Setup guide
Second Brain Setup: PARA Method
Apply Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives through a small, deliberate review of your notes.
By tentus team · Updated 2026-10-26 · 1 min read
Method reference: Tiago Forte on PARA. The workflow below is a practical adaptation, not a claim of automatic product behavior.
Create four working categories
Use Tiago Forte’s PARA categories as a way to decide where information is useful. A project has an outcome; an area is ongoing responsibility; resources support interests; archives hold inactive material.
Classify one small batch
Review a few saved items. Ask Lumi for a suggested category and reasoning if useful, then make the decision yourself. This is an editorial workflow, not a promised one-click PARA classifier.
Archive by decision
Review whether a project is complete or paused and move its material deliberately. Thirty days without activity does not automatically mean a project should be archived; no automatic 30-day archiving rule is promised.
Keep the review practical
Check active projects for missing information and link relevant resources. Reopen archived material when it becomes useful. A recurring review you schedule replaces the assumption of an automatic PARA briefing.
Set it up with tentus
Use these steps with the tools available to you. tentus is preparing for pre-beta testing; join the waitlist to hear about access.
Other setup methods
Second Brain Setup: Zettelkasten
A practical linked-note exercise: write one idea, explain its connections and revisit the source.
Second Brain Setup: GTD Workflow
Use capture, clarification, organization and review to turn notes into decisions about what to do next.
Second Brain Setup: Building a Second Brain (BASB)
Practice Capture, Organize, Distill and Express using a small collection and a concrete output.