The Vision Behind an AI Coach
Tiago Forte, author of Building a Second Brain, is best known for systematizing how we manage knowledge. But now he’s turned that method inward—by training an AI to become his personal coach. Using NotebookLM, Google’s experimental note-based language model, Forte uploaded over 148,000 words of personal content across years of journaling, coaching transcripts, personality tests, and publications—essentially feeding the AI his mental blueprint.
His goal? To explore whether an AI, deeply familiar with his thoughts, goals, and behaviors, could begin to replace a human coach who charges $700/hour.
What Data Did He Use to Train the AI?
Forte categorized his uploads into three major types:
1. Private Notes – Reflections, coaching conversations, life goals, personality assessments, gratitude journals.
2. Public Writings – Blog posts, book excerpts, editorials, and reviews.
3. Annual Reviews – Year-by-year highlights, low points, key lessons, and milestones.
This dataset allowed NotebookLM to develop a comprehensive picture of Tiago’s thinking and personal development trajectory.
30 Deep Questions to an AI Coach
To test the system’s potential as a true coach, Tiago asked 30 deeply introspective questions, covering patterns, contradictions, values, and unmet needs:
- What recurring themes or patterns emerge from my writing and reflection over the past 10 years? How have my goals, priorities, or areas of focus shifted over time?
- What strengths are consistently emphasized in this material? What weaknesses?
- What challenges or obstacles tend to recur? Have I made meaningful progress in addressing them?
- Are there contradictions between my stated intentions and my actions or results?
- What blind spots or limiting beliefs appear to be holding me back?
- How has my language or self-talk changed over time?
- What strategies or techniques have been the most effective for me?
- Are there any obvious turning points or breakthroughs in the material?
- How do my personal and professional development paths intersect or diverge?
- What are my typical patterns in responding to success and failure?
- Are there unresolved problems or goals that keep resurfacing?
- How has my decision-making process changed over time?
- What values have consistently guided my choices and actions?
- How have my relationships—personal or professional—impacted my growth and challenges?
- Based on this data, when was I the happiest? Please describe specific moments and circumstances. Identify what contributed to that happiness. Be honest—if no clear happy moments are found, don’t force a summary. Look for surprising moments.
- What do I need to learn to improve my life and career?
- What’s obvious to the people around me that I myself don’t seem to recognize?
- What are my most deeply unmet needs?
- What are my deepest hopes and dreams?
- What are the biggest sources of energy and biggest sources of depletion in my life?
- What drives my creativity—what sparks and sustains it? Be as specific as possible and include examples.
- How are my greatest life challenges connected to my gifts and creative mission—or how might they be?
- What do the patterns of change and recurrence in my life have in common?
- What is my overall attitude and approach toward myself?
- How can you distinguish between the things I truly want to change and the things I’m merely preparing to change?
- If I were to regret something at the end of my life, what is it most likely to be?
- Based on the source material, summarize my essence in 3–5 sentences.
- Based on all the source material, the questions I’ve asked, and your answers, what is your best advice for how I can reach my goals and handle challenges in both personal and professional life?
- What questions did I fail to ask that might unlock new insights?
- What kinds of questions or topics do I tend to avoid—and why might that be?
What the AI Noticed—and Told the Truth About
NotebookLM responded with astute, candid insights. For example, when Forte asked whether his intentions matched his outcomes, the AI pointed out that while he speaks often of work-life balance, his behavior heavily favors work.
It also noted that joy from work doesn't spill into personal life—likely due to under-investment in non-work areas. Another observation: Forte wants to delegate but often resists letting go.
Forte appreciated the AI's honesty and depth, saying it reflected his reality in a way few humans dared to.
NotebookLM’s Capabilities: What It Can (and Can’t) Do
NotebookLM, powered by Google’s Gemini AI, lets users upload sources like Google Docs, PDFs, links, and YouTube transcripts. It generates summaries, timelines, FAQs, and even audio overviews—interactive, podcast-style summaries.
The Plus version supports 500 notebooks and 300 sources per notebook, adds more daily queries, and includes advanced controls and team features. Still, it can’t browse the web or auto-update sources, and results may vary for complex content or non-English formats.
Enhanced Insights from Tiago Forte's Experiment
- AI as a Reflective Mirror: Highlighted behavioral gaps between Tiago’s ideals and reality.
- Superior Pattern Recognition: Detected themes and blind spots across thousands of words of personal data.
- Complementary, Not a Replacement: AI augments, but doesn’t replace, the emotional intelligence of a human coach.
Conclusion: The Future of AI in Personal Coaching
Forte’s experiment shows that AI coaching is viable and valuable. Tools like NotebookLM allow for rapid synthesis of years of reflection. But AI still can’t replace the human capacity for empathy.
The future lies in a hybrid coaching model—AI for synthesis and pattern recognition, humans for emotional depth. Just as Tiago imagines, we may all soon build personal AI boards of directors to help us grow with insight and accountability.
中文摘要
知識管理專家 Tiago Forte 利用 Google 的 NotebookLM 建立自己的 AI 教練。他上傳超過 14.8 萬字的個人資料，內容涵蓋筆記、文章與年度回顧，並提出 30 個深度問題來測試 AI 的洞察力與誠實度。
NotebookLM 的回饋直接但真實，指出他雖強調生活與工作的平衡，但實際上仍以工作為重，也常說要委派，卻不肯放手。Tiago 表示 AI 教練無法取代人類情感，但在辨識長期模式與整合內容上，已具實用價值。
這場實驗也呼應他過去主張的 AI 董事會理念：將不同 AI 作為顧問，協助每個人做出更聰明的自我反思與決策。
Keywords
Tiago Forte, NotebookLM, AI coach, Building a Second Brain, personal development, self-reflection, coaching, AI board of directors
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