In case you missed yesterday’s announcement: Enrollment is now open for The Annual Review 2026!

This year, you’ll get exclusive early access to my upcoming book Life in Perspective—a full year before it’s published.

You’ll work through the complete annual review methodology I’ve refined over 17 years, and your feedback will help shape the final version that thousands of others will read.

The program runs Dec. 4 through Jan. 7 and includes two live sessions with me, the book manuscript, templates, a private community, and quarterly check-ins throughout 2026.

The early bird price of $149 expires this Friday, Nov. 28, at midnight PT. After that, the price increases to $199.

This is your chance to complete a transformative annual review while being part of bringing this practice to a wider audience.

How to Use Your Second Brain to Apply for Jobs, Grad School, Funding

My wife, Lauren, has helped over 500 people gain admission to Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley—even those with mediocre GPAs and test scores.

After serving on a UC Berkeley admissions committee, she learned that elite schools often use arbitrary metrics to quickly eliminate candidates.

In this video, Lauren will show you how she used Second Brain principles to overcome her own weak credentials and get accepted everywhere she applied with full scholarships.

And how you can do the same, whether you’re applying to grad school, jobs, or funding.

The Time Machine in Your Notes App

In our recent Membership Q&A, I found myself explaining the power of a Second Brain using a metaphor I hadn’t used before: it’s like a time machine.

Here’s how it compresses time in two powerful ways:

It gives you access to years of thinking in seconds. When I need ideas on a topic like graphic design, I can surface every concept, tool, and example I’ve encountered over months or years—instead of just what I can recall in the moment. I’m drawing on a decade of curiosity, not just 10 minutes of brainstorming.

It collapses lead times from interest to action. Most people take weeks or months to go from “I’m curious about this” to actually creating something. But when you’ve been casually collecting materials on a topic, the moment you decide to start a project, you already have the foundation ready.

The key is collecting before you need it.

Your turn: Pick one topic you’re genuinely curious about right now. Start a note and drop in just one interesting thing you find this week. Reply and tell me what topic you chose—I’d love to hear what you’re exploring.

We just hit 400,000 copies of Building a Second Brain sold

That’s 400,000 people who decided to take control of their digital lives. It still blows my mind.

So many of you were early supporters of the book, and you’ve been championing it in your own communities ever since. That means everything to me.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a copy (or know someone who could benefit from one), the upcoming holidays are the perfect time.

It’s a gift that helps you use technology to think better, clear your mind, and actually get more done. Instead of letting your ideas collect dust across a dozen apps.

Also, the book has now been translated into 17 languages, with more still to come!