I’m finalizing the curriculum for The AI Second Brain as we get ready to kick off Cohort 2 on Thursday, Sep. 17.
A lot of the questions I’ve received are about what we’ll be learning and building during our three weeks together.
So I wanted to share the full curriculum. You can find it at this link.
But what I want to do in this email is share the bigger picture story that these modules are telling.
They aren’t just a random bag of tricks. Each one extends and leverages the ones before, so that what you’re left with is a true system that’s much greater than the sum of its parts.
Everything begins with module 0 – the Master Prompt – which we covered in a free live session a few weeks ago. I gave away the Master Prompt Builder, which you can drop into any LLM and have it interview you to gather all the information it needs to write the v1 of your Master Prompt.
That step is essential, because it means the AI will have the context it needs to personalize every subsequent step. Which means, in a way, from this point forward you’re getting a customized version of the curriculum that is completely unique to you – your tech stack, your use cases, your level of AI fluency.
In modules 1 and 2, our goal is to plug your AI into every available source of context you have available. We do that in two parts because each one requires a different approach.
Module 1 is all about connectors and integrations. This is the lowest-hanging fruit, because all it requires is you clicking a few buttons and logging into the other apps and platforms you’re already using (whether that’s Notion, Google Drive, Otter, etc.).
But instead of connecting those ad hoc, we’ll start by creating a Connectors Map – a holistic document listing every tech tool you use, and for what. That ensures you’re connecting all the relevant connectors upfront, all at once, so that the AI has the complete picture. And it tells the AI where to look for any given kind of information, instead of guessing.
For Module 2, we turn our attention to the other major source of context: your local file system on your computer. I’ll give you a PARA Organizer skill, now in its third version after rounds of improvements, that in minutes will organize your entire computer according to my PARA Method. Those folders are now perfectly scoped bundles of context that map to your life commitments, ready to point any AI at.
In Module 3, we’ll focus on the question of how you’re adding context to the platforms above on an ongoing basis. In other words, how are you taking notes? I’ll lead you through a process of streamlining your capture workflow so you’re not manually recording anything that an AI can do for you. And that will free up time and energy to spend more time seeking “alpha,” that is, unique and novel kinds of information that allow you to differentiate yourself as a thinker.
In modules 4–5, we’ll move up to the Intermediate Level, and begin building a series of specialized systems designed to produce outcomes in specific domains of your life and work.
That includes my AIRPORT framework, which is designed to help you draw on all the context you’ve collected by now in service of building new things. That could include websites, apps, dashboards, widgets, design systems, creative works, or whatever else you can imagine.
AI tends to systematically disregard or ignore crucial steps in the process of making something new, leading to the false illusion that you can “one-shot” something truly useful. AIRPORT forces the AI to follow an intentional process in which you frontload key decisions and provide all the context it needs upfront, rather than trying to correct its errors afterward.
In Module 5, we’ll build your first AI Advisor, a named, persistent collection of context with a personality and point of view that you can turn to for advice on any important domain, from health to finances to business to travel.
In Module 6, we’ll survey a variety of “advanced” AI features that have matured in the past 6 months, including routines, custom skills, and computer use. These tend to require a lot more setup, fine-tuning, and troubleshooting than any influencer will tell you about online. But since they can draw on all the context you’ve set up to this point, we can make big leaps in capability quickly.
And finally, we’ll end on a more philosophical note in Module 7. I’ll leave you with our best picture of where the future is headed, how you can prepare yourself for it, and what kinds of thinking and personal development are going to allow you to thrive in the AI era we’re entering.
We cover A LOT of ground in the three weeks, and I find that hardly anyone is able to absorb and implement all of it. So our final artifact will be a 90-day learning roadmap, created with AI’s help, that lays out what you intend to tackle and when in the weeks and months following the end of the program.
My three principles for what’s worth learning
I’ve been working on this curriculum for months now, and doing my best to distill only the best, most important, most actionable and high ROI instruction into the smallest possible time.
Throughout it all, I’ve followed three principles to decide what makes the cut and what doesn’t:
Principle #1: Focus on the 80/20
In deciding what is worth your time and attention, I always try to find the things that unlock 80% of the value with only 20% of the effort. I see it as my job, in other words, to filter out 80% of the noise, hype, viral clips, unfounded claims, side tangents, etc. and curate only the parts that are mature, stable, reliable, and relatively easy to implement.
This often means that I’m teaching what was going viral on social media 6 months ago, but is only now becoming reliable. For example, computer use was all the rage in the spring, but only now is worthy of becoming a core part of your workflow.
Principle #2: Do work that is inherently valuable
No one knows what will happen with AI tomorrow, much less weeks or months from now. Which means, it’s essential to spend most of your effort on things that would be valuable even if AI disappeared tomorrow, and regardless of what OpenAI or Anthropic (or their temperamental CEOs) decide to do next week.
A Master Prompt is a powerful AI tool, but I believe it’s inherently valuable to document how you think and work, even if you never gave it to AI. A PARA setup works great for AI, but it’s inherently valuable to structure your digital life according to your interests and priorities.
This theme will recur throughout the whole cohort – the context we are assembling and the artifacts we’re building will make you a better, more intentional person no matter what happens with AI in the future. You’ll be more prepared, more self-aware, and more purposeful to face a range of possible futures.
Principle #3: Build a system of enduring value
I’ve been part of the broader tech scene for a decade and a half now, and one recurring theme is just how ephemeral and temporary everything is. The tech world is driven by hype cycles, and those cycles are only accelerating with AI as a catalyst.
This makes it all the more important, but all the harder, to keep your eyes on the true prize – the long-term horizon of your growth on the scale of years.
I don’t believe AI will transform the economy or society in the next 12 months, as a shocking number of AI experts and pundits seem to claim. Such a view ignores the lessons of history and the friction inherent to large-scale changes in society.
We’ll continue working at our jobs, going to school, raising kids, and learning new skills for decades to come. You have to think on that long horizon, and not get caught up in the fear and panic of the AI media.
Because I follow these principles, I have the same Second Brain today as I did a decade ago (with maybe some tweaks and improvements). I’ve never been thrown off by an app update, a company acquisition, or a new technology wave.
AI is requiring perhaps the biggest wholesale change in how I work and think ever, but I’m confident that by sticking to timeless principles and the essence of human nature, which doesn’t change very fast, we can once again build a system that will stand the test of time.
That’s what I call an AI Second Brain, and I invite you to join 367 others (and counting) as we jointly discover the best ways to do that today.
Enrollment for Cohort 2 closes tomorrow, Sep. 15, at midnight PT.
Now’s the time to join…
Tiago
