The PARA Method: Simplify, Organize, and Master Your Digital Life

by Tiago Forte

What you do have, both at work and in life, are outcomes you are trying to achieve.

Instead of organizing information according to broad subjects like in school, I advise you to organize it according to the projects and goals you are committed to right now.

This experience led me to form a new rule: never create an empty folder (or tag, or directory, or other container) before you have something to put in it.

There is tremendous power in changing your organizational system to fit your evolving needs and goals, instead of trying to force your needs and goals to fit your system.

The key here is to realize that there is a big difference between things you are directly responsible for and things you are merely interested in.

When you take the steps needed to clarify what you’re most committed to, you can start to make calm, considered decisions about what stays and what needs to go. And every time you say no to something that is less important, all the time and energy that it was taking up gets freed up for the things that are more important.

Think of the folders of PARA as a series of protected spaces for fledgling ideas to play in before they grow up.