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. If you'd like to use or study the finished template, you can get it here: thomasjfrank.com/templates/para-method-template-for-notion/ You'll also find this PARA structure in Ultimate Brain, which is a complete second brain for Notion: thomasjfrank.com/brain/ What new tutorials do you want to see in the future?

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.

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

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 !

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.

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!

This was great. Literally took me like 6 sessions over a couple of weeks including procrastination to complete. I might eventually buy the ultimate brain now that I know what's going on with all the moving pieces. Thanks for all the free stuff you've hooked me up with over the years that actually has helped me be more productive without having to "medicate" my "adhd". You should really be satisfied with the knowledge that you are tangibly changing lives for the better.

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!!

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!

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.

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!

Wow a full hour! This’ll be the Bible of how to organise your life in Notion 👏🏻

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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!!

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

Everything sounds so complicated to newbies but you made it really comprehensive. thank you and also thank you for the free template!

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

You are a hero thank you so much for this Template!

Thank you for the detailed explanation and the free template!

Thank you so much. I'm really grateful for these videos and guidance. As it was coming together I couldn't believe you made this so I could actually create something like this! 🥰 Would you be open to adding and showing us how to incorporate the Eisenhower Matrix into the dashboard? For someone who receives a Lot of incoming tasks throughout the day and has to determine very quickly which bucket it needs to go into, this might be super beneficial because it'd be so visual. Thank you for everything! 🌅💕

Thank You Thomas, your tutorial is amazing, didn't even realize till 30 mins.

Thank you so much for sharing this. It was so helpful to follow along and see how you organize each area of the system and the logic behind it. Very helpful.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 📚 The PARA method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive) is a powerful way to organize your digital life and tasks. 02:25 📂 Creating a PARA dashboard in Notion helps you manage projects, areas, resources, tasks, and notes effectively. 03:49 🗂️ Notion's flexibility allows you to consolidate tasks, notes, and reference material for each project in one place, enhancing organization. 05:12 📝 Differentiate between projects (actionable), areas (life buckets), resources (interests), and archive (inactive items) in your PARA setup. 08:51 🗃️ Setting up various databases (tasks, notes, projects, areas/resources) with properties (status, type, archive) creates an organized structure. 14:59 📚 Implementing relations between databases (tasks to projects, notes to projects/areas/resources) links different elements for efficient workflow. 18:35 📄 Utilizing reciprocal properties allows bidirectional relations, enhancing the interconnectivity of your PARA system. 19:29 🛠️ Setting up projects in Notion using the PARA method. 19:56 🧩 Creating a relation within the same database for areas and resources. 20:25 📑 Setting page limits for resource properties to maintain organization. 20:51 📊 Using roll-up properties to find the root area of notes within resources. 22:12 🔗 Explaining roll-up properties' ability to reach through relations and gather information. 23:08 🏁 Creating templates for projects, areas, and resources in Notion. 24:33 📚 Organizing templates with quick links and toggle blocks for improved navigation. 26:23 📋 Utilizing the color setting and handles for multi-column layouts in Notion. 27:22 📆 Configuring properties and filters for effective task and note management. 29:39 📊 Grouping and sorting tasks by status for better project overview. 31:00 🧰 Setting default templates and using advanced filters for project and note organization. 31:55 🔗 Creating area and resource templates while planning for relational database views. 35:07 📚 Building area templates with board views for projects, gallery views for resources, and list views for notes. 37:52 🗃️ Grouping and filtering notes using roll-up properties and archive settings. 39:45 🛠️ ParaDash board: Grouping by base URL in Notion database for organization. 40:12 📊 Creating a dashboard structure in Notion using headings for tasks, notes, projects, and areas/resources. 41:40 🔄 Rearranging dashboard sections in Notion using horizontal lines for stacking tasks, notes, projects, and areas/resources. 42:08 📋 Implementing linked databases in Notion for tasks and notes, utilizing filters and customizing views. 44:27 🗃️ Setting up Inbox views in Notion with filters for tasks and notes, including Next Seven Days and Completed views. 45:51 📦 Creating an Archive page in Notion for completed tasks and archived notes, utilizing filters and linked databases. 48:15 🏢 Configuring a dashboard view for Projects in Notion, using groupings, card previews, and customization. 49:35 🌐 Creating linked databases for Areas and Resources in Notion, differentiating between areas and resources with filters. 53:41 🎨 Aesthetic tweaks to the Notion dashboard, customizing shown properties and optimizing the layout. 57:00 🔗 Conclusion and additional resources for enhancing Notion productivity and skills. Made with HARPA AI

Thank you! I just found out about the idea of a second brain and I’m thinking of doing it. As a really organized person I find this helpful to sort all my notes and ideas in one place. I’m having a hard time to sort them lately because I was using separate apps which also made it hard for me to find them when I need them. It’s overwhelming lately that it made me uninstall them and stick to Notion instead.

Your channel is sooo underrated. Keep up your great work!

Wow. This is the most articulate comment section I've seen on UKposts. So many great comments, I liked them all lol. I guess that's why we're nerding out here on Notion & creating structure. Forreal, Thomas - this is fantastic. I just found you as I'm looking to take Notion to the next level and this is awesome. Subbed. Thanks for so many insights 🧠

This is an amazing tutorial. Building PARA system in Notion helps me understand how the Ultimate Brain template works. I feel more confident making changes to UB!

The best Notion teacher ever! 🙏🏻

Thanks for making this video! Really helped me understand Notion, and now I have a system I can tweak to my liking!

This is a GREAT video because it helps me understand PARA just a little bit more. Thanks!

Another great tutorial Thomas 👏

First of all, thank you so much for the WAY you teach. I'm very particular with how I learn and you my friend have a sincere knack for education! In fact, I've bounced back and forth between your channel, RedGregory's and BetterCreating's and it's yours that I consistently return to. Also, thank you SOOOO much for introducing us to Whimsical! I just signed up for a student account which gives me free access beyond the typical free account. Lastly, I thought you might find this "Whimsical"... see what I did there? :) When explaining the PARA acronym, I explain "Archive" as the place where completed STUFF (keeping it family friendly now) goes to die. :-)

It's amazing tutorial. It opened my mind for a bunch of ways to use Notion for any other areas

THANK YOU!!

Amazing that you even dive into Regex. I'm thoroughly surprised. Thank you!

Thank you Thomas

Great tutorial! Learned a ton about Notion and about the Para system.

What a fantastic tutorial! Thank you so much :-)

Thank you Thomas, perfect timing with Tiago’s new book next week. You are the Notion Oracle ❤

Thanks for the video. Very helpful!

This was great! Thanks Thomas!

This was amazing, thanks a lot!!

Tremdously helpful to watch (and listen to your throught process of) the build while also being able to look under the hood of the built template and play around. Thank you! I'm heading over to watch your databases video.

Thank you very much for such a detailed video. Learned a lot from you. Thanks again!

Damn! Such a good crash course to Notion. Thanks a lot!

Wow wtf this is soooo good!!! Thank you so much ❤❤

Thank you so so much for this video! I’m currently reading the book and this is exactly what I needed

I hope u have more subscribers, your channel is really helpful and detailed, i love it so much

Perfect content for the weekend 🥰

Thanks a lot for the tutorial I did miss something in archiving Area/Resource Part and I realized that when I built the dashboard 🙃so at the end I got the template from the link just to make sure everything will work fine.

Quite a marathon tutorial there. Thanks for all the effort. Looking forward to giving this a fair shake. I've been using Craft for a year or so and I'm feeling the Notion pull lately.

Immensely clarifying for using Notion in general AND for adapting the PARA system to work with Notion. Thank you! I would be very interested to see you demo how to actually use it. How do you plan your day, your week, capture thoughts and web clippings, generate new ideas and insights from going through your dashboard, choose next actions and decide which projects and tasks to work on. That would be awesome. By the way, how you described Notion in one of your videos with Tiago (“it lets you program without having to code”) made it click for me.

This is very good! especially when you bought Thomas's template and realise it has so many function which you have not idea how to utilize them. by buiilding a basic one you know more how those works!

Perfect content to finsih off the week with

thank you so much for this amazing video

I absolutely loved it

Super useful guide, thank you! :)

i wish i could like this twice. so good!

Thank you so much for this tutorial! Helped a lot👏. I successful constructed my second brain! Thanks a lot man 🤝

Thank you, I appreciate it

Your teaching is excellent! Thank you for this content Shot out from Brazil

Amazing content !

This is very helpful. Thanks.

Fantastic tutorial! I learnt so much apart from setting this specific use case, thank you!

Very very things I watch on youtube are life changing. This is!!

Thank you for creating the turoial, not enough people doing the step-by-step stuff imo. I need to make it myself for it to work for me. :) 👍

Thanks!

Thanks!! Really awesome tutorial!! I just created one of this and enjoyed the process. I will try to put a Habit Tracker and a Recurrence Review Study Tasks :D

This template is super helpful! I'm new to notion and honestly loving it as I am a big note taker in a lot of different areas. One thing that I am currently in the habit of is writing done helpful insights and quotes. What is the best way to capture quotes/citation and to be able to search the database? Such as the quote itself, author, and if application the page or location they said it.

great tutorial!

Awesome content. Thank you! I'd be interested to hear your list of designated "Areas". I've listed the obvious, but I definitely feel like I'm missing some possibilities!

Never clicked faster to any UKposts video than this time 🤩

Would be great to see HOW you’re actually working with the template, what information you put where and the strategy behind it 👍🏻

Thank you so much...

man, I love you.

I love this tutorial I have had Notion for ages but never really used it because I didn't know how many options I actually had. I would say I am an absolute beginner and yet I understood most of it very well and was able to build my own database. But Notion has made an update and some things are different now. We have more options, which is good, but some of the things in the video, such as some of the codes, can only be implemented if you really get your head around them. But I have managed to do that. Many thanks for the video and for any tips. :)

i really liked your video, it’s really nice how you fluently use the software while explaining the important concepts… i still don’t see any utility in joining the areas and resources databases, but i’ll try to adapt it and implement it in my language… saludos desde chile!

Hey Thomas! We want a video on PARA + The Ultimate Task Manager!

Thanks Thomas very usefull video but personally I think it would be very beneficial have a video center around the functionality of the template. After following your video on how to build the Second Brain I still find myself confused on how and where to add things. The video itself is already very compact with information about the inner workings of notion itself that individually picking apart the user functionality becomes somewhat cumbersome. I think a video showing you using it like adding, removing things from the resources, areas, and projects would be very useful.

My only question is about the root area, is it only for resources to use as relations to other things? It was still a little unclear to me when you explained it in the creating relations portion of the video. However, I created a second brain, with a mixture of properties from the personal dash board from scratch that you did a while ago, and I feel like I have reached great organization and productivity. Thank you :)

Thank you for the excellent content... I think in the main diagram of the PARA method, we need to consider a relation between Tasks and Areas. For instance, you work out for your health, and this concurrent task is directly related to the Health or Personal area of your life.

My English is far away from perfect but your videos are cristal clear… Thanks a lot

This was fantastic! Thank you for sharing this knowledge. I have a few questions though. If I'm working on a big project that has several stages (writing a script, creating a storyboard, create animatic, etc) and I want to have several tasks with in each stage, what is the best way to implement this? Second question, if I have multiple clients I work with that I want to track, should I create a new database for clients and have a relation to projects, or create a new area per client? Third question, does your paid template already have these features? Thank you!

I kind of already use para by making folders of projects,resource,etc. Looks like great minds think alike

Amazing! Your videos are the best. I watched the "Task Manager from Scratch" and built my own task manager, but after this video, I'm wondering how can I integrate both of them. Maybe I can try to add the Area & Resource and Archive in the Task Manager and make this a new dashboard... Any tip? I really don't want to get rid of the Task Manager that I've already built

Hi @Thomas, Thank you so much for these amazing videos. According to you, what is the closest way to create Roam Research-type knowledge graphs in Notion. I know they're fundamentally different in the way they organize information, but if you need to try creating a graph in notion, how would you approach that?

When would you make a note in the PARA dashboard instead of in your note system or would you not use the note system next to this? Thanks a bunch for these great videos and templates!

My man FLEW THROUGH this. WHEW. I'm on my 20th time watching in 5 months trying to get this right. LOL. I almost paid for the one on your site. I see your trick sir! LOOOOL. Can't wait to use this!!!!

6:37 Goals 19:02 relations 23:42 Quick links & Mobile, Templates 25:50 Optik 27:00 Self-Referencing Filters Templates & Tasks in Projects

Amazing video, thanks a lot for all explanations. i was wondering if a task should be linked to an aera without a project. For instance, a health yearly checkup at a doctor could be in the aera of healthy life, but not reealy linked to a project... how do you deal this scenario ?

This was very informative. I only wish it were taught in bright mode. Sometimes it is hard to see when learning. I would have liked the toggle to black/night mode throughout to get the overall feel and maybe a final finish in the black/night mode, since that is your overall look.

Hi there, thank you for your video about the second brain. It's great! I plan to buy the template, but there are many websets offering. Like notion is also selling at 49$, while your webset is at 79$. Are there any differences?

10:52 I honestly always thought that I was the only one who's mind had strictly assigned colours to things, but i guess that's the beauty of colour coding. Since grade 9 (2015 or 2016) I have been using a yellow highlighter for definitions (the word) and blue for the explications. And they have to be a specific shade, and otherwise I'll opt to use pencil until I get the right shade highlighter again😂💔

While I always appreciate these videos, what got me hooked to you and your content was your original channel. Are you planning on making more content there anytime soon?

Thanks for helping me set up my Notion! Was wondering about resources that might be useful to multiple areas; how could I set that up because for example I want my resource of self-help information to be in both my "wellness" area and my "work" area since I work in mental health. Should I just set the relation limit to no limit in the database? You suggested not to in the video as it may get too confusing, is there a better way?