How to double your brain power | Tiago Forte

How do we deal with information overload? Build a second brain, explains Tiago Forte.

Tiago Forte, Founder of Forte Labs and author of "Building A Second Brain," discusses the problem of information overload and how it can hinder creativity.

He proposes a solution in the form of a Commonplace book, a central repository for all meaningful information and content. Forte's method for managing this information, called C.O.D.E. (capture, organize, distill, and express), allows individuals to access and use this information in order to facilitate creative thinking.

By regularly reviewing the information in their Commonplace book and using it to inspire new ideas, people can more effectively navigate the modern world’s information overload — allowing us to free up cognitive resources for creativity.

0:00 Creativity under fire
1:10 The information abundance problem
2:22 “You need a second brain”
3:24 How to begin preserving your creativity
5:04 Unlocking productive creativity

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About Tiago Forte:
Tiago Forte is one of the world’s foremost experts on productivity. He has taught more than 20,000 people worldwide through his programs and writes and speaks on how technology can help knowledge workers revolutionize their personal effectiveness.
Tiago’s online course, Building a Second Brain, has produced more than 5,000 graduates from over 70 countries. The course draws on his experience in academic disciplines such as information science, practical fields such as user experience design, and his work with top organizations and leaders in Silicon Valley. Tiago believes knowledge management is one of the most impactful skills in the world today, and his work is dedicated to making it accessible to individuals for the first time.
In a previous life, he worked in microfinance in Latin America, served in the Peace Corps in Ukraine, and consulted for large companies on product development in San Francisco. He lives in Long Beach, California, with his wife Lauren, son Caio, and dog Ximena.
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Read more of our stories on productivity:
Our overworked society has created a bunch of adrenaline junkies
Feeling unproductive even after working all day? It may be “productivity dysmorphia”
Slack’s CEO Stewart Butterfield: These questions could save teams billions of hours each year

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[Nico-npbh]

“Productivity is kind of half of the coin of creativity.” That’s so true and I’m working hard on that one! 😅

[dizzybeepot]

Ive been doing this for years now using my notes app on icloud. I have "buckets" and folders/groups for organizing everything from to do lists, large life goals, research notes, reflective writing, etc on and on...its been inteersting seeing my collection grow over the years (almost 2, 000+ notes now) and going back to figure out what can be consolidated or regrouped differently. Really has changed the way I move and think about my knowledge archives.

[harshitjain]

Already been doing this for a couple of years using Google docs and Keep. This works! Capturing emotions makes you rich enough to process more emotions because your past emotions are resolved. Writing things sorts your head and makes it ready to take more. Just be wary of not getting too obsessive about how much you capture and how well you organize it. The intent is to be organic here.

[Triquetral]

I love how they captured the essence of their work in the video so perfectly.

[GreenMorningDragonProductions]

I love it when a respected expert recommends that I do something that I have already been doing for quite some time. It makes me feel like I am not a complete blockhead :)

[poprostubanan]

That channel is so underrated. Every episode is new knowledgde. Thanks for your job!!

[amy-]

That's the first time I realize how compact bigthink videos are – I've consumed a lot from tiago, and this video basically just "opens this chapter" in a really nice, friendly, and genuine way.

That's literally just the "why you should have a second brain" component, and like... One toe in the water on how to start. Crazy how condensed that is, and I kind of... Don't needed it. I'm heads in, for months, really deep thinking this would get me further in, but it was rather a really good summary :D

Think I might use bigthink just for that in the future; what are big life areas I should pay more attention to.

[Intelligence]

I’ve been keeping TONS of journals for many years. I document everything. It really helps.

[zanjmukenya]

Big Think is the best YouTube Channel...its even more than a YT channel, these videos literally pour optimism, inspiration, knowledge...they give me a feeling of life each video I watch, Makes me want to get out there see the world, create, explore, experience. Thank You for this feeling

[amethystamaris]

I too have been doing this all my life and am grateful for this affirmative message. It's allowed me to have perfect recall and a huge amount of creativity in my books, music and art.

[amanissar]

That's great. Yesterday I saw a similar insight from Professor of Art History Alka Hingorani where she talked about exactly the same thing. Over time this little duration of time that you take out for yourself would eventually define who you are as a person. And would make seemingly unconnected things come under one large connection. Beautiful video.

[tiagodeabreu]

The ballet and the compass scene at 5:56 matches perfectly with the closing argument!

[RodneyDaut]

It's amazing how the practice of writing things down and keeping them organized allows us to grow. I've been using Tiago's system for over a year now and it's taken me leaps ahead of where I was before.

[mattc]

I've been using a word document on my Google drive to accomplish this practice. Its a great way to store nuggets of wisdom that might otherwise be forgotten.

Recently I had been grappling with the tough decision to continue a romantic relationship or to end it. One of the quotes I had saved in my digital commonplace book lead me to my confident decision: " It's not how much they say they love you, its how at peace they make you feel".

[calblue]

Creativity is channeling feeling from one medium to another

[scienceteam]

Quick question:
How do I get the first brain?

[TrippSaaS]

Knowledge management is a concept I stumbled upon in the professional world, but that has changed the way I look at information. I am excited for note taking to take a more conversational format with LLMs and AI.

[JazevoAudiosurf]

when I was younger I thought of creativity as combinatorics as in math. I then witnessed state of minds where creativity was not caused by thinking but a brilliant solution to a complex problem just happened by seeing the problem, e.g. in chess. I'm confident that it is just the amount of awareness that increases creativity, and the intelligent solution just happens. so thinking is really a dumbing down of the brain into abstract, fragmented pieces

[reganw.]

I have a notebook called “Brain Extension” and it's nice to find this video to improve it

[natzhao]

Wow! This is the convergent evolution of self-development. Over time as I experimented with different means of productivity management, I have basically come to the same conclusion. I use a second brain, which is various forms of software, such as notion, excel, notes etc. Not having to use your short term memory "RAM" to store information, when new and important information comes in, I will store it in Notion or other apps, to free up space in my RAM. That has improved my mental clarity tremendously ever since that system of "second brain" is up and running. This idea of RAM also ties into the book called "hyperfocus", which talks about freeing up your attention space. With the rise of ChatGPT, is another revolution, where we will begin to shift how we think about information. Information was always available through google, but with Chat GPT it is able to retrieve that information like a human brain. From now on, we really don't need to remember a lot of information, because it is at our finger tip. Instead we reallyshould work on capturing experiences, non-tangible information. Or even better, creating new and original information. Which then again fundamentally changes how information should be taught, aka how the schooling system should change.