I’m sitting here at my usual writing spot weeks after my manuscript deadline has passed. I’ve postponed the writing of these acknowledgments for as long as possible because it feels almost impossible. The number of people who have contributed to and touched this book along the way is staggering. The depth of gratitude I feel for all the love and energy and intelligence that they have poured into me is difficult to put into words. But I’ll try.
Thank you to Stephanie Hitchcock and the team at Atria for your willingness to take a chance on a novel idea and a first-time author. This book exists only because you saw its potential and committed to seeing it realized. I’m deeply grateful to my editor, Janet Goldstein, for wrangling my words (and sometimes me!) into a message far clearer and more elegant than anything I could have come up with on my own. My agent, Lisa DiMona, has graciously guided me through every step of the publishing journey from the earliest days of this project. I look forward to working together for many years to come.
Thank you to the Forte Labs team and extended network—Betheny Swinehart, Will Mannon, Monica Rysavy, Marc Koenig, Steven Zen, Becca Olason, and Julia Saxena. You’ve been behind the scenes every step of the way making the business work, overcoming challenges, and creating new ways of sharing these ideas with the world. I am continuously amazed by your dedication to excellence. You constantly impress me with your deep commitment to creating lasting, positive change in people’s lives. I look forward to everything we’ll accomplish together.
I’m eternally grateful to Billy Broas for helping me find more powerful ways of communicating my truth beyond my inner circle. To Maya P. Lim for crafting the visual identity that will deliver our education to every corner of the planet. And I’m thankful to the Pen Name team for partnering with me in sharing my life’s work far and wide.
The only way my business (or life) functions is with the help of my “brain trust.” The work I do wouldn’t be half as meaningful or interesting without your unwavering support. David, building a business with you and developing our ideas side by side has been one of the most meaningful endeavors of my career. Joel, you are like a rock in stormy seas. I’ve lost count of how many times dinners in your home served as a stabilizing force when it seemed like everything was going to unravel. Raphael, you came up with the name of the course—and now the book. The laughter you’ve brought into my life has been like a beacon of joy every time I’ve started to take myself too seriously. Derick, in many ways this journey started with our late-night conversations as teenagers about technology and the future—ours and humanity’s. Thank you for entertaining and encouraging those far-fetched ideas, some of which, after all these years, found their way into this book.
I’ve had a series of mentors and advisors who shifted my trajectory in ways I can hardly believe. Thank you to Venkatesh Rao for serving as my introduction to the online world of ideas. A few words of your public support and encouragement fueled my motivation for years. Thank you to David Allen for pioneering the personal productivity field and introducing us to the possibility that we could proactively improve how we worked with and managed information. I have been profoundly influenced and helped by your ideas.
Thank you to Kathy Phelan, not only for believing I was on to something, but for sponsoring and advising me in bringing my work into companies. Your belief in me at the time outshined my own, and your advice and lessons continue to resound years later. Thank you to James Clear for giving so generously of your time and guiding my book writing efforts around many pitfalls and blind spots. At a time when everyone in the world wanted your attention, you chose to give it to a fledgling writer with not much to offer in return. Thank you to Joe Hudson, who came into my life as a friend and mentor at a crucial moment when I needed to learn how to navigate the emotions of the new level of self-expression I was taking on. Thank you to Srini Rao for going all-in with your support of my work and taking a risk in putting your reputation behind it.
Thank you to Forte Labs’ followers, subscribers, customers, and students. You are the fuel powering all the capturing, organizing, distilling, and expressing that makes the Building a Second Brain community so vibrant. This book is just as much a distillation of the stories, strategies, and techniques I’ve learned from you over the years as it is my own ideas. You are the ultimate authority on what works and what doesn’t. By taking my courses, reading my writing, and giving me feedback on everything from tweets to book drafts, you’ve opened the door to a future where Second Brains are available to people everywhere. I never expected so many people to believe in what I was doing. Every single day I have your support and attention I consider a miracle.
Everything I am ultimately comes from my family. My soil and my rock, from which the meaning and joy in my life springs. Thank you to my parents, Wayne Forte and Valeria Vassão Forte, for giving me an upbringing that exposed me to countless enriching experiences, cultures, places, and people. Dad, you are my model of what it means to express myself with unsparing honesty and taste, while also upholding my responsibilities as a father, husband, and citizen. Mom, you gave me the gifts to balance out my strong will and sharp tongue—patience, generosity, graciousness, and self-awareness. You both dedicated your lives to making me the kind of person with enough abundance to share with others. So many of the teachings expressed in this book have their origin in the simple, practical lessons you taught me and modeled for me as a child. To my siblings and in-laws, Lucas, Paloma, Marco, Kaitlyn, and Grant. You are my best friends, my confidants, and my lifelong companions. Every time I start to lose sight of who I am and what’s important to me, you bring me back to the soil I came from. I cherish every minute we spend together.
And finally, from the bottom of my heart I am thankful to you, Lauren and Caio, for making all this worthwhile. Lauren, you have played every role a person can play in my life—partner, lover, cofounder, coach, advisor, and now, wife and mother. You became whoever you needed to become, acquired whichever skills were demanded of you, and ventured into one new territory after another, all to help me reach my dreams. There’s nothing more gratifying in my life than watching you grow and evolve into the most inspiring, genuine, open-hearted person I’ve ever met. I consider it my highest privilege to walk alongside you as you step into your greatness. Caio, you’ve only just arrived, but already I can’t live without you. You make my life so much more colorful and hilarious. My love for you gives me the determination to become the best version of myself I can. My highest hope for this book is that it makes the world a safer, more humane, and more interesting place for you.