Episode 3:
Building My Second Brain with NotebookLM

Hey friends,

Let me tell you about something I haven’t shared until now.

For the past few months, I’ve been quietly experimenting with a tool that’s helping me think clearer, create faster, and learn more deeply — without overwhelm.

It’s called NotebookLM.

And it’s not just another AI tool. It’s what I now call my Second Brain.

Not the “productivity guru” kind of Second Brain with 17 Notion databases and color-coded tags.

I mean something simpler. More powerful.

📌 A place that remembers what I learn.

📌 Understands it.

📌 And helps me use it — like a thought partner that never sleeps.

Who is this not for? If you're totally into making Notion your second brain with the dashboards and all that jazz — this is not for you.

If you’re a creator, solopreneur, small team, or just someone who wants to make smarter use of what you read, write, watch, or build — this could be the most helpful thing you try this year.

Let me show you exactly how I’m using it.

🧠 What Even Is NotebookLM?

NotebookLM is Google’s note taker built for the AI era — part research assistant, part memory machine.

(They recently launched a mobile app, so can use it on the go too).

You feed it your raw notes, PDFs, transcripts, articles or even pasted text.

You can directly paste YouTube video links, link Google Docs or Slides.

Then it becomes an AI that knows what you know AND more.

You can then:

• Ask questions
• Brainstorm ideas
• Summarize your stuff
• Create an actionable plan
• Cross-reference between sources
• Generate a podcast tailored to ONLY the content you shared (most people love this feature the most)

This isn’t just AI with memory.

It’s context-aware conversation, trained only on what you choose.

And it’s changed how I work.

📁 My Exact Setup

Here’s what mine looks like:

1. (Left panel) I add in knowledge sources:
   • PDFs
   • Meeting notes
   • Audio transcripts
   • Google Docs, or any other files from Google Drive
   • Even YouTube links or full articles
   • OR ‘discover’ your own sources (I don’t particularly use this because I want to provide it my own, but it’s still worth having)
2. (Middle panel) I chat with and ask questions about all my recently added content. I save any important responses from NotebookLM by clicking ‘Save to note’ on the bottom left of the response
3. (Right panel) I access my saved notes and generate podcasts from here. You can even generate a study guide, timeline, briefing doc and FAQ doc from your content!

Each note, source and conversation becomes part of my Notebook.

And that notebook becomes my second brain: searchable, answerable, and expandable.

👌🏾 Why I Use This (And Why You Might Want To)

I don’t need another note app.

I use this to think better, using the information I already have or something interesting I discover.

Here’s how NotebookLM helps:

✅ Use Case 1: Learn Fast, Made Easy

Ever read or watch something, think “this is gold,” and then.. never revisit it?

I do that all the time — until NotebookLM came into my life.

Now I upload that article, PDF, or YouTube video into NotebookLM, and ask:

Boom. It pulls what matters and cites where in the content it’s pulling from.

And I remember it because I engaged with it.

One of the coolest features of NotebookLM: you can turn all your notes into a well thought-out audio overview tailored to YOUR content (basically an AI generated podcast with 2 hosts). That’s almost magic if you ask me..

✅ Use Case 2: Turn Notes into Action

I uploaded a bunch of documents and meeting transcripts from speaking with people in the business (I started a new role as an AI Operations Lead).

Then I asked NotebookLM:

It gave me 3 potential problems that I didn’t see myself - plus quotes cited directly from the relevant meetings.

This isn’t search. This is synthesis on a whole new level.

✅ Use Case 3: Prepare for AI Agents (Without Realizing It)

Here’s the big idea I want you to take away:

• Every note you save in NotebookLM..
• Every question you ask it..
• Every document you upload..

..is training your future AI assistant.

Not in some far-off future. I mean right now.

What do I mean?

You’re building a second brain: a knowledge base that can access, learn from, and help you grow. It will see things you don’t see and remember things for you. Because it knows you and your docs/notes/content so well, it has the potential to power your own tailored AI agent.

Imagine:

• An AI that pulls talking points from your own research
• A writing assistant that knows your frameworks
• A content engine that uses your content, your own voice and reference material

That’s where we’re headed.

NotebookLM is the quiet first step that makes that future possible.

The more you add to it, ask it questions, save notes from the responses and then even convert those notes itself to a source, the bigger your second brain gets.

Then, imagine exporting all your conversations with NotebookLM to create a prompt, instructions and tools tailored to YOU.

That's an AI Agent.

🔧 Try This Today (It Takes Less Than 10 Minutes)

Here’s what I’d recommend:

1. Go to NotebookLM​
2. Upload 2–3 documents or videos you’ve already saved
3. Ask:

The answers will surprise you.

👀 Why This Matters

We’re entering a new phase.

One where information is abundant, but insight is rare.

Where the winners aren’t the ones who know the most..

..but the ones who can use what they already know, better.

NotebookLM helps me do that.

Quietly. Every day. In the background.

I’m not trying to become superhuman.

I’m just trying to work with what I’ve got — and let AI extend that a little.

That’s the Second Brain I’m building.

Let me know if you want help building yours.

Reply anytime — I read every word.

To remembering better, thinking deeper, and creating more,
​Nahid

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113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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