Building a Second Brain – Tiago Forte

The Foundation (Understanding what’s possible)

Where it all started

During the course of the author’s illness, he suffered a severe fever, which resulted in him losing his short-term memory and speech disability, which made him feel extremely hopeless and despondent. Without a resolution, the author took things into his own hand and started writing his own journal. He started researching and writing treatments that worked and which did not work .

By taking notes about everything he learned, he could pick up all the details of his condition from a different perspective and understand it better. He used notes as a practical means of transforming new information into practical solutions he could use.

In the aftermath of this experience, the author became obsessed with taking notes and learning about everything around him. This author adopts a digital note-taking method that can be customized and shaped in order to meet the author’s specific needs.

He joined the US Peace Corps, serving in developing countries, and accepted an assignment in Ukraine. Because of his obsession with note-taking, he could teach his students how to keep schedules, how to take notes in class, how to set goals, and how to plan their education.

As he returned to his analyst job, he was unprepared for the constant barrage of inputs and wondered how anyone could accomplish anything. The only thing he knew was to take notes of everything he encountered. He did this, which gave him confidence that he could find exactly what he needed when needed.

As the go-to man in the office for finding any information and recalling what a client said some weeks back, he felt satisfaction and pride through leveraging what he knew.

Discovering the power of Sharing