Forte Labs

The modern frontier of productivity.

Jun 3, 2018

Just-In-Time PM #16: Effective ROA

In Part 15, I advocated for multithreading, or weaving together multiple projects to take advantage of unexpected opportunities and synergie

Dec 29, 2017

Progressive Summarization IV: Compressing All Types of Media

Reading through the previous three parts, a question probably popped into your mind: does this apply only to text? It’s an important one, be

May 4, 2020

How To Work Effectively With A Personal Assistant, with Tim Francis

It is NOT easy OR cheap to “hire a VA.” But if done right, it is profoundly transformational not just for your daily workload but for your q

Mar 5, 2018

Progressive Summarization V: The Faster You Forget, The Faster You Learn

In Part I, I introduced Progressive Summarization, a method for easily creating highly discoverable notes. In Part II, I gave you examples a

Oct 17, 2018

The Maker’s Guide to Content Curation, Part 1: Open-Sourcing Your Learning Process

One of the best ways to advance your career, start an extra income stream, or become an entrepreneur is by creating content.  By “content” I

Jul 16, 2020

Time Budgeting: What I’ve Learned from Doing 364 Weekly Reviews

Why the weekly review is the cornerstone of my life

Dec 28, 2015

One-Touch to Inbox Zero: How I Spend 17 Minutes Per Day on Email

I spend 17 minutes per day on email, or 7.43% of my total work time over the past 12 months.The average information worker, in contrast, spe

Aug 27, 2017

The Inner Game of Work: Focus, Desire, and Working Free

I’ve become obsessed with coaching. It started in February, when I started the 4-month Self-Expression & Leadership Program at Landmark.

Mar 16, 2021

Inner Limits

Why You’re Not Getting More Out of Journaling

Mar 16, 2021

Paranoid Productivity

By Christina LuoProductivity is about managing emotions as much as projects. Yet we often focus on productivity as a toolset more than a min

Feb 16, 2019

Behind the Scenes of a Profitable Online Course

I advise everyone I know to create an online course. Everyone has something to say. Everyone has valuable knowledge that others could benefi

Jul 24, 2017

PARA Part 4: Setup Guide

This article is a guide for getting started with PARA, an organizational system for your digital life. Here’s the 5-step process I recommend

Oct 17, 2020

The Complete Guide to Landing a Book Deal

I recently signed a six-figure book deal with Simon & Schuster for my book Building a Second Brain.  As a first-time author, and in the

Oct 17, 2020

Own Your Writing Platform

Publishing a book is like running for political office. There are a lot of people out there who you want to take a certain action, at a cert

May 10, 2019

The BASB Customer Persona

I recently compiled all my notes, findings, and ideas about the “ideal customer” for Building a Second Brain, and put them into a single doc

Jun 2, 2018

Just-In-Time PM #15: Multithreading

In Part 14, we looked at the potential for massively increasing our bandwidth by creating “personal productivity networks.” These networks a

Aug 15, 2020

P.A.R.A. Part 2 — Just-In-Time Organization

Resurfacing Tiago’s in-depth P.A.R.A series

Sep 2, 2018

The Personal Narrative Vision

In my previous article on how I perform my Annual Review, I briefly discussed the Personal Narrative Vision (PNV) exercise. I’ve developed t

May 19, 2018

Just-In-Time PM #2: The Fundamentals of Flow

In Part 1, I introduced Return-on-Attention (ROA) as a way to evaluate how we invest our most precious resource – our attention. But there i

Dec 28, 2017

Progressive Summarization III: Guidelines and Principles

In Part I, I explained Progressive Summarization, a method for easily creating highly discoverable notes. In Part II, I gave you many exampl

Jan 18, 2018

PARA Part 5: The Project List Mindsweep

Welcome to the Project List Mindsweep, a step-by-step exercise to help you properly identify every project in your work and life. Your Proje

Aug 7, 2018

You Need a Budget: 13 Parallels Between Money and Productivity

I recently read and took notes on You Need a Budget (YNAB-Affiliate Link), a popular book on personal finance and budgeting (with accompanyi

Mar 16, 2021

Introducing: Praxis Fellows Essays

Hello Praxsters!I have something special to share with you today: the first contributions of our Praxis Writing Fellows!I recruited a few of

Oct 17, 2020

Crafting a Book Proposal

Your proposal is like a business plan for your book. It needs to justify why your book is worth not just years of your time and effort, but