heavy lifts” to "slow burns" to escape the rat race of trying to work harder and longer than everyone else. 

• Transform raw material into knowledge assets – a valuable body of knowledge for a side project, career advancement, or new business.

• Use the concept of Intermediate Packets to completely transform your approach to productivity. Never start anything from scratch again. 

• Become interruption-proof and get better and faster feedback than you ever thought possible.  

• Escape any creative roadblock or dead-end with the principles of divergence and convergence. 

Week 5: Your next steps

• Take advantage of the compounding knowledge in your Second Brain to tackle projects of any size with ease. 

• Move consciously from scarcity to a place of abundance, from obligation to service, and from mindless consumption to self-expression.

• Discover how Project Kickoff and Completion Checklists can help you reuse your best thinking and free up your mind for more interesting, fulfilling endeavors.

• Establish Weekly and Monthly Reviews as routine check-ins to keep your productivity, creativity, and peace of mind on track.

• Evaluate your progress and identify areas for improvement using our trademarked Second Brain Snapshot, which measures your Personal Knowledge Management skills along 12 dimensions and compares how they’ve changed over the 5 weeks of the course.

Is all the interesting information you’re consuming leading to meaningful results in your life … or is it going to waste? 

Join Tiago on Wednesdays at 5 PM EDT (view in your timezone) for step-by-step instructions to help you implement your Second Brain system. Live captions, transcripts, and recordings are available to make these sessions as accessible as possible for you.

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

Need help getting reimbursed by your employer? Click here to download a proposal template
Most large organizations, and many smaller ones, will reimburse tuition for professional development

We want this investment to be 100% risk-free. Just watch the video lessons and complete the exercises and if you still don't find the course valuable, we'll happily refund your full payment

Content creators 

and writers

Productivity & 

self-improvement enthusiasts

Who lose track of their ideas or struggle to organize all the material they need for their creative projects

Who wonder how to save all the knowledge they’ve gained and find it when they need it

Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know before enrolling

What is this course about?

Building a Second Brain is about organizing your ideas, not as an end in itself, but to support creative work and give you the confidence to tackle more ambitious, more fulfilling projects. It is about fully harnessing the potential of your knowledge, so it sticks and translates to meaningful results in your life. Instead of being merely "interesting insights" that are here today and gone tomorrow.

Instead of talking about abstract concepts, I’ll show you a practical approach you can implement step by step, while also explaining the underlying principles that can be applied across your digital tools.

The promise of the course is that “You will learn how to capture, organize, and share your ideas and insights using digital notes, with a systematic approach that you trust to support creative breakthroughs in your work.”

Check out how previous participants summarized the course in a tweet.

Are there any prerequisites for this course?

Although there are no official prerequisites, I expect you to be reasonably fluent in using computers.

I’m not an entrepreneur, freelancer, or executive – is this course right for me?

Hell yes. 

The silos that once separated these professions are breaking down. We are all a startup of one now. 

Even the largest companies are looking for “intrapreneurs” who can lead “internal startups.” Even the most secure employees need to develop a body of knowledge to leverage for their next career move. And it never hurts to have a side project or extra income stream in these uncertain times.

In Building a Second Brain, we’ll dive into how to create a trusted system for collecting and organizing all the best ideas, insights, facts, quotes, and research you encounter. A system that has been tested by some of the top productivity experts in the world, and adopted by more than a thousand students. A system that just works.

I can’t think of a better way to jumpstart an early-stage career than starting a collection of notes that compounds and grows over time. Just like financial investing, investing in your knowledge benefits tremendously from starting early. 

Not to mention, you’ll be learning alongside standout performers in the world’s most ambitious and interesting fields. 

I’m an experienced researcher, businessperson, or content creator – do I have anything to learn here?

I’ve found that people who “manage ideas” for a living have some of the most profound breakthroughs from taking this course. Partly because we are shedding light on assumptions and habits that they have never thought to question. Equally important, they often find helping fellow learners understand knowledge management gives clarity to their own work. That’s why social learning works so well for all involved!

Knowledge management is a very new field, and there is no other program out there that addresses it as comprehensively as this one. My life’s work has been tracing the deepest underlying principles all the way to the most practical applications, and training people in how to master both ends of the spectrum.

What kinds of results do people achieve after learning this system?

Graduates of this course walk away with a wide variety of benefits, from reduced stress and indecision to dramatically higher levels of creative confidence and reaching goals they never thought possible. But I’ll let them speak for themselves.

How is this different than GTD (Getting Things Done)?

GTD is a productivity method created by David Allen, and popularized in his best-selling book Getting Things Done. In my first online course, Get Stuff Done Like a Boss, I teach students how to implement this method, and it’s been a big influence on me and my work.

Building a Second Brain builds on and extends the GTD philosophy to encompass not just tasks, but all the other kinds of digital information you have to keep track of: the notes, files, bookmarks, photos, quotes, and research you use to do your work. It follows the same principle – keep everything in a trusted place outside your head – but applied to a much broader range of material.

Although the courses are related, it isn’t necessary to take Get Stuff Done Like a Boss before Building a Second Brain. They address different subjects and each stands on its own.

Here’s a more comprehensive article that explains how the two methods are related: Getting Things Done + Personal Knowledge Management.

Why haven’t I heard of Knowledge Management before?

Until recently, the practice of knowledge management was limited to academics and researchers. Fields such as Personal Information Management (PIM), Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), and Digital Asset Management (DAM) have been around for decades, but haven’t really been accessible to the rest of us.

In creating this course, I read countless academic papers and research reports, so you don’t have to. I borrowed the very best techniques from these disciplines, and combined them into an integrated system designed for knowledge workers to use day to day.

Which kind of software do you recommend?

Although the examples I show are for the popular digital notes app Evernote, all of the methods I teach can be implemented in virtually any software. Past students have built their Second Brain in such apps as Microsoft OneNote, Google Keep, Apple Notes, Bear, Notion, Milanote, Arena, Emacs, and many others.

Don’t worry! I have recommendations for which of these is right for you, plus a dedicated thread for each of them where active users talk about their experience and answer questions. I do have one strong recommendation: that you stick to the category of “digital notes” apps for your Second Brain. For more details on why, read my article The Case for Digital Notes.

Some incoming students will already be using a note-taking tool, such as Evernote, Notion, or Roam. Other students will be taking digital notes for the first time. Each of our Alumni Mentors will lead weekly Student Group calls focused on the main note-taking tools.

How much time will this take?

The course is designed to take 5 weeks from beginning to end. Although you could watch the recordings on your own time and go slower, taking more than 5 weeks generally means you’re getting bogged down with trivial details.

The goal is not to implement everything perfectly from the outset, but to have a basic working system that you can start using in your day to day work. This is one reason you have lifetime access to the curriculum: every time you revisit it, you’ll learn something different.

Each of the 8 lecture videos will take approximately 15–25 minutes to watch, and the case study videos another 1-2 hours in total. The time required for the live sessions, exercises, discussions in the online forum, and supplementary material depend on how fast you move and how deep you want to go. But I would set aside about 5 hours per week for participating in this program.

The amount of time needed for implementation varies a lot, but it is something that can be done initially during the course, and then improved slowly over time as you get more comfortable with your new habits.

Do I have time for this?

The better question is, “Do you have time NOT to learn it?” 

The average person consumes 34 gigabytes worth of data every day. We are spending more than 11 hours per day – or two-thirds of our waking hours – consuming media in some form. 

Can you afford to spend so much of your time consuming information without preserving it in any form?

And the truth is, we have plenty of time if we use it intentionally. 

The average Instagram user spends nearly 150 hours per year posting and scrolling through pictures – the equivalent of three full workweeks. The average knowledge worker spends 30% of their workday – equivalent to one and a half out of five days per workweek – searching for information.

In this course, I’ll teach you how to redirect that wasted time into more productive, more fulfilling, and more strategic uses. You’ll see that you’re already doing 99% of the work reading, consuming, and reflecting on new ideas. All you need to do is change how you spend the last 1% of your time to curate and collect only the very best of them.

How many blog posts and podcasts do you consume each week? How much have you learned and not put into action? How much time do you waste searching for notes or files? Let’s turn that wasted energy into knowledge capital.

It took me more than 10 years of painstaking trial and error to develop this methodology, and another several years to translate it into an effective training program. In this course I distill the very best of what I’ve discovered into a convenient, 5-week program so you can learn it in a tiny fraction of the time.

How is this course taught?

The course is delivered via live sessions and pre-recorded videos. Peer discussion happens during weekly mentor-led Student Group calls, and through the online discussion forum. All course editions include lifetime access to future live cohorts, which you will be automatically notified about via email.

You can upgrade from the Essential Edition to the Premium Edition at any time. 

Why is it so expensive? 

Building a Second Brain isn’t like other online courses. 

It isn’t a one-time project I completed years ago, that lingers online like a half-dead zombie, pouncing on unsuspecting visitors. It is my life’s work, not just up until the present moment, but for the foreseeable future. 

I frequently publish major new improvements and updates. You can see the full history of these updates here. These aren’t just “fixes” to bring the content up to date. I regularly launch whole new units, case studies, tutorials, interviews, and other resources, all of which are available to all past and future students.

I think of Building a Second Brain as a community of life-long learners that I support on an ongoing basis. And you get lifetime access to that community for a one-time flat fee!

The pricing allows me to continue to dedicate the effort required to refine and improve the course. It also ensures that everyone who enrolls is fully committed to doing the work required to benefit from it.

I charge between $15,000–$25,000 to deliver this course live in corporate trainings. Using online platforms, I’m able to reach a far larger audience at a fraction of the price.

How is Building a Second Brain different from other methodologies?

Here are some of the main differences between the Building a Second Brain methodology and other approaches to productivity, organizing, and learning.

1. This isn’t yet another method for “how to be successful”

It is the method that allows you to benefit from all those other methods – to gather and organize the knowledge you acquire from all the other sources you learn from.

2. This isn’t a monolithic system that you have to implement perfectly to get any value from

Applying even one or two of the methods taught can revolutionize your productivity and learning.

3. This method doesn’t assume you have any particular pre-existing knowledge or skills

It only requires you to have the most basic familiarity with how to use a computer.

4. This method doesn’t force you into a one-size-fits-all box

It equips you to develop a system adapted to your specific needs and goals.

5. This method isn’t abstract and theoretical

It was developed in the trenches of running a real business, not in a laboratory or classroom, which means it is highly practical and useful in the real world.

6. This method isn’t a random collection of disconnected “tips and tricks”

It is a holistic system that works in an integrated way to capture, organize, and share your ideas.

7. This method doesn’t force you to work even harder and do even more

It teaches you how to do more with less – how to use the sources of leverage available to you, and to offload as much effort as possible to technology.

8. This method isn’t about optimizing or perfecting yourself

It’s about optimizing an external system so you are free to imagine, create, and simply relax.

9. This method doesn’t condemn technology and the Internet

It teaches a balanced approach to using these amazing tools to enhance creative work, without getting distracted.

10. This method isn’t about forcing you to work in a certain way

It’s about providing a support system so you can create value no matter how you decide to work, and a safety net so you have the confidence that no detail is falling through the cracks.

The Second Brain method combines practical technology skills with the bigger picture of how and why knowledge management can transform your career, your business, and your life. This course focuses on practical skills, but doesn’t stop there: it also cultivates the deeper mindset and the paradigm shifts necessary to thrive in an age of information abundance.

Can the methods you teach be implemented piecemeal, or do they all build on each other?

The honest answer is: both.

Each and every technique I teach in the course is valuable and effective on its own. Many students report that adopting just one of them completely revolutionizes their ability to manage their digital life. You can implement them in any order, a little bit at a time, and you don’t have to “launch” the entire system all at once for it to be valuable. 

At the same time, all the methods DO link together to form an integrated system, which I call your “Second Brain.” This isn’t just a random collection of tips and tricks. I’ve carefully chosen each of the three main techniques to target a key leverage point in the flow of information through your life.

My goal is to help you get your Second Brain to a minimum level of functionality by the time the course ends. Once it is set up and working in your daily life, you’ll notice a constant stream of new insights about how to use it. The system then becomes self-improving, since you can document ways to improve your Second Brain in your Second Brain!

I’ve signed up for online courses in the past and had mixed results…how will this course be different?

This is my favorite question.

I’m an online course junkie myself. I’ve spent many thousands of dollars on various courses, webinars, ebooks, and downloads, and had a hard time benefitting from many of them.

I designed Building a Second Brain to address the pitfalls and weaknesses that I observed from existing products:

• We focus on implementing a working system, rather than just learning interesting concepts
• I show live walkthrough videos of me actually completing each step, rather than assuming you’ll be able to figure it out on your own
• The online community is a core part of the experience, not a sideshow where no one engages
• Each assignment is part of the implementation process, rather than an academic exercise
• Instead of telling you all the possible ways of organizing your notes, and leaving you to choose one on your own, I advocate for the best way, based on your particular situation
• I use real-world examples and case studies, rather than making up ideal scenarios
• I walk you through each step of the course alongside a group of fellow students, instead of dropping you onto a webpage for you to fend for yourself
• The core curriculum presents a standardized system you can copy directly, while the online forum contains numerous alternative examples

And if this approach doesn’t work for you, I offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. The last thing I ever want to do is keep an unhappy customer’s money.

What kinds of industries or professions does this work for?

With the 25,000 or so participants in my previous online courses, and another 3,000 in live workshops and corporate trainings, I’ve seen a common theme: everyone struggles with managing the massive information flow inherent in knowledge work. I’ve designed this course to focus on methods that apply equally to anyone who thinks for a living.

I’ll be able to share numerous examples from my work coaching individuals and consulting with companies, and the other participants always have many of their own examples and discoveries to share. Yet another benefit of group learning!

Where does this material come from?

I draw heavily from the fields of behavioral science, cognitive psychology, design thinking, human-centered and UX design, information science, and the theory of constraints. But the primary source is my experience consulting, training, and coaching some of the highest-performing creative professionals in the world, in multiple industries, inside organizations and out.

Does this kind of training apply to employees of large organizations?

It does. Even the most traditional employee at the most traditional company is now experiencing unprecedented levels of information overload. 

According to the International Workplace Productivity Survey, a large majority of knowledge workers in every industry are feeling completely overwhelmed with the volume of information they’re expected to manage:

• An average of 62% workers in every market studied report that “the quality of their work suffers at times because they can’t sort through the information they need fast enough.”
• 52% of the professionals who responded reported feeling “demoralized when they can’t manage all the information that comes their way at work.”
• “An average of half (51%) of all those surveyed in each country say that if the amount of information they receive continues to increase, they will soon reach a breaking point at which they will be unable to handle any more.”

According to the same report, they are urgently looking for solutions to this issue from the organizations they work for:

• “The most popular solutions requested by white collar workers surveyed include: investments in faster computers and more up-to-date technology, information management tools that work together, technology designed specifically for professionals in their industry, and training in information management.”
• “Overall, almost nine in ten U.S. professionals and more than 94% of workers in the other four markets say their companies could do more to help them better handle information in their job.”

For new technology to be truly effective, it must be accompanied by training. According to the best-selling book The Second Machine Age, “…for technology to make a difference,…for every dollar of investment in computer hardware, companies need to invest up to 9 dollars in software, training, and business process redesign.”

And the best kind of training includes an interactive component, such as coaching, which we offer as part of our live cohorts. According to Personnel Public Management, “…training by itself increased productivity by 22.4%; while training combined with coaching increased productivity by 88%.”

What happens in the live cohorts?

We offer Building a Second Brain as a live cohort twice per year. All previous students will automatically be invited to join future live cohorts, as long as they remain subscribed to the alumni email list.

Each live cohort takes place over 5 weeks, in ten 60-minute calls delivered via the Zoom videoconference app. Each of these live sessions is recorded and uploaded to the Resource Library shortly after it finishes, in case you can’t attend live or want to review them later. Pre-recorded modules are assigned before each live session for watching on your own time, and the call itself is relatively flexible depending on the needs of the group. 

During live sessions we'll discuss students’ current challenges, complete live exercises, and review relevant examples and resources. These may include presentations of supplementary material, my ongoing research and learnings, or new case studies.

How much access do I get to Tiago?

Although I can’t promise a personal reply to each and every message, I frequently check in to the online forum to answer questions, provide feedback, and share my private notes to address common pain points. I regularly publish blog posts on the Praxis blog that answer frequently asked questions as well.

During live cohorts, I will facilitate all 10 live sessions. I’ll stay on after each call for at least 30 minutes of Q&A. Think of this bonus time as office hours, where you can ask me specific questions and hear from fellow classmates. I’ll also be available to answer questions and give feedback on the online discussion forum.

Your most important resource is fellow learners, and we put a lot of effort into cultivating the very best community of online learners on the planet. Using a discussion forum integrated directly into the course curriculum encourages thoughtful, detailed posts that allow students to learn from each other.

What resources are included in the curriculum? 

Enrolling in Building a Second Brain gives you access to 10 live sessions led by me, and 8 pre-recorded videos to introduce key BASB concepts. We’ll add live session recordings to the curriculum if you’re not able to attend live. The curriculum also includes case studies and note examples. You’ll also have access to a Resource Library with dozens of bonus videos to supplement the core curriculum. 

BASB Premium students will gain additional access to advanced tutorials, expert interviews, and 12 months of Praxis membership. Recordings of past coaching calls will also be available in the Premium Edition curriculum. All premium students will be invited to join a small group welcome call with Will, the course manager, before the course kickoff.

What's the role of Alumni Mentors and Student Groups?

We’ve asked 20 of our best BASB students to return as Alumni Mentors. Mentors will help you put my methods into actions through weekly small group calls. Weekly live sessions will introduce you to core BASB concepts. You’ll then attend your Student Groups each week to grapple with new techniques, ask questions, and meet others. You’ll opt-in to a weekly Student Group based on note-taking tools, time zones, and common interests. 

What is Circle? 

Circle is the discussion forum for Building a Second Brain. It’s designed to blend the informal conversations of Slack with the permanence of a discussion forum. You’ll use Circle to introduce yourself, ask questions, submit exercises, and meet others. Circle contains a number of public spaces such as Q&A, Tips & Tricks, and Student Spotlight. Each Student Group will also have its own private forum space, where you can talk with your mentors and receive feedback. Other forum spaces include video comments and student-created Interest Groups, which can be organized around any topic of your choosing. 

What is the Capstone Project? 

We don’t create Second Brains merely for the sake of being organized. A Second Brain is meant to be used for some type of productive output. Your Second Brain will serve as a foundational platform on which creative work occurs.

During the live cohort, you’ll be asked to complete a capstone project of your choosing. The specific topic is up to you, but all projects should be 1) creative, 2) challenging, 3) something that can be shared publicly with others, and 4) something you couldn’t complete with your current skills, resources, and system of organization. Each new lesson can be applied to your Capstone Project, and mentors will be available to help you along the way. 

Is there a money-back guarantee?

Yes of course. We’ll happily refund your full payment within 30 days of your purchase date, no questions asked.


Can I ask another question? 

Yes, please do!

Remember Everything, Achieve Anything

Enroll below and join us on the journey

Your satisfaction is our #1 goal, and we want the decision to join Building a Second Brain to be 100% risk-free so you can focus on learning.

If you decide the course didn't deliver on its promise for any reason, just let us know within 30 days of purchase and we will refund your full payment, no questions asked.

Most large organizations, and many smaller ones, will reimburse tuition for professional development. Click here to download a proposal template.

Do you wonder how to save all the knowledge and insights you’ve gained and put them to use when it matters most?

Do you lose track of your ideas or get overwhelmed 
trying to use all the material you’ve gathered for your creative projects?

Do you have trouble capturing and managing all the information you need to run your business?

Do you lose track of your ideas or get overwhelmed 
trying to use all the material you’ve gathered for your creative projects?

Join our waitlist to hear more about Building a Second Brain and get notified when we announce the next cohort.

Next cohort opens March 2020

Live Sessions

C

Capture

Organize

Distill

Express

"Creative products are always shiny and new; the creative process is ancient and unchanging." 

– Silvano Arieti

O

D

E

Remember Everything, Achieve Anything

Enroll below and join us on the journey

Customer satisfaction is our #1 goal, and we want this decision to be 100% risk-free so you can focus on learning. If you decide the course didn't deliver on its promise for any reason, just let us know and we'll refund your full payment, no questions asked.

Need help getting reimbursed by your employer? Click here to download a proposal template.

Most large organizations, and many smaller ones, will reimburse tuition for professional development

Questions? Email us at [email protected]

View in your time zone

Building a Second Brain FAQ

Remember Everything, Achieve Anything

Enroll below and join us on the journey

Questions? Please check out our Help Center.

Customer satisfaction is our #1 goal, and we want this decision to be 100% risk-free so you can focus on learning. If you decide the course didn't deliver on its promise for any reason, just let us know and we'll refund your full payment, no questions asked.

Need help getting reimbursed by your employer? Click here to download a proposal template.

Most large organizations, and many smaller ones, will reimburse tuition for professional development

Building a Second Brain FAQ

Premium Edition only

Last chance ever to receive lifetime access with the Essential Edition 

Here is the simple truth: you can’t afford to keep everything in your head. 

You have way too much to remember, too much to think about, and too much to do.

Trying to keep all those balls in the air using a brain that never evolved for it makes life more stressful for you than it should be. 

And the problem is: The volume of information flooding your brain today is just a trickle compared to what’s coming.

If you’re wondering whether you’ll ever be able to accomplish your most important goals amidst all the competing obligations that life throws at you...

Then you’re not alone! 

More and more people realize that...

Your ability to process and manage the information around you is the biggest bottleneck to whatever you want in life.

This isn’t about finding the right productivity app to solve all your problems! (It doesn’t exist.)

It’s about developing a system of tools, habits, techniques, and mindsets to take care of the mundane day-to-day details, freeing up your attention for more creative, interesting endeavors.

This will allow you to consistently do your best work – the work that has a real impact on the people, the organizations, and the communities that matter to you... 

And truly leave work behind each day, knowing you’ve gotten everything you can out of your time, so you can be present with your families, hobbies, and the rest of your life. 

Let me tell you how...

My work has been featured in...

Introducing

While technology is constantly changing, the heart of the creative process remains fundamentally the same: 

• Capturing information from the outside world
• Organizing it in a way that lets you easily find and use it
• Distilling it down to the best ideas
• And then expressing your ideas in your unique voice through writing, speaking, designing, or teaching.
  

Living by the C.O.D.E. system allows you to surf the waves of information instead of drowning in them.

I’ve charged between $15,000 and $25,000 to teach this system to elite professionals at some of the world’s leading organizations.

But I want to make that same quality of education available to everyone, regardless of where they live or which resources they have access to.

In this course, you’ll gain the best insights and methods I offer my clients, while receiving direct support from me and my team, on your schedule, for a small fraction of the price.

Get more done, faster, with less effort

Join Building a Second Brain and create your own personalized knowledge management system in 5 weeks

In our live online course, you’ll learn a systematic method to capture, organize, and express your ideas, leading to creative breakthroughs in your work and life.

Cohort 13 runs from November 3 - December 8, 2021 
(with a one-week break for Thanksgiving)

5 Interactive Live Sessions

7 Short, Studio-Quality 
Video Lessons

Learn the fundamentals of the Second Brain Method on your own time. 

You’ll have lifetime access to any future updates, which come out before every new cohort.

Private Online Community

Connect with over 4,000 of the most dedicated Personal Knowledge Management practitioners in the world to get your questions answered and solve your challenges. 

You’ll have lifetime access to our ever-growing alumni community.

Live Alumni Mentor Workshops

Get personalized support implementing the Second Brain Method from our best alumni, using a wide variety of notetaking apps and other tools, including on-demand replays.

Second Brain 
Resource Vault

Dive into recorded demos of capture tools, real-world case studies, and step-by-step guides on how to put your notes into action, presented by Tiago and other experts.

6 Months of Praxis Membership

Get access to exclusive content and workshops exploring the frontier of productivity and knowledge management on Tiago’s blog, Praxis.

5 Live Q&A Sessions with Tiago

Have all your questions answered on Thursdays at 5 PM EDT (view in your timezone) and get access to a curated library of top FAQ answers.

Advanced Tutorials

Dive into specialized topics such as visual thinking, note templates, online courses, and graphic design with Tiago and guest teachers.

Lifetime Access to Future Cohorts

Join future live cohorts of Building a Second Brain (typically scheduled twice per year) to take your system to the next level.

Exclusive Expert Interviews

Hear from writers, entrepreneurs, and other experts known for their creative output.

60-Minute 1:1 Coaching Session

Get Tiago’s undivided attention and direct suggestions to help you build your Second Brain around your top project or goal.

5 Small Group Coaching Sessions with Tiago

Exclusive coaching sessions on Fridays at 5 PM EDT (view in your timezone), plus on-demand replays.

Priority Support

A personal concierge from the course staff to make sure you’re having the best experience.

What you’ll be learning and doing week by week

A comprehensive curriculum to harness the full power of your ideas.

The good news is: You don’t have to accept this state of constant Information Overload. 

There are tools already at your fingertips to help you capitalize on the full potential of your knowledge and ideas.

By leveraging the power of technology...

Your Frequently Asked Questions

How much time do I need to invest to benefit from the course?
Building a Second Brain is an intensive learning experience delivered live in real-time. Although we make replays of all sessions available and you can always rewatch them afterward, we strongly recommend that you attend all live sessions to fully benefit from the program.

Overall, you should plan on spending at least 5-10 hours per week for the 5 weeks of the program, including:

• The five 90-minute live sessions hosted by Tiago (1-3 per week depending on which Edition you choose)
• 1-2 Alumni Mentor sessions of your choice per week
• 1-2 hours per week watching the pre-recorded lessons and other tutorials
• 1-2 hours per week completing the assignments and engaging with your peers on the discussion forum

When are the live sessions?

The 5 live sessions will take place on Wednesdays. 

• November 3rd, 5 - 6:30 PM ET (view in your timezone) 
• November 10th, 5 - 6:30 PM ET (view in your timezone)
• November 17th, 5 - 6:30 PM ET (view in your timezone)
• November 24th, no live session due to the Thanksgiving holiday
• December 1st, 5 - 6:30 PM ET (view in your timezone)
• December 8th, 5 - 6:30 PM ET (view in your timezone)

Premium Edition students have the opportunity to attend 5 additional Q&A sessions with Tiago on Thursdays at 5 PM ET (view in your timezone). 

Executive Edition students have access to 5 Small Group Coaching Sessions with Tiago on Fridays at 5 PM ET (view in your timezone).

What tools are used in the course?
Building a Second Brain is tool-agnostic, meaning our system will work in any software you prefer.

In our cohorts, students use Evernote, Notion, OneNote, Roam Research, Bear, Google Keep, and many other notetaking tools.

As the focus is on the Building a Second Brain System, we don’t teach you how to use a particular tool in-depth.

 
When will the Alumni Mentor Workshops take place?
We offer 10 sessions per week spread over 7 days and across different time zones.

Are there any prerequisites for this course?
There are no official prerequisites to take Building a Second Brain. However, we do expect you to be reasonably comfortable with using a computer.


Didn’t see the answer to your question? 

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We're limiting enrollment to 1,000 new students this time! 

Remember Everything, Achieve Anything

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We're limiting enrollment to 1,000 new students this time! 

Your contribution matters! The world is waiting for your ideas to make the difference that only you can make

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