Notion Masterclass: Build a Second Brain from Scratch

The PARA Method from Tiago Forte's "Building a Second Brain" course is my favorite way to build a whole-life organization system. Here's how to build PARA into Notion from scratch.

🧠 ULTIMATE BRAIN (Full Second-Brain Template - use LETSGO2023 at checkout):

🗂 FREE PARA TEMPLATE:

📚 NOTION FUNDAMENTALS (Free & Complete Notion Beginner's Course)

🎥 CREATOR'S COMPANION (The Best Template for Content Creators - use LETSGO2023 at checkout):

🛠 MORE COURSES AND RESOURCES:

💪GET STARTED WITH NOTION:

🔗 More Video Links:

🐦Connect with me:
Music ➔ @ThomasFrankMusic

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Intro
02:03 - PARA Dashboard Preview
04:24 - What is PARA? Mini-Lesson
07:58 - Create the Databases
10:35 - Tasks
11:34 - Notes
13:38 - Projects
13:53 - Areas and Resources
14:52 - Archive
15:45 - Creating Relations
23:41 - Creating Dashboards and Templates
26:51 - Creating Linked Databases
31:17 - Areas and Resources DB Templates
40:16 - Build the Dashboard
50:50 - Create the Archive Page
56:30 - More Resources

Base URL formula:
replace(prop("URL"), "([^/]*//)?(www\\.)?([^/]*).*", "$3")

🎞 SPECIAL THANKS
Select video clips supplied by Getty Images

[ThomasFrankExplains]

Hey all! Hope you enjoy this one – I've received quite a few requests for a tutorial showing the full build process for adding PARA to Notion.



What new tutorials do you want to see in the future?

[kentjensen]

Brilliant. I'm getting your Ultimate Brain for sure, but I really want to learn Notion properly, so I'll rewatch this and copy all you do. You're an amazing teacher. I love that you go fast, yet always with perfect clarity. It shows trust in our intelligence, and we can always rewind and/or slow down the video when needed.

[ahooka]

Thanks for explaning everything !! It made it possible for a complete notion noob like me to not only use your PARA template but also tweek it to my convenience, like adding a "to-do" section within the areas using the roll up method you explained for the notes, to be able to see the tasks within projects. I can't thank you enough, you're such a great teacher !

[TheMrSneelock]

Thomas, this is incredible. The fact that you provided the template is absolutely outstanding. Thank you so much.

[carlpuzonvalencia]

Love this and all the stuff you make. Followed along and very satisfied with what I've been able to build.
Thanks!

[cultivateyourbestself]

Hey Thomas, just wanted to say THANK YOU for this. I was so excited that you had done a PARA Dashboard. I've been working in Notion for awhile now and sat and spent one session building this out with you after reading Taigo's book. This gave me a better idea of how relations & rollups relate to each other from different databases. I like that you build out databases separately and do referenced databases on your dashboards. Going to start implementing that in my workflow as well. I also like the advanced filter options. Learned a lot, much appreciated!

[BruceHartford]

Loved this. Took me twice the time to create than to watch, but that's a fraction of the time it took you to learn/develop this out. Deeply thankful. Truly. You deserve so much damn praise for what you are doing.

[mayanksharma]

Perfect timing! was just done with understanding the P.A.R.A method from Tiago's Second Brain Quickstart guide. Going to spend the weekend building this! Thanks Thomas!

[rohanpashankar]

Thanks Thomas for this really in-depth guide. I followed your video to build the template and I'm shocked at what I've managed to build. Amazing!

[gerardobarbas]

Wow... wow... just WOW! Amazing how I could finally get to understand a little more of the complexity of Notion and start building my second brain thanks to this concise tutorial.. Thank you so much for such a valuable contribution 🙏 You rock!

[GhislaineBeauce]

Build complete! Thank you very much Thomas. I'm sure I'll be even more thankful once I start migrating my notes from various platforms into this system!!

[constancephoto]

Thank you! It took a minute...but your generous, thorough, smart tutorials have guided me to create a functional, organization system within the Notions ecosystem. I will now be more focused and intentional my both business and personal life.

[poison]

The best part pf the tutoril, in my case, is to be able to see all relations, understanding why, and all the explaining. Thank you very much for everything.

[leandro_]

Wow. I don't know how to thank you enough. You are the absolute best in Notion tips (I wonder if the Notion guys themselves are so good at teaching like you). Best tutorial I have ever seen. Thank you so much

[yhbarve]

Thank you so much for this tutorial Thomas. It helped me to make my own 2nd Brain on Notion. Apart from PARA, I also added a section for Daily Journaling, and a few widgets like Pomodoro, Countdown, etc.

[huyhelloworld]

First time that I can complete a tutorial on Youtube. Amazing and super-detailed!

[AreebSuhail]

Wow, I could not have discovered your guide at a better time! I have been working on my PARA dashboard for the past few months and am just starting to run into some scaling issues. This guide has saved me weeks of research, trial and error. Thank you soo much for all the thought and work you put into this!!

[chefranylaitenu]

You are a hero thank you so much for this Template! <3
This will help me so much with creating more structure into my life

[lucianne]

Huge THANK YOU for this resource - I’ve just managed to build this as a complete newbie to Notion, by playing you at 75% speed and pausing/rewinding every 5 secs. 😄 I feel like I’ve now got a basic understanding of how Notion works, and am tempted to buy your ultimate template. Thank you again - very watchable (without the constant jump-cuts that make most YT videos unwatchable for me) and great presenting/teaching style. You’re a gem, Thomas!

[terrencehunter]

This tutorial has been essential in taking the concepts of Forte's book and developing my second brain. Thank you so much!