Tiago Forte on Building a Second Brain

Converge: The Business of Creativity Podcast with Dane Sanders

If you consider yourself to be a creative type, you probably find that it’s easy to have great ideas for things you’d love to try or projects you want to do in the future, but you struggle to actually make things happen. Even if you organize yourself and your time pretty well, the fact is everyday life has a way of creeping in from all sides and crowding out a good chunk of our plans.

That’s why Tiago Forte has developed the idea of a second brain, a revolutionary idea that makes it possible to really unleash creative potential in a transformative way. Your second brain is a place outside of your head to store and organize your ideas and plans so you can effectively implement them at a later date. And when we understand the creative process and its natural cycles, we can utilize it in a way that causes us to be more effective with what we’re trying to accomplish.

Tiago uses the acronym CODE (capture, organize, distill, express) to describe the creative process, which he says comes in two phases. Phase one (capture, organize) is the divergent phase and must happen first. This is when we gather all our information and consider all possibilities. We expand and gather. Phase two (distill, express) is convergent, and can only be done when phase one is complete. This is when the whole cloud of ideas and information is organized and given a shape and a plan.

We also discuss the difference between the infinite and finite areas of life, namely, areas vs projects. How can we tell when something has an end, and when it is ongoing? The key to success is realizing that a full life should have both.

After you’ve listened to this conversation, I encourage you to read Tiago’s book, Building a Second Brain. You will be inspired to capture all the input that life throws your way and turn into something that works for you and your business.

HIGHLIGHTS

[4:51] We tend to think of people as either artistic or analytical, right-brained or left-brained. But realistically, life requires us to be both.

[6:36] Tiago describes how he found his creative medium, which is to find practical solutions to the challenges of life.

[11:10] A second brain is a place to store ideas that you want to revisit and/or implement in the future.

[17:04] Tiago’s acronym for the creative process: CODE: Capture, Organize, Distill and Express.

[26:55] The first half of CODE is divergence, expanding possibilities and increasing scope. The second half, Distill and Express are convergent.

[28:53] PARA: Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives. How do we organize all the notes and information we’ve collected so we can find them again?

[30:43] Projects end, Areas don’t. Areas are aspects of life that are ongoing. There are different rules for both.

[36:47] Why it should matter to people to build a second brain.