Sarah Bening, PhD

Scientist

BASB helped me at home and at work to organize my digital life and reframe how I think about "success" when it comes to projects.

Jayme Dowall

Because of the Building A Second Brain Course, I’m less anxious and have tools to manage my relationship with information.

Dr David Barr

Economist

BASB has encouraged me to create material in areas that I would previously have approached passively as a consumer (e.g. writing a review about Hamlet instead of just reading the play). BASB was an enriching experience. It provides a framework in which 'write about what you read/watch/hear/see' becomes operational and integrated with life more widely.

Pat Iniguez

BASB has made a tremendous difference to my life. I switched from a passive consumer of information without purpose to consuming information more selectively and with purpose.

Pranav Mutatkar

Healthcare Technology Consultant, Millman

Tiago’s class Building a Second Brain solved many problems that I had been encountering over and over again in my productivity workflow. And it also solved many problems I was not aware of. It has allowed me to create a system that will work easily so that I can spend time on what’s important: creation.

Thomas Randall

Building a Second Brain has been a complete f**king gamechanger. It's given me actionability at the centre of my workflow. Now I can match my mood with my work. I've now got a solid foundation that I can build my entire life off of.

Carlo Minciacchi

Founder & Software Engineer

The programme teaches you actionable principles and habits on capturing, organising, synthesising and making use of knowledge. The biggest win for me was connecting the things I have to get done (deliverables, tasks) with the information needed to make these happen. As a result, I now have a system in place for moving the needle forwards on my projects with really effective ways of collecting and making use of knowledge that I capture (or create)! Before the programme I was half-heartedly implementing GTD and managing knowledge, leading to a lot of time spent trying to sort things out and never actually moving the projects forwards. With the new systems I set up during BASB I feel I can dig deeper in my projects and produce even better quality results, with less stress/effort.

Timothy Brathwaite

PhD, Data Scientist

BASB has gave me an organizational framework that is flexible enough to contain all areas of my life, through the different seasons of my life. It has helped relieve my anxiety to know I have a way to externalize all my knowledge, worries, and concerns. Knowing I have a way to edit and organize my thoughts digitally combats any disorganization and disorder I feel.

Szymon Szukalski

BASB has provided me with clarity and focus in my personal knowledge management practice. The energy from everyone was amazing and I felt really privileged to be able to attend. The delivery was very polished and smooth. Well done!

Bob Doto

Writer & teacher

The Building a Second Brain program brought me into contact with the exact people I was hoping to meet. It has been a phenomenal experience. Diving deeper into BASB's CODE methodology helped me identify and troubleshoot bottlenecks in my workflow, and helped me complete multiple projects concurrently. I believe wholeheartedly in Building a Second Brain.

Raphael Cox

BASB has already impacted my life. I am not shy in front of others as I was before. I'm eternally grateful for the course, Tiago, support staff, and mentors for helping me find my direction, my port of call. BASB has been 100% worth the investment (money, time, and attention).

Dennis Nehrenheim

Software Engineer & Blogger

The BASB course has made me more confident in handling what life throws at me and being more effective in expressing myself. It will continue to be part of my overall productivity kaizen.

Stevie Depew

Chief of Staff, Sandler Training

BASB opened up a whole new world of note-taking. I feel so much more productive and my brain physically feels better! It has changed my entire mindset around knowledge management.

Danbee Kim

Creative Director, OORI Studio

BASB is the best online course I've taken so far. It's helping me sort through all my mental, emotional, spiritual blockages.

Dallas Fuentes

Gerontologist & Transformation Coach

Building a Second Brain is like a fuel injection. I'm ready to create, design, and get things done!

Yuri Burchenya

Co-founder at GetFoundXL

This course completely re-organized the way I consume content. It changed what I pay attention to and why.

Rubén Garcia

Son-Husband-Father, Pediatrician & Ongoing learner

The Building a Second Brain program unleashed inner strengths I had hidden, pushing me to both feel in charge of all the aspects of my life, but especially calling me into publicly sharing my knowledge, my experience and my life. I now have more hope and trust that I can be valuable for other people that are also sharing this life journey.

Ting Chang

Front-end Engineer

I came into the course thinking that BASB would be teaching a cookie cutter method, one size for all. But it was a pleasant surprise how it focuses on building a system that works for you. I love how Tiago would bring in the high-level concepts/principles, and show his way of going about it. The mentors would also show their perspective, this really was gold. I absolutely loved BASB. The biggest impact is how it triggered a reflection on my existing systems and patterns, not just to notetaking, but on a broader perspective. BASB has been so much more than another PKM course.

Dávid Lévai

Indie Developer & Content Creator

I started this course to achieve 2 things. One, somehow collect all the stuff I consume daily to an easily accessible place. Two, use these to produce new content. I love how easily can I make new content using progressive summarization. Feel less overwhelmed and ready to be consistent with creating content.

Ron Harris

My favourite part of BASB is being in a community with other lifelong learners. Every time we interact on social media or in Circle, I learn something new. I'm learning that the true value of the course is the relationships you gain while learning with together.

Patrick Strubbe

Founder and Owner of Preservation Specialists, LLC

I have much greater confidence in what I'm storing, how I'm storing it, and more importantly how to put it to use. The Building a Second Brain course has given me clarity on what a project is, and how to stay focused on it.

Somangshu Goswami

Engineering Leadership

BASB has made me feel more organised. I wish I was doing this all my life.

Jan-Philipp Hopf

Software engineer

Honestly, since I got a hang on it — I’ve had quite a few WTF?! cognition melting and folding moments — cognitive reboot…That clarity of delivery obscured the depth of possibilties, which became casual tools-to-play-with after I had crossed the chasm, but were confusion-inducing earlier. The remaining confusion is actually a more sensitive perception, a place of possibility and momentum.

Sean Kearney

Founder, UpGaged LLC

I got much more than my money's worth before I even started the Building a Second Brain course. One of the biggest benefits I've received has been about connecting with so many amazing, super smart people from around the world including the mentors and peers. The Circle is easily one of the best resources for tapping into high-quality peer-created and curated content that I will continue to use for years to come.

Danielle Bellows

Assistant Professor & Board Certified Pediatric Clinical Specialist

I feel much less overwhelmed than when I started Building a Second Brain. I believe I will be much more productive with my scientific writing in particular this year as a result of taking it.

Vicario Reinaldo

The Building a Second Brain course was life changing! I've been more mindful to capture, organize, distill, and express information. It helped me get aligned with my goal to balance information consumption with production.

Paula Cuello

Educator

Tiago was great at reminding us that the way we approach BASB is how we approach many other things in our lives. If we want things to be perfect, and put things off generally, that is how we will approach BASB. It gave me the push I needed to get out of my comfort zone and just jump in. This will help not just with BASB but other aspects of my life.

Kiva Slade

Analytics and Operations Consultant

As a long-term collector of information that often sat unread and unused, BASB has changed my approach to information and the possibilities are just beginning to unfold. This was life-changing.

Daniel Podsiadlo

Doctor of Physical Therapy, Musician, and Rock Climber

BASB has made me feel much more confident in the projects and life goals I am pursuing. I used to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information on the internet but now feel like I have the tools to capture, organize, and distill that information.

Hunter Schwinn

Student

Being able to catch ideas as they come to you is one of the most important things you could perfect…I will be building my second brain every single day for the rest of my career. This is not a static database but is rather a living, breathing system of information and knowledge management.

Jose-Elias Alvarez

CEO at Inspirit

I have to say this has been an amazing immersion and experience. BASB is very dense but worth 10X the investment. Without a doubt. After so many years of GTD practice and intense productivity management, I thought I was a “productivity ninja.” Well, BASB has questioned and challenged all my stuff on productivity and it’s taking it to a next level. PARA is game changing and it’s adding massive clarity and order to my stuff across all the platforms I use. Key differentiators of this program versus others out there that I think provide a competitive advantage, include: the merging of deep philosophical concepts with the pragmatism of the program; incorporation of randomness and serendipity to the process — for example, via random notes; and the merging of divergence and convergence.

Michael Skiba

Writer & Project Manager

Tiago is a downright master at breaking down the challenges of knowledge work. Ever since college, I fumbled with incorporating something like “Progressive Summarization” into my notes and reviews — I never felt like I could trust my digital systems. With each lesson, Tiago gave me context and terminology to actually understand my problems and design meaningful improvements to my approach. The only reason not to take the course is if you’re allergic to “Aha” moments. Seriously.

Celz Alejandro

Creatives Manager at UP Advertising Core Antipolo, Philippines

It's been a few months since BASB has ended but I'm still reaping the benefits of having this system. Having a Second Brain is so, so, SO important. Just the other day, I misread a deadline for some case studies, and it was already 9:30am!!!! But since I had a Second Brain, I was able to whip one up because I already had my testimonials, social proof, and screen shots all in one place. Funny enough, I was commended because my case study submission was apparently super clean and well thought-out. So this is what you meant when you said people will think you're some sort of "genius", when really you just know how to manage the stuff in your head.

Adrian Orozco

Headshot Photographer & Technical Onboarding Engineer at Cisco

Just like the invention of the telephone was a necessity for the development of the skyscraper, I can feel that BASB has changed something inside of me that continues to morph and evolve. Having gone through the course reminds me of the final scene(s) of the original Total Recall. The glass ceiling has been shattered and the proverbial Mars, that is my understanding of PKM, has been terraformed. The sky is quite literally the limit and I feel ready to soar!

John Barros

Content Specialist at Encore Global

The BASB community and the Forte Labs team are amazing. They've inspired me to take on challenges I've never thought were possible. You've done it again Forte Labs team! This is the best cohort yet! Thank you for all your passion and hard work to make this a wonderful experience.

Eralp Sendan

BASB has given me one of the best skills in my life and that is a living system that I can control. I am not overwhelmed anymore and I'm now more organised.

Jay Colbert

Librarian

BASB has made my mind feel lighter. Now, my email doesn't scare me. My thoughts and ideas aren't just nebulous things I want to put out into the world but never get around to doing it. Now, I'm actually doing the things I said I would. I loved BASB so much after just one week, I upgraded my membership to premium because I wanted even more. The mentors inspired me so much that I want to be one too.

Andreas Wettstein

Managing Partner Agility3

The BASB course has helped me with my creative output. It allowed me to generate new business and has given me a clear process that is oriented towards output, not just input.

Matthew Lecki

General Manager

Building a Second Brain is helping me create mental clarity and focus in a cluttered digital environment. Practically speaking, it's helping me prepare to start a business and train for a new career.

Mark McGraw

Sandler Training

This was my 2nd time through the program and I am again blown away! The principles Tiago shares are really life-changing and priceless for peace of mind and creative expression. I am such a fan and highly recommend the BASB program to anyone searching to have for organization and clarity.

Mia Lang​

My second brain is one of the best resources I have because it gives me the freedom to easily consume information, organize it, and create a blog post…It taught me a fantastic way to simultaneously learn more, and archive information to be able to fully focus on one thing, all while keeping the information I have already collected readily available.

Ariane Santos

ServiceNow Architect

With a Second Brain, the chaos now lives in an external system. Which means my first brain is free of anxieties and is a much better place to be. My relationships with others (and myself) are better for it too.

Wess Daniels

University lecturer, administrator, and author

I cannot overstate how much BASB has helped me. I am an administrator and faculty member in higher-education and am constantly trying to manage multiple streams of input, while managing many projects, staffing, budgets, my own research and ideas, and more. Until I took this course, I was often literally holding my breath, hoping to remember all the moving parts, hoping to not show up and be too unprepared, and dreaming of the day when I would have more time to work on my own projects. Now, within the span of 6 weeks, I feel completely different not just about my projects and creative output but about all of my work. There is a clear delineation for me before and after I started this course. It is just what I needed. And just in time. The class has not only been a lifeline for me, it has been spiritually and emotionally rewarding. I don’t feel defeated or like I’m always playing catch-up. I know what I need to do and I have the tools and ideas to accomplish it well.

Kristy Carlson

Director, Education Research & Scholarship Development, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska

I was overwhelmed with the amount of information from a wide variety of sources (i.e., email, teams, social media, text messages). Building a Second Brain allows me to manage the information through organization and storage it so it's easy to access when needed.

Ryan F.

Financial analyst

There is nothing on the web that will arm you with the perspectives encompassed within Building a Second Brain. This course tackles the paradigms of note-taking as we know it and will completely shift your ability to leverage the digital world with creative force. With exposure to ideas such as manipulating traditional ‘flow’ states, how to become interruption-proof and getting a grip on your projects — the course is comprehensively transformative. Tiago assisted in fundamentally changing the way I operate and interact digitally. Personally, the biggest impact was the creation of a literal ‘second brain’ via techniques of capturing, applying multi-layered summarisation and re-packaging information into intermediate packets of work. These ideas have allowed me to triage my consumption into shareable and productive outputs. Coupled with an *extremely valuable community group*, you are free to experiment with ideas, share and implement techniques and get valuable feedback. Whether it’s a complete mindset shift, a new way to use tools, defining and re-organising your projects, seamlessly capturing information, the ability to use rather than simply consume, or allowing for spontaneous connections — Building a second brain creates a space in your digital life which turns chaos into a bespoke system and approach to the digital landscape which optimises for creativity.

Alexi Weeks

I rarely complete my personal projects and I really couldn't understand why until BASB. It clicked that as a recovering perfectionist, I had never risked failure. BASB has totally reframed "failing" for me and I'm now excited about it lol! The live sessions and Q&A were my favorite part. I loved when Tiago crowd-sourced answers from the chat. There was so many awesome suggestions!

Stefan Hoffmann

Freelance Facilitator

PARA has both reduced the chaos in my mind and helped me with information overwhelm.