The PARA Method
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One significant influence on my Second Brain approach was Tiago Forte's PARA method. PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives. The PARA Method organizes thoughts into categories that we all have. Tiago details this methodology in his book Building a Second Brain, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to organize their thoughts digitally.
Projects
We all have many projects, which can vary widely in scope, Area of life, and urgency. I like to think of a project as a collection of two or more tasks, an idea I adopted from the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. Tiago also references the GTD methodology in Building a Second Brain. David Allen has written high praise for Tiago’s book, which is quoted on the back cover.
Breaking projects down into tasks makes them more achievable, and the next step is apparent. I like to keep my tasks separated and in an Inbox for categorizing later into projects or doing them immediately. I am not always successful in this endeavor, but it has been an immense help in staying organized.
Areas
Areas can be self-defined as different, compartmentalized areas of your life. My Areas include my corporate job, Southern Style DIY, and family. I have found it helpful to have sub-areas in Notion to break down each Area further. For example, within the Southern Style DIY Area, I have sub-areas for Videos, Social Media, Branding, and this website. I’ll save the details for another day, but I find it helpful to see each sub-area separately or everything that rolls up to the higher Southern Style DIY area.
Resources
Resources are items that help actions. To follow up on my examples, I have separate but related databases for Videos, Ideas, Social Media posts, Patreon posts, and this daily blog you are reading now. These resources are another tool I can use specifically for that topic to stay organized. In my Videos database resource, I can see the status of all videos and have information about each video readily available in one place. I will often jot down ideas about a video that help inform the project and help streamline the process of posting the video to YouTube and this website.
Archives
All Projects, Areas, and Resources items should be current or future related. The fear of losing an item to the trash can is sometimes overwhelming, but the clutter of old thoughts is not helpful. The Archives help combat this fear by moving what is old out of the way but still available should it be needed again.
Using the PARA Method in Notion has been life-changing. I feel more organized and believe I get more done using this method than others I have tried before. It is nice to have the second brain evolve with you while it simultaneously helps you make yourself better. You may have noticed that Projects, Areas, and Resources seem like they could be linked, and I wholeheartedly agree! In a later blog post, I’ll discuss how I link these areas, specifically in Notion, thanks to another creator’s ideas.
