Three years ago, I stopped teaching Building a Second Brain. AI had changed too much to keep going with a clear conscience.

I spent that time going deep on AI, rethinking how personal knowledge management works in this new era.

What I found: the biggest bottleneck isn't the tools or the prompts. It's context. Your AI doesn't know your projects, your standards, or the decisions you've already made.

That insight is the foundation of our new program, The AI Second Brain. It’s a 3-week intensive cohort on how to build your Second Brain, but now powered by AI.

I wrote about what it is and what's coming next:

Tomorrow, you'll receive the first email in my free AI series, where I'll share the most counterintuitive lessons from three years at the frontier of AI.

How to Stay Valuable When AI Is Replacing Everything You're Good At

AI isn't taking jobs – it's re-pricing the skills inside them.

I've worked with over 150 business owners on AI integration, and I can see clearly which skills are collapsing in value and which are rising.

In this video, I share a 10-question framework to help you figure out exactly where to invest in your career.

How Long Should You Spend Learning a New Tool?

This is one of the most common questions I get—and it’s a good one.

The short answer: the time you spend learning a tool should match the value it brings to your life or work.

Think of it like applying the “minimum effective dose”—what’s the smallest amount you need to learn to start getting real benefits?

For example, when you start using a notes app to build your Second Brain, don’t dive into advanced automations right away. Just focus on capturing what resonates and organizing it using the PARA Method. That’s often enough to create momentum.

But here’s the catch: the learning curve can become a trap. If you’re constantly tweaking, adjusting, and obsessing over the “perfect” setup, that’s a red flag.

When the effort to learn a tool outweighs the time it saves you, it’s no longer helping—it’s getting in your way. At that point, it’s time to step back and simplify.

Tools should serve you, not the other way around.

Book Recommendation: Wisdom Untethered by Michael Singer

Michael Singer is one of the most influential authors in my life, and he just released a new book.

His previous work, The Untethered Soul, has had more impact on my personal growth than anything else I've read in the past decade. I even wrote a 4-part blog series about it, and visited Singer's Temple of the Universe in Florida about ten years ago to meet him in person.

Wisdom Untethered: The Time for Questions takes a different format from his earlier books. Instead of a traditional narrative, it's structured as a series of questions and answers covering the stuff we all wrestle with: relationships, work, letting go, and the voice in your head that won't stop talking.

If you've never read Singer, start with The Untethered Soul. If you have, this one picks up right where he left off.