Creator Database [Tiago Forte] How to Organize Your Digital Life in Seconds (PARA Method) Part 1
Tiago Forte 00:00:00 - 00:00:57
Let me introduce you to Para, the organizing system that I use to organize information across my entire digital life. This is the single most popular framework I've ever developed, and in this video, I'm going to show you how it works. Most people over complicate their note taking and knowledge management because they don't have a framework that helps them make decisions about where things should go. They have to remember a complex set of rules or redo decisions over and over again. Instead, I want you to create a workflow that you can follow every single time you create a new note or save a new document. That workflow follows the four letters of Param, your projects, areas, resources, and archives. Let's talk more about each one. Projects are any outcome you're actively committed to that requires multiple work sessions to complete.
Tiago Forte 00:00:57 - 00:01:24
Projects have two important features. First, they have an outcome, a goal that you're trying to reach. And second, projects end. They have a deadline or a time frame you want to complete them by. The key thing to notice about projects is that they're important. They're actionable right now. They're action oriented and short term in focus. Some examples writing a new blog post reorganizing a part of your house potty training a dog planning a vacation trip.
Tiago Forte 00:01:24 - 00:02:02
Each of these endeavors will require different kinds of information, notes and resources, research plans, schedules, and you'll need a way to track the thoughts and ideas that you have over time. I'll show you my current projects and how I organize them shortly. Second areas an area is a role or a responsibility that you have that has a standard you want to maintain over time. Areas are never really complete. There's no goal that you reach and check off that thing forever. The key thing to notice about areas. They're important and relevant on an ongoing basis, including right now. But unlike projects, they're also important later, too.
Tiago Forte 00:02:02 - 00:02:56
They aren't quite as actionable as projects, but still require attention. For example, in your finances, you might need to keep track of taxes for your health. It could be your weight or cholesterol for your relationship with your significant other, gift ideas, or favorite places that you might want to visit together. So you see, even though you can't complete an area, it's still important to be able to track your ideas and your information and your dreams and your wishes over time for each area. Third, we have resources. Resources is really any topic of ongoing interest or any kind of just useful reference, and they're basically like a catch all for everything else that isn't something you need to keep track of right now for, say, a project or an area, but it might be interesting in the future. They are low on actionability. They're waiting to be activated later for future projects or future areas that they could contribute to.
Tiago Forte 00:02:56 - 00:03:31
A few examples interesting subjects you'd like to learn more about. Random interests and hobbies, places you'd like to visit one day, content or quotes or information related to architecture or books you've read. It can really be anything. Sometimes these resources are for fun, or just in case. Other times they're very practical, like recipes or case studies for your business, or photos for a future project, even if it's not something you're committed to right now. Fourth, we have the archives. Your archives are just inactive items from any of the three previous categories. Think of them like cold storage.
Tiago Forte 00:03:31 - 00:04:15
They're almost completely unactionable, just waiting there in case you need to find or reference them sometime in the future. The key for archives is that whenever a project becomes inactive, you don't want to delete that material. There's no reason to delete anything these days, just archive it. That way it can still be searched for later, can be accessible whenever you have a notes app available, such as on your computer, your tablet, or your smartphone. But in the meantime, it won't clutter up your workspace and distract your focus. I put resources and projects into the archives pretty often, but projects are the most commonly archived because they have a built in completion data. It's rare that I'd archive an entire area, but it does happen. For example, if I have a big life change or decide to change my priorities.
Tiago Forte 00:04:15 - 00:04:57
This is how I organize my notes and all my files. And the key is that I can have all of these categories in every single part of my life. I have the exact same system in Google Drive on my personal computer, among other places. The purpose of para is really to answer the question, how do I organize my notes and files once and for all? And therefore to minimize the amount of time I'm spending spending making that decision every day, focusing on taking action instead of constantly reorganizing things. Let me give you a little tour of what my own para system looks like day to day. What you see on the screen is my digital note taking app, which is Evernote. Been using it for years. I just clicked here on the left where it says notebooks.