Brain Food: Mastery of Oneself

I will teach you how to create a system of knowledge management, or a “Second Brain.”* Whether you call it a “personal cloud,” “field notes,” or an “external brain” as some of my students have done, it is a digital archive of your most valuable memories, ideas, and knowledge to help you do your job, run your business, and manage your life without h

technique embodies the kind of continuous self-reflection I’m talking about: the ancient and powerful practice of metacognition. This is the distinctly human ability to reflect on your own learning process to synthesize insights, appreciate how far you’ve come, and determine where to focus next—but not enough of us are using it.

Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.