Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential

by Tiago Forte

Over time, as you complete your projects, master new skills, and progress toward your goals, you’ll discover that some notes and resources are no longer actionable. I’ll show you how to move them to your “archives” to keep them out of sight but within easy reach.

Instead of inventing a completely different organizational scheme for every place you store information, which creates a tremendous amount of friction navigating the inconsistencies between them, PARA can be used everywhere, across any software program, platform, or notetaking tool.

You’ll always need to use multiple platforms to move your projects forward. No single platform can do everything.

The intention here is not to use a single software program, but to use a single organizing system, one that provides consistency even as you switch between apps many times per day.

A project will be the same project whether it’s found in your notes app, your computer file system, or your cloud storage drive, allowing you to move seamlessly betw...

The promise of PARA is that it changes “getting organized” from a herculean, never-ending endeavor into a straightforward task to get over with so you can move on to more important work.

How PARA Works: Priming Your Mind (and Notes) for Action

With the PARA system, every piece of information you want to save can be placed into one of just four categories: Projects: Short-term efforts in your work or life that you’re working on now. Areas: Long-term responsibilities you want to manage over time. Resources: Topics or interests that may be ...

Projects: What I’m Working on Right Now

Projects include the short-term outcomes you’re actively working toward right now. Projects have a couple of features that make them an ideal way to organize modern work. First, they have a beginning and an end; they take place during a specific period of time and then they finish. Second, they have a specific, clear outcome that needs to happen in order for them to be checked off as complete, such as “finalize,” “green-light,” “launch,” or “publish.”

These are clearly identifiable, discrete chunks of work.

This project-centric approach is increasingly finding its way into all knowledge work, a trend named the “Hollywood model” after the way films are made.

As an article in the New York Times3 explains, “A project is identified; a team is assembled; it works together for precisely as long as is needed to complete the task; then the team disbands… The Hollywood model is no...

Examples of projects could include: Projects at work: Complete web-page design; Create slide deck for conference; Develop project schedule; Plan recruitment drive. Personal projects: Finish Spanish language course; Plan vacation; Buy new living room furniture; Find local volunteer opportunity. Side projects: Publish blog post; Launch crowdfunding campaign; Research best podcast microphone; Complete online course.

Knowing which projects you’re currently committed to is crucial to being able to prioritize your week, plan your progress, and say no to things that aren’t important.

Areas: What I’m Committed to Over Time

Each of these is an example of an area of responsibility, and together they make up the second main category of PARA.

All these areas, both personal and professional, require certain information to be handled effectively, but they’re not the same as projects.

Examples of areas from your personal life could include: Activities or places you are responsible for: Home/apartment; Cooking; Travel; Car. People you are responsible for or accountable to: Friends; Kids; Spouse; Pets. Standards of performance you are responsible for: Health; Personal growth; Friendships; Finances.

In your job or business: Departments or functions you are responsible for: Account management; Marketing; Operations; Product development.

People or teams you are responsible for or accountable to: Direct reports; Manager; Board of directors; Suppliers. Standards of performance you are responsible for: Professional development; Sales and marketi...

While there is no goal to reach, there is a standard that you want to uphold in each of these areas.

Resources: Things I Want to Reference in the Future

This is basically a catchall for anything that doesn’t belong to a project or an area and could include any topic you’re interested in gathering information about.

For example: What topics are you interested in? Architecture; Interior design; English literature; Beer brewing. What subjects are you researching? Habit formation; Notetaking; Project management; Nutrition. What useful information do you want to be able to reference? Vacation itineraries; Life goals; Stock photos; Product testimonials.

Which hobbies or passions do you have? Coffee; Classic movies; Hip-hop ...

Any note or file that isn’t relevant or actionable for a current project or area can be placed into resources for future reference.

Archives: Things I’ve Completed or Put on Hold

Finally, we have our archives. This includes any item from the previous three categories...

The archives are an important part of PARA because they allow you to place a folder in “cold storage” so that it doesn’t clutter your workspace, while safekeeping it forever just in case you need it.

Unlike with your house or garage, there is no penalty for keeping digital stuff forever, as long as it doesn’t distract from your day-to-day focus.

What PARA Looks Like: A Behind-the-Scenes Snapshot

Here’s an example of what the folders in my notes app look like with PARA:

Inside each of these top-level folders, I have individual folders for the specific projects, areas, resources, and archives that make up my life.

Projects are most actionable because you’re working on them right now and with a concrete deadline in mind. Areas have a longer time horizon and are less immediately actionable. Resources may become actionable depending on the situation. Archives remain inactive unless they are needed.

In which project will this be most useful? If none: In which area will this be most useful? If none: Which resource does this belong to? If none: Place in archives.

In other words, you are always trying to place a note or file not only where it will be useful, but where it will be useful the soonest.

Knowledge is best applied through execution, which means whatever doesn’t help you make progress on your projects is probably detracting from them.4

Organizing Information Like a Kitchen—What Am I Making?

PARA isn’t a filing system; it’s a production system. It’s no use trying to find the “perfect place” where a note or file belongs. There isn’t one. The whole system is constantly shifting and changing in sync with your constantly changing life.

We are organizing for actionability, and “what’s actionable” is always changing.

Because our priorities can change at a moment’s notice, we have to minimize the time we spend filing, labeling, tagging, and maintaining our digital notes.

Obsessed !! - I Love this

Any piece of information (whether a text document, an image, a note, or an entire folder) can and should flow between categories.

You might save a note on coaching techniques to a project folder called “Coaching class,” for a class you’re taking. Later, when you become a manager at work and need to coach your direct reports, you might m...

Completed Projects Are the Oxygen of Your Second Brain

The first is that people need clear workspaces to be able to create. We cannot do our best thinking and our best work when all the “stuff” from the past is crowding and cluttering our space.

L a life too be sore to add 15 min power cleans To the points chart

I’ve learned that completed creative projects are the blood flow of your Second Brain.