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Forte Labs Newsletter

How My Second Brain Evolved with AI (and Yours Can Too)

Published about 2 months ago • 2 min read

This Thursday, I'm hosting a free live session where I'll walk through the complete AI Second Brain system for the first time.

I'll cover Personal Context Management, the real failure modes most people don't see coming, and why your existing notes and files are more valuable than you think.

It's also your first look at the founding cohort, which opens for enrollment the same day.

Thursday, March 26 at 1:30 PM ET. Free and open to everyone.

Forget AI Agents. You Need an AI Exoskeleton.

I've spent 1,200 days testing one question: What does building a Second Brain actually mean now that AI exists?

In this video, I share four things I believe that most AI creators disagree with.

Including why autonomous agents are the wrong bet, and why your notes are more valuable now, not less.

Permission to Ignore My Productivity Advice

My AI clone on Delphi has been out for a while now and the backend analytics revealed a surprising pattern: people are seeks explicit permission to ignore certain productivity advice.

They ask questions such as "Is it okay if I don't organize my notes according to PARA?" or "Can I skip the weekly review if it doesn't work for me?"

Here's what I want you to know: I hereby give you permission to actively ignore or disregard anything and everything I teach.

Don't take my methods—or anyone else's—as absolute truth. CODE, PARA, Progressive Summarization are starting points, not commandments.

Your life is unique. Your brain works differently. Your circumstances change daily.

Try what resonates. Experiment boldly. Keep what serves you and confidently discard the rest. There's no productivity police coming to arrest you for customizing a system to fit your actual needs.

The best productivity system is the one you'll actually use—even if it's "wrong" by someone else's standards.

Action step: Pick one productivity rule you've been forcing yourself to follow. Experiment with ignoring it this week and see what happens. Reply and tell me what you discovered!

Save 25% on Your Pre-Order at Barnes & Noble This Week

Quick heads up: Barnes & Noble is running a 25% off promotion on pre-orders for members right now — and my upcoming book Life in Perspective is included.

The offer is only valid March 24–26, so if you've been wanting to grab a copy, this is a good window to do it.

Pre-ordering makes a real difference for a new book. It signals to retailers that there's genuine demand, and it helps the book reach more people — which is ultimately what this is about.

A Climate Strategy That Goes Beyond Doom and Gloom

Most climate conversations fall into two camps: panic or denial. Alex Steffen offers something more useful.

He's one of the most influential climate thinkers I've come across, and the New York Times just profiled his work teaching people how to make grounded, personal decisions in a world that's changing faster than our old assumptions can keep up with.

His core idea is "discontinuity" — the recognition that past experience is no longer a reliable guide to future choices.

What I appreciate about his approach is that it's not about doom. It's practical: Where should you live? How should you invest? How do you talk to your family about this stuff?

The article is free to read with this link. I'd recommend it.

Alex also runs a Personal Climate Strategy Workshop. I took it and found it excellent. The next cohort starts in April if you want to go deeper.

🧠

Start building your Second Brain

​Join BASB Foundation →​

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Create a system for productivity

​Join POP →​

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Organize your digital life

​Get the PARA Method →​

Tiago Forte

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Forte Labs Newsletter

Build your Second Brain with Tiago Forte

Level up your productivity and life with new essays, videos, event invites, and other resources every Tuesday. Join 125k subscribers exploring the frontier of modern work, experimenting with new ways of doing more with less, and discovering what it means to fulfill our human potential. 100% free and 100% useful!

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