# Step Three - Using PARA with Obsidian
***
**Prev Card**: [[Step Two - Using the PARA Convention]]
**Next Card**: [[Step Four - Clean as You Go Obsidian]]
***
## Overview
Now that I have a structure, I will share one example each of how I use the system, starting with projects, then areas, then resources, and finally archives.
## Managing Projects
I should say right away that I don't use Obsidian for task management, although you can. Instead I use Remember The Milk. When I manage a project with PARA, I do the following:
1. Create a new folder, inside the `1 Projects` folder to hold all of my documents.
2. Create a ProjectPlan inside that folder.
It is too much to go into project planning here, however this is where **templates** become useful. I created a template I use for every new project. The Project Plan template is saved inside the `templates` folder. My `ProjectPlan` template looks like this:
```
---
Aliases: [{{title}}]
Author: Scott Novis
Created: {{date}}
Tags: [ProjectPlan]
Comments:
---
# {{title}}
***
## Overview
_Quick overview, purpose, standards._
## Goal
_link to goal_
## Done Looks Like
_how do I know I'm done?_
## Files
-- Links to associated files
## Mindset
- [[{{date}}]] Next steps
## Connections
- [[{{date}}]] - Daily Note for day this file was created.
```
When you type `Ctrl-T` on Windows (or `Cmd-T` on Mac), you can select a template to insert into your document. I insert this, and then start filling in the details.
The next step to create a project plan, I use the following 5 steps as a check list.
1. Capture all my curent thinking in a note. (This is a different note from the ProjectPlan.) It goes in the same folder as the project plan.
2. I review my `folders` and `tags` for an relevant notes - and move, copy, or link them to the Project Plan.
3. I then _search_ for related information across my second brain database, moving, copying, or linking them to a file in the project.
4. I create an outline of the collected notes
5. I am now ready to plan the project.
### Simple Project Planning
I employ a useful three step process for planning a project.
1. WHY
2. WHAT
3. HOW
### Why - Know your Intent (like a goal)
You can use the WHY to explain WHY you want to get this project done. This is where a project connects to your goals and standards.
- Why replace the broken bathroom door? Because we have a standard to keep our house clean and comfortable.
- Why implement Profit Keeper with our Franchise Owners? So we can make owner success a key performance indicator.
- Why Evaluate a new Product Offering? Because we want to improve our revenue and profit.
### WHAT - Begin with the end in mind
- What will it look like when you are done? Make it clear and write it like it's already done.
Example:
- What will it look like when the bathroom door is finished? There is a new door hung, the old door is disposed, and all the tools are put away, and all the construction dust and mess is cleaned up.
- What will profit keeper look like? Every franchise owner can see their profit and compare their business against other franchises to find best practices.
- What will Evaluating the New Product Look like? We will know if there is a market for this service and how much we can expect to earn from this offering.
### How - What steps will you take to get it done
How is when a plan actually takes shape because you will begin to reduce it to steps you can take. Action steps start with a strong verb. It is worth while to list at least three steps you will take to make a **What** happen.
New Door is Hung, and Bathroom is clean, with tools put away.
- Measure the existing door
- Go to Home Depot and buy a replacement door
- Measure and cut out slots for hinges
- Hang the new door
- Dispose of old door
- Clean up and put tools away
Franchise owners can compare their businesses in Profit Keeper
- Enroll franchise owners into Profit Keeper
- Help owners import their data
- Train franchise owners on the system
Obviously there can be a lot more than 3 steps for each what, but this gives you an idea, that if you have a goal, you can break it down into things that need to be finished, and steps to finish them. There a lots of project management systems. This is just one easy one I find useful.
### A Note on Markdown
You may have noticed something weird about Obsidian if you have started to use it at this point. The text files use a special kind of text formatting called **markdown**. There is plenty of help about how to use markdown, but let me give you my two cents. I like markdown because it is **portable**. Working with MS Word, or Google Docs, the formatting just never seems to come out right. Bullet lists, numbered lists, headers, fonts, everything always seems to get messed up when you copy and paste to another tool. Markdown preserves your original intent and there are more and more web publishing systems that support it. With markdown you can also keep typing without touching the mouse because everything is some kind of character or keyboard command. What's more, it all is easily converted into HTML, or Word, or what ever you want. So you write the _intent_, and let markdown do the rest. You can even get plugins for Word that let you copy (and paste) markdown into your documents. I have grown to LOVE it.
## Areas
I manage areas just like projects. I start a folder, under my `2 Areas` folder, and I make a file called `Area - something`. I have created a template for Areas, just like the ProjectPlan, and I fill in some blanks. Then, I move any notes related to this area, into this folder.
Here's an example.
### Area - Home
My wife and I each have a car, as do our kids. I also happen to be blessed and own a Harley Davidson Motorcycle. I created a note for each vehicle, with it's License Plate, VIN number, Make, Model, you know all that stuff you _should_ know about your cars but never do.
### Area - Business Coach
I created an area for my professional life as a business coach. I tend to put notes in here on conferences, or things I want to do to improve my coaching. Goals and Standards are also documented in this folder. I can also collect exercises and tools for coaching in this folder.
### Area - Health
I have an area for my health. I keep work out plans, nutrition notes, and anything else related to my health in this folder.
## Resources
Resources are where I keep notes on things I am interested in but I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it. I make a new folder, just named after the topic I am interested in, and create a Resource Note Index file. This is like a project plan. I also call tag it as `#HomeNote`. Resources are some of the 12 interesting problems you are working on. Most of my book summaries end up in one of these folders.
Examples.
### AI
Notes about artificial intelligence, summaries of books on AI, online articles, quotes and things I've learned. I even created a template for `OpenAI` Queries. It looks like:
```
---
Aliases: []
Author: Scott Novis
Created: 2022-12-23
Tags: [NoteCard,OpenAI]
Comments:
---
## The Prompt
## The Response
```
That way I can remember what I asked **OpenAI** and what it responded. Believe me, like googling, there is some art in how you form the question.
### Longevity
This area contains all my notes and research on living healthier longer. It contains notes from research into supplements, book summaries, and more.
### Python
This folder contains many notes and scripts I created in Python. And this is where Obsidian really shines. Obsidian supports what is known as **syntax highlighting**, meaning if you enter a bit of code, and tell Obsidian what language the code is in, it will highlight the code for you. This is AMAZING for code projects and scripts. [^1].
Here is an example. The following code snippet reads the `eggs.csv` file as a comma separated value (csv) file, and then prints the results to the console.
```python
>>> import csv
>>> with open('eggs.csv', newline='') as csvfile:
... spamreader = csv.reader(csvfile, delimiter=' ', quotechar='|')
... for row in spamreader:
... print(', '.join(row))
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Baked Beans
Spam, Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam
```
## Archives - where to put stuff when you are done.
When I complete a project, or a Resource is no longer useful, I move it to `4 Archives`. I never delete it, I just move it. This is extremely useful because
1. I never really lose anything
2. It remains searchable
3. If I need to make a new version of an old project, I don't have to start from scratch, I can make a new copy of the old folder and modify it.
Archives keep the clutter out of your system and your head. It allows you to focus on what matters most.
## Summary
In this page I wanted to share how I use my notes database to work with projects, areas, and resources. I gave specific examples. But you can look at the sample vault image and see some of what I'm talking about. You gather information by actionability.
![[Obsidian Sample Vault.png|1024]]
## What's Next
Now that you have an idea, on how to organize your information, let me go to the next level. How do you use Obsidian daily? Well, that leads to the use of **Daily Notes**.
[[Step Four - Clean as You Go Obsidian]]
## Footnotes
[^1]: It is also the number one reason I don't use evernote. Evernote, IME makes it very difficult to save useful and reusable code snippets.