So much for quitting my phone 🫣. More on that another time! Big thanks to Milanote for sponsoring this video! Check em outtttt: milanote.com/mattdavella 🤘

I like being productive… so I’m watching a UKposts video on my couch

When I takes notes like this I usually end up not enjoying the present thing I’m doing. It becomes more about saving this thing for my future self that may find it useful 🤷‍♂️

PARA Projects: store things you are actively working on (ex: office reno, upcoming trip to Europe) Areas: store things of responsibility in your life (ex: vehicles, taxes) Resources: store things like book notes and inspirations Archives: store things that are no longer needed, but might be useful in the future

Rearranging my notes folders into exotic structures that make no sense by tomorrow is my favourite form of procrastination. It also helps me convince myself that my life is under control having gorged on a box of crispy creme donuts.

Usually I'm inspired/slightly intimidated by your videos, but this might be the first time I've ever thought "wow, I' beat Matt to the punch" 😂 My notes app is an ~*organized masterpiece*~ with everything from recipes and travel plans to pre/during/post session therapy notes and a list of people I know who are pregnant and their due dates lol. It's SO helpful and easy to stay consistent once you make a habit of it.

"How to improve your memory" is literally a question that haunted me all my student life. I make a thousand notes in the phone, on a piece of paper and generally everywhere until I created complete chaos in my life Don't repeat it!

"there's something to be said about sticking with the basics & just doing the work." - this is so important as i've also recently found myself overwhelmed by the amount & popularity of different tools. lately, i've been building an essentials list of sort which are the things i live with & by, without the need to waste time looking for something else. thank you for this video!

One of the best videos on UKposts for this viewer. You introduced me to Tiago, Milanote, and Readwise, over a much enjoyable quarter of an hour, with a chuckle or two along the way. Brilliant. Thank you. Truly.

This is perfect timing for me! ☺️ Lately I’ve been stressing out a lot about my notes being all over the place. 🤪 Thank you!

I love this technique! I do something similar. I have a “MIND” folder that’s split into “THOUGHTS” and “IDEAS”.It’s helped me to save the thought for a future journal, or the idea for a future project!

I appreciate you didn’t shy away from this video even though so many have already talked about it. Every one is on their own timeline!

This video came at the best possible time for me. Just two weeks ago, I started organizing my notes in the PARA way. This is a motivation to keep me going and finish all my notes to this system!

So happy to see that im onto something once. With so much to remember and organizing my personal life and managing our family life my calendar is where most of my information goes. Not even bothered anymore to clutter up my mind with everything as I'll forget it anyways. Takes getting used to but it takes so much stress away from the feeling of "am I missing something" and getting rid of some of the anxiety that comes with it. Will try to implement this method to my information-pool too!

I have heard the pitch of "Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain" multiple times before (Ali Abdaal and Thomas Frank come to mind). But, I always perceived it as something that I would do if I had a different job. Well, Matt, you've managed to paint it in a different light, and now I think I'm going to try it. Well done!

I am in love with the editing style in your videos and how the storytelling actually leads you through the video. Thank you for the quality!

There's something so simple and satisfying about Matt's videos. He's not talking about groundbreaking stuff (there is a MOUNTAIN of content out there about this), but the way he talks about it is just very simple, relatable, and enjoyable.

I bought Tiago’s book the same week of its release after consuming his YT content and have yet to implement it. Not a fault of his, bc his system makes so much sense, it’s just always seemed like a daunting task. But something about you actually documenting that process and outlining the time it took, the scares you had, and the silly things you kept over the years just made it more relatable and gave me a vision of what a starting point looks like. I especially admire your declaration of not switching your notes app and getting his input of working from the bottom-up until it breaks before “upgrading” bc I’m so guilty of being sucked into trying the newest tech in hopes it’ll solve the clutter in my brain. Thank you Matt!! And kudos to you to putting in the work to make sure you’re a supportive partner, wish y’all the best!

Really great summary. I've tried the PARA system with Notion and it always becomes quickly overwhelming. Applying it to Notes is a better idea. I'm also a late adopter to all the automation tools, but slowing integrating them into my workflow has made an enormous difference.

Congrats Matt with being a soon to be dad! Exciting times for you! And of course, to the soon to be mom! I do use Notes and have enjoyed it! Naturally gravitated towards the simplicity of it and will up my organizational side. At times I brain dump on it and forget about it. Which has the benefits too! We appreciate you showing us another perk of the Notes app!

Thanks for the great video Matt, we used to be a bit unorganized as we had so much going on with our careers and our plans, so before we started our business, we took time to learn how to organize ourselves and live life better, we used most of the tips you mentioned on this video and it worked. So if anyone visiting this channel, watching this video, believe us, it works!

To be honest, most of the time I'm more attracted to Matt's video making and editing skill than the contents themselves.

I really enjoyed the sharing from 13:48. "The structure of your notes should match the structure of your life because the purpose of notes is to support and enhance your life." These are very profound words. Thanks for sharing the nice interview with decent editing.

This is so helpful and relevant for me right now. I recently got promoted, and one of the sources of frustration at work is not being able to find information that I need quickly and easily. Boiling it down to P-A-R-A is a simple way to organize my information in emails or desktop folders, that seems very doable and easy to implement. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for your content!

I found this video really helpful, I started to organise my files using PARA, weirdly at first I thought it was too restrictive, but actually once I looked at file or folder names it was easy to identify where they went for me, I paired back and it was REALLY NICE to have things more organised. LOVE THIS for me!

Best review: The content of the book is: 1. make notes 2. organize files in projects, areas, resources and archives (para) 3. start generating output based on your notes. That is not worth more than a blog post post Getting Things Done. The rest of the book is filler material in the form of anecdotes and it is hard to find any actionable content because of all the fluff. The bonus chapter advertised in the TOC is only provided as a PDF, you are forced to provide your E-Mail address, before getting an E-Mail with the link.

I've been customizing my own system off of your old Simple Productivity system, and it's hilarious how similar our systems have become once again!

"sticking to the basics and just do the work" - thanks man, I am been on a productivity hunt for months and this really woke me up.

I've seen like 3 different videos on Tiago's method specifically and countless others on using every app imaginable for different types of media and THIS IS THE ONE!!! Immediately went into my Apple Notes and started organizing 10 years worth of ideas.

I created a second brain last year and it made finding things so much easier, both at home and professionally. I use Evernote as my storage and Pocket as my "read later" app. These in combination with my second brain have been life changing.

This may sound weird but I legit write all my notes about everything on 1 note with headings and emojis to separate things, everythings there like a mini vision board and it's a great reminder of the bigger picture/goals when doing day to day tasks

Been using milanote since last year and really changed my life!!!! I'm a singer/songwriter who also happens to love ideation and writing+directing. A few months ago, we shot a music video for my husband and the film project template helped the whole team a lot to have a space we can update one another and put every detail we need to take note of. The team started using the app as well and they're all pros here in the Philippines!!!

I need to implement the categorization. Really enjoyed BASB when I read it last year. Thanks for resurfacing the concepts and putting them in your terms. Also for showing that it can be done with that much stuff to start with.

Like Tiago said, we all try to organize our notes into databases that look sophisticated and aesthetic, but we do not think about creating a system that work. Amazing video, going to implement this in my life this week - 30 hours of searching and sorting sh*t incoming 💩

This remembers me of the 6th episode of the Extrapolations, where the main character (young man with kind of neural health problems) has started to forgot everything, so he has put all of his memories into a cloud service. But how the time passed, he was strugling with the payments for this cloud service to store all of his memories and at one moment he lost all of them, because of some technical problems on the cloud provider side.

Matt one of the best videos on UKposts. Not kidding. Very productive. Your editing (highlighted skills :) with Tiago discussion was fantastic.Thank you! God Bless!

I love how much substance your videos have! I had never heard of this PARA folder structure for saving note before. Definitely going to give that a try!

Matt, I'm impressed by the real-world problem that everyone has that you try to solve in this video. We really need this, so thank you so very much!

13:46. "The structure of your notes should match the structure of your life". Thank you.

I’ve been struggling in this area, not sure of how I wanted to store all my notes. So this was really good… just what I needed. I even picked up TIAGO’s book now.

Oh god! This synchronicity is crazy! I litterally trying to learn anything to improve my memory also to build track to understand things in the second brain so I would never forget them !

I need to say that for me it’s quite difficult to stay consistent and yes .. the fact of having a lot of apps that proposes organizing (Evernote, notion, apple notes and so on) sometimes causes a mess on our heads .. I have a lot of difficulty on getting out of physical notes .. but even with them I get lost in few days .. indeed the consistency is one thing that needs to be solved first

August Bradley's PPV system is also a useful structure. Although, I think most of us can just reduce the amount of notes we are taking. I've gone back to a simple Bullet Journal for most day-to-day tasks, and Notion for project management. We are just procrastinating. We are so focused on becoming the most productive, while spending ridiculous amounts of time working on a perfect "system". Take out a pen and paper, and leave most of what you think you need to write down, to further contemplation. We probably don't really need to be consuming as much as we do. I think a lot of us just need to reduce our input, go deeper into fewer things, and that way we can have a better idea of what is important to take down in notes. How many ideas or articles do we really need to delegate for our future selves?

Love Tiago Forte and his book is fantastic. Setting up PARA on Google Drive, Notion and my computer has been such a game changer for me. I always know where to find things now and no longer feel overwhelmed by all my digital files and notes. His Inbox Zero set up is also a game changer.

Hey Matt! This is quite random but I've been following you for years and your consistency and dedication to your UKposts channel might be the most powerful and inspiring statement you've shared. Thanks for all the useful and entertaining videos!

amazing video. Implementing stuff right now!

Matt, please make a video about your life in Australia, did you guys are still thinking about living in both countries or only there? plus I wish to see a house tour (we saw it empty but now it looks like you finished renovating and decorating).

Incredible video. The cinematography in your videos really is out of this world & paired with the incredibly high-value and carefully curated information, this is by far one of my absolute favorite youtube-channels!

I never consider getting this book, but you've changed my mind. Thanks Matt!

I had shocking problems with memory and simple data retention. Names of people, numerical being jumbled, all sorts. I also struggled with motivation and discipline. Turns out I have ADHD, and since being diagnosed and sorting out medication and therapy I’m WAY more in control of my life. Still chasing the 2” bicep gain but at least I can find my car keys of a morning, it’s still a win.

I use Safari’s built in “read later” list. I suspect it’s a lot like Reader. Also you can highlight parts of webpages and make a “quick note” in apple notes. (If you’re on that eco system using its default tools)

I’m impressed that how all using and recommending apps like notion, good notes, etc. you on the other hand used simple apple notes and used it so efficiently, by giving a simple answer about how not ones organising is not dependent on app on the market it’s about you how you manage it

I totally love Matt's focus on presentation. Great work. Bravo! Oh yea, thanks for the organizational skills!

Seems we all are struggling and scratching the at same questions. A few weeks ago I was rearranging my Notes using PARA method, after watching a dozen of videos about 2nd brain. At some point, I thought that was too much for me and saw Matt's video about Apple Notes. That sounded so simple, minimalist and more healthy that I just copied the structure and lived my life happy haha. Now, Matt brings the PARA to your own system. The conclusion for me is: no one knows the way, the answers... we're all searching mechanisms to find solutions that fits our life. To live is to try out. And that's beautiful :)

I think para is nice for organizing files, but not for notes. My notes are not only about projects and areas, but also about stuff I learn. If I put this all in a “Self development” or “Learning” area, it becomes an overloaded mess real quick. On the flip side if you try to add too much structure to study notes, you become too focused on organization and less on studying. I found zettelkasten + obsidian to be a nice minimalist balance between effort of organization and result.

It was an amazin video as always. Also I never thought that making bold the important parts, making bold and underline the most important part. Thanks for the tip.

Thank you for this piece of information. I have been applying the key concepts. After a few days, I already have seen improvements. Not only in my notes but in my mind. Thank you.

Tiago is the man. I'm surprised you didn't mention Notion and how Thomas Frank adapted Tiago's PARA model. I know you've shared a video where you chatted with him a few years ago, but he has since fallen down a Notion well and hasn't climbed out since. It's freaking awesome to see what he's built.

Matt - Excellent video. I offer the following ideas and suggestions. #1 - PARA - I consider Tiago Forte to be a professional when it comes to productivity systems. The rest of us are amateurs. No matter how well-conceived the PARA system is, I don’t think it is a good choice for us amateurs. Why? Because there is little to no basis for the names of the folders that materialize. They are commonly concepts (maybe even abstractions) that were important at the time they were created, but which can be forgotten a couple months / couple years down the road. Consequently, it is commonly challenging for amateurs to remember what folder they put a note in. - - - I highly recommend that most people adopt a folder structure in which the names of the folders are objects. Examples are Art, Education, Equipment, Financial, Food, Medical, Politics, Products, Religion, Science, Shopping, and Utilities. #2 - Tags - Every note organization system needs to define the basis for the folder structure and the basis for the tag structure. The PARA system does the former, but your system doesn’t use tags. You will benefit greatly by determining how to incorporate tags into to your system. I view a Tag as information “about” a Note, not the content of the Note. They are commonly called “Meta” data. Here are a couple example of Tag structures: * PARA (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives). * Note Type (Email, Invoice, Article, Instructions, Map, MeetingNote, Picture, ProblemLog, Receipt). * Your Roles (Son, Spouse, Father, Engineer). Of course, one of the great features of Tags is that a Note can have multiple Tags. It’s like putting a piece of paper in multiple manila folders at the same time. #3 - Smart Folders - I have found this Apple Notes function to be very helpful for finding Notes. A user can specify a variety of criteria with which the app will produce a list of Notes that meet the criteria. One that I use almost every day is a Smart Folder that lists all Notes I edited in the last 2 days. #4 - Apple Notes - Use it. Avoid 3rd party apps. - - - There are a couple disadvantages of 3rd party apps. While they increase productivity, they also increase complexity, more than most users need. Secondly, a 3rd party app may be developed by a company that may not even exist in a couple years. - - - Also, in the last 2-3 years, Apple has released new versions of Apple Notes with significant functional enhancements. A good example is the “Scan Text” function. When reading a book/article, it is an easy matter for a user to scan text with his/her iPhone directly into Apple Notes. This is a function of the “Read Wise” 3rd party app that Tiago mentioned.

Surprised to see this video is about BASB! Glad I checked it out. 💯% stick with your notes app until you reach a point where you long for it to do something else. Simplicity is key. Its about getting your work done and not having to think too much about maintaining the system. And the read-later app is great because you'll collect so much content initially and then revisit them wondering why you captured it in the first place. This is a great filter that informs you about what you really value.

One of Matt's best videos so far, badly needed this! Noted this on my sticky notes the on my notes app. 🤯

Always top-notch story telling and video editing. Love upload day from Matt!

For someone who suffers from Cognitive Issues as a result of Post-Covid Syndrome, I so aligned with this. From my Post-Covid syndrome and symptoms almost 2 in a half years later, I'm now being told there is a chance I have ADHD and I can relate to things you and Tiago said in this video. Thank you for the encouraging me without you even knowing it. I feel more confident after watching this video knowing I can get things together using my second brain and simple tools.

Omg! I’ve been waiting forever for this video to come out! I love the second brain system!!

I went deep in the rabbit hole of note taking and second brain systems early this year. And yes I fell into that trap of finding the right now. 😅 I did finally settle on an app of choice (Obsidian). But man did I waste a lot of time not "doing".

I’ve watched several videos Tiago has done but this one shows why Matt is very, very good at his craft.

All your videos are pure gold but this one was so very helpful!

i'm so surprised you didn't end up using (or weren't already using) a more sophisticated "second brain" note-taking app like obsidian! (or notion since it's free and syncs everywhere). maybe try the Zettelkasten method next time for a new video and see how you find it?? :D personally, rather than organising things into lots of different folders (something i'd defs get too lazy to do over time), i use different apps for different types of notes. Bear for recipes and travel (and just hashtag it accordingly), Notion and Obsidian for proper studying/note-taking (work vs personal learning), SimpleNote for when i need a post-it to write down a phone number or something, etc. i feel like different notes apps are more geared towards different types of note taking, so while having all your notes in one place is usually a plus point, this works way better for me than forcing all my notes into 1 type of notes app (and struggling to keep it organised). i automatically just open a different app for my purpose. and i'm never going to combine my study notes with my recipes for example so i'm not missing out on any potential connections between my notes or whatever.

Damn, Elon lost some weight. Good for him! Great video as usual, enjoying it so far.

You are the GOAT man. Awesome videos, cool apps to share with us, and amazing guests. Thank you!

It's nice that UKposts recommended your video after I finished Tiago's PARA series, it helped me to see that we're actually in the same boat (except I don't have bicep as big as you!). I will pull myself together to clear my 1,400+ notes. One point to add, you can highlight anything on your Safari, right-click> share > Note > select where you want to save it, it will create a new note (or add to an existing note) with a link to the page. I try as much as possible to stick with Apple's stock productivity apps such as Notes and Reminder, bcs I know however the world is changing, and the stock app will always be there (for free too). And it's encouraging to see that they're involved with every iOS/iPadOS/MacOS update while remaining simple enough to use. That sense of stability is important to me so that I can deal with the shortfall of their apps.

I read Tiago's book a few months ago, and when I put it down, my question was...Who is this book for? If you're any type of writer, content creator, project manager, or anyone who has to DO THINGS on a daily basis, this book is sort of superfluous. Somehow, Tiago Forte is able to stretch his thesis into 60,000 words when I can do it in a single sentence: If you want to remember things better, just write them down. Here's the thing: humans have been writing stuff on stuff for 100,000+ years. From stone to tablets to parchment to paper to now digital tools, humans have always recorded the things that matter; have always made lists, journaled, saved things for later. This is not a new concept and in fact I find it kind of insulting that Tiago Forte has the audacity to pretend he's onto something revolutionary when he says "that website you like, just save the pertinent information from it in your phone's notes app." Also, Tiago, there is real science behind the notion that the best way to remember things is not in some digital folder/notes system but by actually WRITING things. In a notebook. Even your case studies in this book all focus on people who WROTE their notes. There is something chemical in your brain that actuates when writing by hand that does not happen when copying and pasting information into a digital note. That's not how the human brain operates. If you're considering this book, save yourself the 3 hours it would take to read it by following this advice-if you want to remember things, if you want to be more creative, just...write stuff down.

I also fell into the trap of "trying everything and see what sticks", but I quickly found out that I was using every app and no app at the same time. My notes were all over these apps, and couldn't find shit. So, one day, I just opened Tom Franks Second Brain template video, and started making my own in Notion. And now I'm using it everyday! I made proper areas, I store resources like notes, articles, videos in appropriate projects, I save web clips using Notion Web Clipper and Share feature in Android and much more. The main thing is to stick to one app, that's it! Good Luck to everyone who's trying to figure this out the hard way!

Very happy to see Tiago here. Obsidian works very well with Tiago's approach.

I am so proud of myself that I found this video, grateful to my mom who educate me English so that I understand this video. And thank you to The MInimalist, they lead me to get to know this amazing youtuber Matt D’Avella. Send love from Korea!

In order to protect that movie idea at all costs, we must protect Matt at all costs! 😈

I love your self improvement content. You’re one of the reasons I started my own UKposts channel 🙌

Thank you so much!! This was the most useful video I’ve seen in a long time! It is clear, simple to apply and a really good solution!

Another great video. But as the minimalist you are, I’d love to see a video reflection on whether saving all those notes are actually valuable and relevant? Will they truly be seen and have value years later? Or is it just time spent now for things that won’t ever be used?

Tiago looks like a younger Elon Musk.

Enjoyed your comment about sticking with the basics and just doing it. The Tiago statement of start with simple until it breaks then change.

I read building a second before shortly before starting university. BASB is one of the single best productivity, self development and organisation books ever ! The takeaways from this book have helped me manage almost all of the tasks in my life from my business to my university assignments and even my holidays. I highly recommend this to anyone !

"Great" idea to store everything in the cloud services! If you care about privacy and safety - you store your life on your external HDD or SSD, or even on your own home server.

I pray that every one watching this levels up financially, physically, mentally, and spiritually this year! Let’s get to work 💪🏿💰💪🏿

I am new to your channel and new to Tiago, but after this video I bought his Audio Book through your link and it has been amazing! I truly hope I can take one of your classes soon! Thank you.

When Matt recommends something, you download it immediately. But seriously, Tiago + Matt = you know you're getting the best PRODUCTIVITY Tips! Thanks Matt!

He looks like Elon Musk.

Is it just me or does Tiago really look like a subtle version of Elon Musk?

Really enjoyed this video. Starting a new self-development journey and I'm going to follow this path as my current journey involves too many fancy apps when actually you are right, simplicity is better!

I was taking notes and setting reminders on my phone already to help me be get my shit together but this was so helpful on getting myself organized!

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Tiago's cinematic setup?

Omg i usually learn something from your videos, but as a girl i have always been this organized with my notes. A suggestion that i have is implementing the use of tags if you keep using Apple Notes, it can be life saver not to create a bunch of folders for certain things but if you're like me and really struggles to remember, using tags its a good way to start :)

I like your channel so much because all yours video have a transcript, it really helpful for me to improve my english. ❤❤

Been doing this for years! Very happy that my process has been the best for me the whole time!

What is Elon musk doing here

Am I the only one who was sure that Tiago is the lost brother of Eilon Mask ?

Your videos are amazing and always inspirate us to change. I've been using Evernote, but often to add notes or manage them is more hard-working

amazing video thank you - I decided to stick with Apple Notes this year and felt relief haha... appreciate seeing how you use it and I'll go back through mine again and refresh.

I hate Apps and technology. It overwhelms me. I prefer using my pen and an actual notebook.

i don’t understand how this relates with most lives im just being honest. ik its all up to interpretation but how does this guy that makes youtube videos about being productive actually relate to say a student or a busy job, it just doesnt translate