5 ways I’ve turned NotebookLM into my digital brain

NotebookLM has become a real game-changer in the way I research and prepare. As a freelance writer, I don’t always have the luxury of sitting with a topic for days before a deadline. I can write about my own experience with something, but often I need reliable background research quickly — enough to round out the story without disappearing down endless rabbit holes.

NotebookLM swoops in perfecting to give me context, other people’s perspectives, and a general understanding of the topics I’m covering — all in a fraction of the time it would take me to sift through site after site on my own. The Audio Overviews have been especially useful. I can let the AI-generated podcast run while I’m making breakfast, driving, or just stepping away from my desk. The ability to keep absorbing material without being tied to my laptop has saved me countless hours.

Over time, I’ve even started weaving it into my personal life. I’ve used NotebookLM to streamline time management, organize household research projects, and make sense of long articles or videos without having to dedicate a full evening to them. Here are some of my favorite ways to use the tool.

1

Setting up a budget for my finances

I need all the help I can get

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the most organized when it comes to budgeting or planning for my financial future. Saving consistently has never been my strong suit, and I’ve always struggled with finding a budgeting system that actually sticks. But NotebookLM came in handy with this task; I uploaded a few free budgeting guides and tools I’d collected over time and had it summarize them for me.

I later on made a budget and uploaded it as a PDF and had it analyzed to see if I was missing anything, plus how to best use it going forward. It didn’t quite give me opinions on how mine looked, but it did note that I calculated something incorrectly, helping me adjust the budget. What was important was the prompts that I gave it, as I asked it to analyze my budget based on the amount of time I needed and how much I make.

2

Planning an itinerary for a trip

It was a huge help to highlight some of the bigger attractions

My wife and I recently took a trip to Scotland for a friend’s wedding. We knew we’d be flying into Edinburgh, heading to Glasgow, and then continuing on to the coast for the wedding. With a few days to fill before the ceremony, we needed to figure out the best way to spend our time. I uploaded a mix of travel blogs and official golf course websites to get a sense of what was worth seeing.

A simple prompt — asking it to plan a few days of travel from Edinburgh to Stranraer — pulled up tons of great recommendations. Planning the trip was easy and fun, and I didn’t need to cross-check everything in Google Maps. NotebookLM followed the route I needed based on the prompt alone. I’m definitely interested in using it to plan more trips in the future.

3

Learning a new skill with Mind Map

Why not let NotebookLM give me a breakdown on how to do something?

When it comes to car maintenance, I don’t know the first thing about it. Cars have never really interested me as a hobby, and I’m more than happy to let a mechanic handle anything that goes wrong. But after my last oil change only took about 20 minutes, I figured — why not try it myself and save a little money? I pulled together a few resources from the internet, including a YouTube tutorial and some websites, and had NotebookLM generate a new Notebook on how to change my oil.

I used NotebookLM’s Mind Map feature to break down the steps — what tools I’d need, how to raise my car (if possible), and what prep work was required before actually getting started. Seeing everything mapped out in detail gave me a much clearer understanding of the process. What I really liked was being able to upload my car’s manual alongside the online info, so I could see exactly how to change the oil for my specific vehicle. Aside from spilling a little oil from carelessness, my first attempt went just fine.

4

Watching a video to understand history better

I wanted to know more, and NotebookLM made it easy

I’m inherently fascinated by baseball. I love the game and consider myself a junkie when it comes to learning about stats and its history. Lately, I’ve been especially interested in the history of the Negro Leagues, so I asked NotebookLM to dive deeper into it. I uploaded content from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, MLB.com’s Negro Leagues section, and History.com’s coverage to get started. Then I tried something new: I asked it to make me a video.

The new Video Overview feature took a little time to generate, but it produced a six-minute AI-created video on the history of the Negro Leagues. I was pleasantly surprised — it covered the broad strokes of how the league began, along with deeper analysis of its success. I also appreciated being able to download and share the video, which made it easier to rewatch or pass along to others.

5

Watching a movie for me in a much shorter time

Sometimes I just can’t do it

I was recently having an argument with someone about the best train scenes in movies. I listed Source Code as my personal favorite since it’s mostly set on a train. They brought up Bullet Train, which I hadn’t seen. I wanted to better understand what they were referencing — especially the ending, which was a big point in our debate.

I found some clips from Bullet Train on YouTube and loaded them into NotebookLM. Within seconds, I had a database to pull from. It summarized the scenes, including the ending, and gave me a clearer picture of the movie. Is this the ideal way to experience a film? No — I didn’t get the full visual impact. But did it help me understand the plot faster than reading a Wikipedia summary? Definitely — and with more detail, since NotebookLM analyzed the visuals. It’s not how I plan to watch movies going forward, but in the heat of an argument, it definitely came in handy.