BASB transformed the way I organize my information and look at my workflows. It opened up my perspective to new ways of doing things. Especially regarding creating and expressing, and how it's important to have the outcome in mind while going through all subsequent steps.

I loved the Building a Second Brain course. I wish I started 40 years ago. If I had, today, it would be one of my most valuable tools and possessions.

Building a Second Brain gave me the confidence to kickstart things I've had in my mind but was never able to move forward. Originally, I was looking for a way to store things for systematic retrieval. After the course, not only did I learn a way to capture and express myself, I have also gained understanding about how my struggle in the learning process reflects how I approach things in life.

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.

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.

The sensation of certainty – that I knew that whatever had peaked my interest, I could capture it so easily – and there was a well thought out framework where it ended up, just waiting to be used towards achieving my dreams – that sensation was a real feeling of having gotten smarter. This in turn gave a noticeable boost in self-confidence and energy towards working on my projects. It’s hard to understate the sense of growth of who I am – of what I’m capable of achieving. It has profoundly altered my outlook on life and what I dare to aspire to.

Building a second brain has given me new skills to gain deeper understanding and make sense of things, in a quicker and more organized way than before.

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.

BASB sharpened my grasp of the basic concepts of PKM and pushed me to shift my focus to express/create rather than hoard information. This will allow me to create/publish more. I feel super excited for what's to come.

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.

Building a Second Brain gave me the tools to create a system that works for me. It has showed me the potential of using such a system with regards to creative output. It was a wonderful experience and I’ve not only made major changes to my life in terms of how and where I spend my time, but I’ve also been able to impact my clients in a greater way as well.

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.

My Second Brain has been very impactful in relieving "cognitive drag". I'm already doing things with the knowledge I've been collecting. Even something like cooking Thanksgiving dinner has been easier. I had three different menus to prepare while dealing with a lower back injury. Because of my Second Brain, I laid on my floor while my family helped. Because it was so well organized and planned in my Second Brain it came together easily and incredibly.

The Second Brain is a living database. It is a method for storing and organizing information for reference and re-use…Instead of spending hours researching the same topic months from now, with the Second Brain, all of the information is only seconds away.

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.

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.

BASB has had a huge impact on my life. It has been one of the best decisions I've made in the last few years. The support of the course and the community will allow me to continue on a great path.

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.

BASB gave me solutions for problems I didn't even know I was struggling with, but which were big frictions in my work. Having a Second Brain has freed me from brainfog. I have a precise view of my projects and an amazing system of not just „getting things done“ but „GTD with a happy brain!" I am happy to be part of this amazing community.

This course offers a highly adaptable method for building your own digital brain. What? Yes. How? PARA + constraints. Why? Tiago offers a loose set of standards which you can start extracting long term, compounding interest on all of your work. I’ve never explicitly valued my attention, but I found myself regretting how much I’ve forgotten about the 100s of articles I read monthly — 100s of hours of attention, wasted! At work, I couldn’t easily find materials for my current projects — much less my previous projects. My attention was scattered. Tiago’s system strikes isn’t complicated or strict, which allows you to grow your very own personalized digital cortex. Now I can match my work to my mood and add value to my projects no matter what the week throws at me. In the two months since starting, I’ve produced three blogposts, planned three backpacking trips, decluttered my room, created an enterprise workshop, and got admitted into a developer conference. All using the *SAME* system! I’m living the PARA lifestyle now, and I’m never going back. This way lies not just productivity, but happiness and ease of mind. I started with no experience with GTD. I didn’t understand constraints. I never used a notetaking tool. I used my inbox as my todo list (starred messages). In other words, a total productivity degenerate. Take this course to start to feel agency in the world of infinite information and filter failure!

Now that I have a Second Brain, I have a trusted system to deal with information. It's changed my ability to go from just consuming information, to actually making something out of it.

Having a Second Brain has saved my behind. My parents passed away, and it has helped me immensely as the executor of their estates. I love this program and its amazing impact on my life.

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

From my heart… now, with the BASB framework as a foundation, I approach my day with a playing mindset rather than my former dreading the coming slog mindset, I take joy in the constant rain of ideas. They sprout rather than wither because they have a place where they can wait and even grow until I need them. AND I can find them! Tiago has provided us a physical process that doesn’t suck the life out of our imaginative trips. Obvious as it may seem, for disorganized dreaming scheming ME, the ‘news’ of distinguishing WITH SPECIFICITY between a PROJECT and an IDEA was WORLD grounding, freeing, and FUN.

After taking BASB, I feel 1000X more productive and have a system that gets a lot done for me. I think it is the foundation of a lot of growth for me and I'm excited about it.

I’ve got some big ambitious goals….I feel like I’ve got the tools to be able to take on longer-term projects and have them persist over a long period of time, and allow for that incubation period, and allow for serendipity, allow for ideas to marinate, allow different perspective… opening up that wheel and making progress every single day, has been very fulfilling and really just a life-changer as far as overall happiness goes.

Having a Second Brain allows me to work and collaborate on multiple projects at a time.

Building a Second Brain is life-changing. I feel more organized. I know where everything goes. It's cleared up my information hoarding and replaced it with buckets for distilled work. One example of how it's helped me: I had a meeting with a team about an upcoming presentation. I discussed my thoughts, recorded them during the meeting, distilled the content, pushed it to my VA. She drafted a presentation that took 15 minutes to edit! BAM!

Thanks to Building A Second Brain, I am now more confident to be able to handle big projects and remember and use everything that I have learned. I know where to store things. I have become curious about incoming information rather than dreading it.

BASB was a form of therapy for me. It's encouraged me to make more & better notes, and lean into the realisation that my future self will thank my current self for doing so.

@gregoryjhickman @fortelabs All joking aside, if @fortelabs lets you give him money, you should do it. BASB totally changed how I store and access knowledge and I can’t even begin to calculate what that’s been worth to me.

I want to put in a huge thumbs up for Tiago Forte’s online course Building a Second Brain. On the surface it’s a course about the art of capturing, organizing, and retrieving digital notes — which is perfect for anyone (like myself) who makes their living researching and utilizing large amounts of information — but under the surface it’s a course that will change your life in many profound ways. Tiago’s class deeply changed my life in at least two ways: I now have a working system for keeping endless emails, overwhelming numbers of research notes, and confusing writing projects clearly organized and searchable; and for the first time in my life I have a clear understanding of what it means to be a “knowledge worker” and “content producer” in a rapidly changing world where those are powerful ways to make a living. Tiago is a formidable and highly respected thinker whose insights into productivity and creativity are having a huge impact. His class was generous, warm, and personal, and well worth every penny because he shares so much and is completely available for questions and insights that matter to you.

I feel like this is going to change everything. Moving forward, I can't wait to see where all this takes me!

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.

I’m halfway done with @fortelabs’s BASB Foundation course and it was life-changing. 💫

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.

My Second Brain has allowed me to free up my poor biological first brain! This has been profoundly calming while also supporting greater possibilities of expression to build over time.

Because of Building A Second Brain, my repetitive tasks are easier and I'm able to focus on cooler stuff at work. I'm able to make connections, collaborate with others, and more easily capture their insights. It's made me more geared towards action and expression.

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.

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.

The Building a Second Brain course was a game-changer. In the past, all I did was collect and lose information. Now I have a system! Data is not isolated anymore and everything connects. I can feel how my creativity flows freely and my delivery is not only faster, my content is more complex.

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.

BASB has reduced my stress levels. I now feel less scattered and more directed.

Building a Second Brain has given me the permission to dive deep into my own personal data. The things I know, the things I care about, the things I love. And that I can do it in a way that works for me and my life. There's permission to do it my way -- not the one way that works for everyone.

Having an established second brain system has allowed me to become more productive, creative, and valuable than I have ever been before. It has not only allowed me to optimally manage my workflow but has allowed me to become a resource to others. Now, when I’m in conversation with others, or when people have questions on a specific topic, I typically have a note or two in my second brain that I can use to add to the conversation or answer someone’s question.

BASB answers to our evolutionary need to rethink our way to exist online, how we consume and create with more intention and clarity. The course was thought-provoking, and I was impressed by the quality of the content (amazing production indeed!), the way it was structured, the solid teamwork, the curriculum- it really set a new standard in the online education space and as a course creator, inspired and humbled me. This is just the beginning but now I look at the future of digital era with more hope and trust, and from a place of empowerment. I know that I now have the tools and frameworks to turn the digital chaos into calm.

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!