Among all the productivity books I’ve read, Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte is one of the best. Unlike abstract rulebooks, this one offers a concrete and highly practical method for managing information and working toward personal and professional goals.
Tiago, a business consultant, designed his method around a very common challenge in today’s world: managing an overwhelming amount of information in different formats—books, videos, podcasts, classes, and events. To make this information truly useful, it must be organized in a way that allows for easy access and retrieval. This is essential to avoid what’s known as information fatigue, which drains our mental resources and creates a constant anxiety about forgetting something important.
Creating a Digital Commonplace
Throughout history, intellectuals, artists, and writers—from Leonardo da Vinci to Virginia Woolf to John Locke—kept what was known as a commonplace book. It was essentially a personal notebook where they gathered thoughts, knowledge, and insights to inspire creativity, revisit ideas, and build their work over time.
With today’s technology, those of us working in creative fields also need a digital version of this system—a kind of extended memory that supports our thinking and helps us reach our goals. Since our sources now include webpages, audiobooks, photos, and videos, a simple paper notebook is no longer enough. That’s where the concept of a Second Brain comes in: a digital, cloud-based system that helps you store and structure your ideas.
For example, if you get a brilliant idea while waiting in line at the grocery store, you can quickly jot it down in a dedicated inbox or “capture space,” which you’ll clean up and organize later.
Second Brain in Practice
What Tiago Forte ultimately aims to help you build is the best personal assistant in the world—one that can:
- Turn your ideas into reality
- Reveal unexpected connections
- Incubate projects over time
- Sharpen your unique perspective
It all starts with choosing a digital tool (like Notion, Evernote, or Obsidian) that works across all your devices. Then, you apply Tiago’s C.O.D.E. method, a four-step system:
C – Capture
Save anything that resonates with you or might be useful later—quotes, ideas, links, notes, highlights.
O – Organize
Sort your notes into folders that reflect Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. Reorganize weekly to stay on top of it.
D – Distill
Extract the most valuable parts from your materials. Not everything is equally important. Make brief summaries with references to the source.
E – Express
Transform your notes into something creative. Connect, remix, and evolve your ideas into blog posts, videos, strategies, or art.
This structured workflow makes it much easier to go from collecting ideas to creating original work.
For instance, if one of your goals is to build a profitable blog, you might create a folder that includes:
- content ideas
- affiliate contacts
- monetization strategies
- a project timeline
Building a System That Supports Your Creativity
This is how your Second Brain becomes your creative partner. Let’s say you come across an inspiring article about digital marketing or writing productivity. Instead of just reading it and moving on, you file it in the folder dedicated to your blog business. Later, when you’re refining your strategy or writing a new post, you can return to those saved insights.
That blog folder will live inside a broader folder related to your overall business goals. Over time, you can create others for health, learning, travel, or anything you consider a fundamental area of your life.
If you’re interested in learning more about the method, I highly recommend reading the book Building a Second Brain and checking out also this article I wrote about Notion.
