[The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information - Forte Labs](https://fortelabs.co/blog/para/) Author: [[@TiagoForte]] Created: 16-10-2021 [[PARA Operations Manual]] - a follow up post **Projects:** A series of tasks linked to a goal, has a deadline **Areas:** A sphere of activity with a standard to be maintained over time **Resources:** A topic or theme of ongoing interest **Archives:** Inactive items from the 3 categories ^a3f045 There's a system that will show you where exactly to put a piece of information, and exactly where to find it when you need it. It can handle information from any source, able to work with any project, simple enough that it's not too time consuming, works well with task management and project management methods, and takes advantage of work already being done. [[@TiagoForte]] developed this system, the PARA system. It stands for the [[#^a3f045|the things showed here]]. # Projects Always fall into areas. Like, Write a blog post (Project), Writing (Area) or could fall under Freelancing (Area). Or, Plan Anniversary Surprise (Project), Spouse (Area). More than likely have completion dates. Examples: Develop a project plan, execute business development campaign, write a blog post, attend conference. Project lists like this below are useless: - staffing - research - vacations But change those to areas of responsibility: - AREA: staffing - PROJECTS: - Hire for position A - Hire for position B - AREA: Research - PROJECTS: - Make notes on PARA System - Take notes and turn into outline for blog post - AREA: Vacations - PROJECTS: - Send emails about vacation time - Set up vacation time spreadsheet Break something like "events" down into the individual events planned, and you can cross this off. You can also show progression over the year this way. # Area Maintained indefinitely. No completion dates. Examples: Health, finances, car, productivity, direct reports, product development So what I have set up here in my [[Digital Garden]] is essentially the Areas part; [[Fashion]] [[Coding]] [[Being a Person~]] [[note taking]] # Resources Examples: Habit formation, project management, cofee, gardening # Archives Examples: Completed projects, inactive projects, areas that you're not committed to maintaining anymore, resources you're not interested in anymore # Visual Representation ![[Pasted image 20211016161203.png]] ![[Pasted image 20211016161308.png]] ![[Pasted image 20211016165129.png]] # #revisitThis To be sorted >Now imagine if you broke down this “events” area into each individual event that you planned and executed. Not only would this show the clear progression and growth you’ve experienced, each event building on the one before, it would also conveniently provide you with a catalog of outcomes you’ve reached to include in your performance review at year’s end. And you’d have much more than a list — you’d have separate folders for each completed project, with tangible notes, assets, and learnings you’ve produced for each. One final note on projects vs. areas: they require completely different ways of thinking, approaches, tools, and methods. Projects require you to be laser-focused, to ruthlessly drive toward an outcome, to smash through or circumvent obstacles, to ignore distractions (i.e. people). Areas, on the other hand, require mindfulness, balance, flow, and human connection. This is the realm of habits, routines, rituals, and intentional communities. Areas require introspection and self-awareness, because determining whether or not you are meeting your standard is an intuitive exercise, not an analytical one. You can easily see how failing to make this distinction leads to common frustrations: if you have a project that you think is an area (for example, the book I’ve been “writing” for a couple years now, that feels like a never-ending part of my life), it will tend to continue indefinitely. If you have an area that you think is a project (for example, a health outcome like “losing X pounds”), you’ll revert right back after it’s been achieved, because you didn’t put in place any mechanism for maintaining the standard. <cite>[[@TiagoForte]]</cite> >What most people find is that they don’t completely match. This is problematic because a project without a corresponding goal is known as a “hobby.” If you’re not committed to or haven’t fully articulated the outcome you want, you must be doing it just for fun. >And if you have a goal without a corresponding project, that’s called a “dream.” You may desire it with all your heart and soul, but without an active project, you are not in fact currently making any progress. <cite>[[@TiagoForte]]</cite> [[define your projects or they'll define you]] [[PARA Operations Manual]]