The problem with Building a Second Brain for researchers and academics

The Building a Second Brain system is a popular way to organise our digital lives. However, the strict focus on projects limits its usefulness for academics and researchers. Here, I discuss an extension to make BASB more suitable for this type of work.

What is Building a Second Brain?

Building a Second Brain (BASB) is a personal knowledge management and productivity system developed by Tiago Forte. You can find out more about this system by reading his recently published book, watching one of many YouTube videos, or taking an online course.

I have used BASB for several years now. It helped me to manage multiple different projects, kept me highly productive, and provided some vital peace of mind when juggling many personal and professional responsibilities. The BASB system was transformative for me because I had never given much thought to the organisation of my digital life before. Obviously, I made use of to-do list apps, a calendar, and a note-taking app, but the rest of my digital life mostly relied on the default folder structure of the operating system. I also had different ways of organising content across different apps. For instance, my note-taking app was organised around topics, while my to-do list app was organised around projects. BASB…