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 28, 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 3, 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 4, 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 15, 2020

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

Why the weekly review is the cornerstone of my life

Dec 27, 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 26, 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 15, 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

Mar 15, 2021

Inner Limits

Why You’re Not Getting More Out of Journaling

Feb 15, 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 23, 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 16, 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 16, 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

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

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

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

Aug 14, 2020

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

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

Dec 27, 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

May 18, 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

Jan 17, 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 6, 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 15, 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