My work is helping people do it in a more systematic and more effective way. Everyone is carrying Moleskine notebooks, jotting down notes on pads of paper, using the notes app on their phone to jot down some notes to self or some tasks. It’s something important that people already do. The humble, non-sexy category of software called note-taking apps are the closest thing we have to a second brain. For now, I’m advocating very simple tools, note-taking tools. Sometimes people think that they need to be investing in machine learning and artificial intelligence. What are some of these technologies and how are you using them? Building a second brain is a way of using technology not just as tools but as thinking tools and as an extension of our mind. It’s expanding human cognition and you could even say consciousness beyond the walls of our skull by leveraging all these incredible technologies that are coming out all the time. What computers bring is the ability to do that faster at a much larger scale, more precisely and in formats and forms that last and stick around. There are a few decades of interesting research that shows that as humans, we naturally use tools and structures and environments to help us think. It’s a way of using our devices and our apps and our machines not just as tools, but as thinking tools, as an extension of our mind, which I know sounds futuristic and sci-fi. When I say building a second brain, what I mean is a way of using technology. Let’s start by talking about this concept of building a second brain. Tiago, it’s great to have you on the show. Go and subscribe to Marketing Speak and then come back and read the rest of this episode and learn all about how to develop a second brain. After all, your names are being googled and you should be in control of that narrative. For example, on one episode of Marketing Speak, I interviewed Re Perez all about branding and everybody should be working on building their personal brand. I have guests on that show who could help you up-level on a personal level. I also encourage you to start reading my other show, Marketing Speak, even if you’re not into marketing. The easiest way to find them all is to go to and click on the Productivity category, which is under Podcast. If you’re interested in working smarter, there are also many other great episodes that you must listen to including Tim Ferriss, Chris Bailey, Todd Herman, Nick Sonnenberg, Mike Vardy, Ari Meisel. On this episode, Tiago and I will be discussing everything from productivity apps to note-taking skills and how you can leverage them to be far more productive than you are. If you ever wished you could learn faster, work quicker or better manage all your ideas and projects, then you’ll definitely want to build a second brain. ![]() Thought I’d recommend it for anyone else like me who is straddling the Microsoft and Mac/iOS ecosystems.“The trajectories of our lives are influenced by the little moments where we make decisions to either create value or to just pass the time.” I’ve moved my larger recurring tasks to To-Do and bigger projects to Microsoft Planner to manage and ditched OmniFocus. It also has a smart assistant that suggests tasks to add to a section called My Day - a way to do daily review of tasks in the morning to narrow down the list so you can actually accomplish something. The flagged email feature is nice because it includes links in iOS or the desktop to go straight from task manager to email in Outlook app. It’s much better than iOS reminders - it automatically pulls flagged emails from Outlook into my todo list, tasks assigned to me in Planner. I tried to overthink it with a Microsoft Flow script, but realized that Microsoft already has a ready made solution for it’s ecosystem - Microsoft To Do. I don’t want to have to manually enter tasks, so I started researching options. I was trying Omnifocus and Things, but sending tasks from email to one of those services raised some concerns with the corporate IT due to security policies. I work in a Windows corporate environment, with a Dell 14in work laptop, usually docked via a single USB C cable, a 2018 Mac Mini at home, and all the Microsoft Apps running great on my iPad when I’m away from my work laptop but need to get some work done. I know - strange to have a thread in MAC Power Users that starts with ‘Microsoft’.
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