This is our final newsletter of 2025 🎉 a special edition to celebrate the past 12 months.

Here are some of the milestones we achieved this year…

• Launched the official Second Brain Notion Template, which sold over 2,350 copies this year (update coming soon)
• Grew our Circle community to over 13k members and launched our BASB app (via Circle Plus) for easier access
• Ran 3x cohorts of Second Brain Enterprise and transitioned the program to the EMPOWER Labs team
• Started publishing videos weekly on our YouTube channel, which grew to 373k subscribers (an incredible feat for our small team)
• Hosted another cohort of our Annual Review program, with beta access to the manuscript of my upcoming book, Life in Perspective​

All this with a small team, which met in person in Mexico this December to plan for 2026. (Missing Rebecca and Sasa, unfortunately.)

THANK YOU for being part of this journey. Everything we do is ultimately to serve you.

Here’s to closing 2025 with gratitude and stepping into 2026 with renewed energy, purpose, and endless possibilities—happy New Year!

Our team has curated the most popular YouTube videos, articles, and posts for you. Enjoy!

Our 5 Most Popular YouTube Videos

Our channel received over 4.8M views this year and consumed 48 years of viewing time. Insane! These 5 videos that we published this year were the most popular…

​1. NotebookLM Will Change How You Learn – Here’s Why​

In 2024, NotebookLM was just an experiment by Google. Now, it’s the most powerful AI tool for research and learning – and it got a HUGE upgrade.

In this video, I break down 5 insane new features that make NotebookLM your ultimate AI-powered Second Brain.

​2. The Master Prompt Method: Unlock AI’s Full Potential​

What if AI could become your smartest, most efficient employee?

I chatted with serial entrepreneur Hayden Miyamoto to introduce the Master Prompt Method—a powerful way to train your AI with full context about you and your business.

We break down how it works and share practical tips so you can start building your own master prompt today.

​3. I Replaced My $700/Hour Coach with NotebookLM – Here’s What Happened​

Can AI replace a human coach? In this video, I test NotebookLM as a life coach by feeding it 148,000+ words of deeply personal material – spanning 15+ years of journals, coaching notes, personality profiles, essays, and more – to uncover patterns, insights, and blind spots in my growth.

Let’s see whether AI can offer meaningful, personalized coaching based on deep context.

​4. The High-Paying AI Job Nobody Knows About (Yet) ft. Rachel Woods​

“I haven’t met a process in a business that I can’t teach to AI,” says Rachel Woods, founder of the AI Exchange community.

Rachel’s journey from Facebook’s AI research team to helping hundreds of businesses implement AI has given her a unique perspective on what actually works.

What she’s discovered about AI careers and business operations will completely reshape how you see what’s possible.

​5. Google’s NotebookLM is Getting Even More Powerful​

If you’re buried in articles, PDFs, and research but can’t find time to actually use what you’ve saved, NotebookLM’s updates solve this.

In this video, I’m demonstrating 5 features using real examples from my book project:

• AI-generated presentations from my sources
• Mobile app for learning anywhere
• Expert-curated collections you can instantly use
• Built-in source discovery
• Mind maps that reveal connections you’d otherwise miss

Our 5 Most Popular Blog Posts

We published 21 articles and received 952k visits on our blog this year. These 5 blog posts published this year were read most often…

​1. My 4-Stage System for Learning Anything New​

You know the feeling: You discover something fascinating, bookmark dozens of resources, then weeks later, you’re still stuck in planning mode. Sound familiar?

I documented my systematic approach to learning new skills—the same process I’ve used for everything from AI to productivity systems. It’s designed to efficiently separate what’s worth pursuing from what’s not.

​2. How a Small Mexican Town Became My Template for the Ideal Place to Live​

After 9 months in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, I’ve discovered what might be the most perfect place for an expat family to live.

But here’s what’s fascinating: the magic isn’t random.

I’ve identified 13 specific criteria that work together as a system to create something extraordinary. From the right distance to a major city to “strategic inconvenience,” these elements reinforce each other in surprising ways.

​3. The Death of Goals​

I’ve long suspected that traditional goal-setting is on its way out. The old SMART framework just doesn’t fit today’s unpredictable world.

But what should replace it? In my latest blog post, I explore an alternative approach, outlined in Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned by Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman.

Instead of rigid objectives, the authors suggest a more dynamic, creative approach.

​4. Introducing Death Clock (And My First Experience with Vibecoding)​

What happens when someone with zero coding experience builds their first app using only AI?

That’s exactly what I set out to explore with Death Clock, a life expectancy calculator powered by 17 personalized variables.

It was my first foray into “vibecoding,” a new kind of AI-assisted software development. In just a few hours (and with plenty of help from Cursor, a coding assistant), I went from idea to fully functional web app—all without writing a single line of code myself.

​5. The Analog Productivity System: Journaling for Every Season of Life​

My wife Lauren approaches productivity in a way that’s refreshingly different from my digital-first philosophy. She’s deeply rooted in the tactile and intentional, favoring physical tools like journals over digital systems.

Journaling has been her cornerstone for reflection, decision-making, and creativity.

I’m excited for her to share her journaling practice with you, not as a “how-to,” but as an inspiring example of how to customize systems that resonate with your life and values.

Our 5 Most Popular “Tweets”

I’m always fascinated by which type of content receives the most engagement on social media. These 5 posts were the most popular…

Tiago Forte @fortelabs This is very random, but the painting on the wall behind Grimes is by my dad, Wayne Forte. His trademark signature is in the upper right corner https://twitter.com/grimesupdatezsz/status/1894554457351794996 GrimesUpdates @grimesupdatezsz Grimes discusses the decline of religion in TIME interview “I do think the death of religion is very bad. I think killing God was a mistake.” 4:33 PM • Feb 26, 2025 85 Retweets 6670 Likes Read 74 replies

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Tiago Forte @fortelabs I think AI is going to massively widen the cognitive divide Those who already know how to think clearly, logically, and critically have gained immense leverage to do so at unimaginable scales For those who don't already have that cognitive capacity, it's going to be harder than 9:16 PM • May 3, 2025 231 Retweets 2356 Likes Read 227 replies

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Tiago Forte @fortelabs I turned 40 a couple months ago, without much fanfare Since then I’ve had a lingering sense of sadness, and I think I’ve finally put my finger on the source My whole life, from my teens through my 20s and 30s, I felt like I was preparing for a future life I’d one day lead That 9:39 PM • Jul 28, 2025 89 Retweets 2139 Likes Read 258 replies

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Tiago Forte @fortelabs I KNEW IT! It takes real energy to move from one “brain state” to another, which explains what I think is one of the most under-appreciated facts in all productivity: That the mere order in which you complete tasks is profoundly important A sequence like Task A => Task B => https://twitter.com/MitoPsychoBio/status/1907383255877247105 Martin Picard @MitoPsychoBio Switching brain state costs energy "Stable" brain states exist in local energy minima, so there is an energy barrier to overcome to switch from one state to another Nice summary of relevant papers and work by @DaniSBassett here: https://helper.ipam.ucla.edu/publications/mac2024/mac2024_20152.pdf https://twitter.com/JoelSercel/status/1907139150169743812 2:18 AM • Apr 8, 2025 243 Retweets 2107 Likes Read 72 replies

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Tiago Forte @fortelabs This is the most strikingly original and creative sci-fi book I’ve read in a very long time (and I’ve read more than 120 of them) It makes me realize most modern sci-fi is rooted in the 70s. We’re just rehashing the same tired tropes This one makes full use of many ideas that 3:28 PM • Jan 20, 2025 57 Retweets 1629 Likes Read 67 replies

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