Tiago Forte wrote two books: Building a Second Brain and The PARA Method: The Simple System for Organizing Your Digital Life in Seconds while I don’t know about the “seconds” – took me way longer, I think it is a helpful system.
I would not recommend that anyone redo their whole system at first. I think it can be used “going forward”. I have put my new projects and some of my more important “areas” into PARA folders. I found that Microsoft products “play together” in the most streamlined way so it is great if that is an option for you. Otherwise, it is still possible but requires a few more steps.
For those that use Outlook for email and One Note – I have added more links to helpful YouTube videos below.
Feel free to reach out if you have more specific questions or would like some help getting started to decrease any overwhelm!
| PART 1: The PARA Method Explained – How to Organize Your Digital Life in … | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Mfl1OywM8&t=0s |
| PART 2: The 10-to-15 Rule (creating your projects) – The 10-to-15 rule (PARA Method) | Part 2 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anexySaCsgU&t=0s |
| PART 3: How I Plan My Weekly Tasks using PARA – How I Plan My Weekly Tasks (PARA Meth… | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyWmGDnWhjE&t=0s |
OneNote and the PARA System
| “Building A Second Brain: Simple and Practical Guide” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zlNSytm17I |
| “How to Setup PARA in OneNote: Organize Your Life Like a Pro!” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig-cL6WStx0 |
| “Aesthetic Note-Taking in MS OneNote: Tips for Visually Engaging and Organized Notes” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfwK-0p_Gg0 |
| “How to use Templates in OneNote to boost productivity” !” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsqDCLpM7Gs |
| “7 Pro Tips for Microsoft OneNote” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMboUkW4dsk |
| “How to use TAGs in Microsoft OneNote” (Andy Park) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMGRYFhiNA |
| “MS OneNote setup for recurring meetings” (Andy Park” | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=And7Ii-E5lM |
| Other videos by Andy Park | https://www.youtube.com/c/AndyPark1/videos |
| “OneNote Organization 101: Beginner Tips for Structuring Your Notes” by Andy Park | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABvrs4Geyw8 |
Other videos by Tiago
| Pick a Notes App: Your Notetaking Style (Part 1) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dDVtJ2sec |
| Top 68 Apps to Take Digital Notes (2022) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OywdK-GIDnw |
| The First 30 Days Using a Notes App | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOS53fSDqVw |
Other OneNote Resources
| “Using OneNote for Project Management” By MS 365 | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-life-hacks/organization/using-onenote-for-project-management |
| Customize OneNote templates | https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-or-customize-page-templates-2c92ef65-06aa-4b01-9bae-4fc2e7361806#TEMPLATE=2016 |
Other MS Software Integrations
| “Microsoft OneNote & Outlook Integration | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8ONxVRVcfw |
| Integrating OneNote and Google Calendar Using Task Clone (integration tool) $1.99/month (US) | https://taskclone.com/ |
| TaskClone video (33 seconds) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhTg1wAgz7E |
