The AI second brain starter kit

The AI second brain starter kit A free, practical setup for keeping your work with AI somewhere you can actually find it again. If you've ever made a good brief in a chat, lost it in your history, then explained the whole project again to another AI, this is for you. You don't need a perfect folder system. You need one place for the source material, the work you make from it, and the decisions worth carrying forward. The idea: save the files outside the chat. Give your AI the relevant files when you work. Keep the sources visible so you can check what it used. See the setup [Interactive block: Build your starter workspace] The 20-minute version 1. Choose one project, not your entire life Pick something you're already working on: a proposal, a content series, a product idea. Use a notes app, a folder on your computer, or a workspace where you can open the documents yourself. Start with only three places: Your project/ ├── Sources/ original notes, transcripts, links ├── Working docs/ briefs, drafts, outlines └── Decisions.md what you chose, why, and what happens next The names don't matter. The separation does: what happened, what you're making, and what you decided. 2. Put real material in it Save two or three things you would otherwise have to hunt for in a chat: customer-call notes, a voice memo transcript, research notes, an old draft. Keep the original material, even if it's messy. Date files when the sequence matters. 3. Ask AI to work from those files Attach the relevant files, paste their contents, or connect your workspace if your tool supports that. Don't assume your AI can see a folder just because it exists. Use “2. make something” in the interactive box above. For example, turn three customer-call notes into a product brief, with claims traceable to the notes. 4. Save the useful output back outside the chat Put the brief in Working docs/. Check it against the source notes. Then write a few lines in Decisions.md: 2026-10-02 — Chose to test [idea] with [audience]. Why: [specific observation, linked to the source]. Still unknown: [what needs validating]. Next: [one action]. Next time, give your AI the sources, working doc, and decisions. Use “3. pick it back up”. That's the actual test: can you resume without retelling the whole story? Start with the files you need for this task, not a giant upload of everything you own. And remove sensitive personal or client information before putting it into a tool you don't trust with that data. What this is (and isn't) This isn't a promise that every AI app shares memory or can automatically access your files. It's a habit of keeping the important work in a place you control, so you can bring the right context to the tool or teammate you're using today. A good second brain should make it easier to verify and continue your work, not just collect more stuff. If you came here from the reel: try it with one project today. Don't build the perfect system first. Make one useful document, save it, and see if you can pick it up again next week. Companion to .