My new book Life in Perspective is available for pre-order

The day is here! My new book Life in Perspective: The Art and Power of the Annual Life Review is now available for pre-order.

It comes out on Nov. 3 in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

This book distills nearly two decades of practicing annual reviews into a process that helps you make sense of where you've been and get clear on where you're going.

It's the book I've been wanting to write for the longest time. And it's the one I'm most proud of.

If you've ever felt like the year just slipped through your fingers, this book is for you.

Pre-order now

If you don't see it available in your country or preferred format yet, hang tight. It's coming.

Why Habits Have Never Worked for Me (And What I Do Instead)

Habits have never worked for me. Neither has daily journaling or morning routines. As a productivity expert, I probably shouldn't admit that.

But after 17 years of annual reviews, I've found something that fits how I actually work. It gives me what habits promise — without the daily pressure or guilt.

In this video, I share what I do instead of habits. And why one dedicated weekend a year can do more for your growth than 365 days of checking boxes.

Watch on YouTube

Your AI Tools Are Fragmenting Your Focus

Have you noticed that AI is making you switch tasks more often?

You prompt Claude Cowork or Code with something complex. It takes a few minutes. You don't want to just sit there, so you jump to another task. Then it finishes, and you have to switch back.

That's context switching, and it's cognitively expensive.

Here's why: Every time you move from one "brain state" to another, your mind has to reboot. And a simple insight from old-school manufacturing still holds true for knowledge work: the order in which you complete tasks matters.

Consider two sequences:

Task A → Task B → Task A → Task B
Task A → Task A → Task B → Task B

Same tasks. Radically different energy demands. The second sequence keeps you in the same mental mode longer, which is far less draining.

So if AI tools are adding more switches to your day, batching similar work together becomes even more important. Group your creative tasks. Group your admin tasks. Protect your brain states.

How are you navigating this? Hit reply and let me know.

Book Recommendation: Beyond Belief by Nir Eyal

I’ve spent years optimizing my systems. My friend Nir Eyal’s new book taught me I was ignoring the most important one: my beliefs.

Your beliefs affect 3 things:

What opportunities you notice (or miss completely)
How confident you feel about trying new things
Whether you actually take action or not

In Beyond Belief, you’ll get the exact scripts to identify limiting beliefs, research-backed techniques to replace them, and discover real stories showing how people rewired their attention to spot opportunities they’d been missing for years.

If you’ve ever quit too soon, stalled in your career, or sabotaged your own goals, Beyond Belief gives you the science and systems to break through and achieve more.

Get your copy

How We Built the Life in Perspective Website

Our new website for Life in Perspective took two days to build. Julia, our General Manager, created it using Claude Code.

There was plenty of trial and error to find the right approach, but still: two days.

We've been using AI in almost every part of our business, from customer service to our YouTube production process.

Inside the Second Brain Membership, Julia is going to walk through exactly how she did it. And that's just the first of more behind-the-scenes content we'll be sharing there.

Join the Second Brain Membership