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Have you ever saved something to reference later but forgotten where you stored it? Or felt overwhelmed by everything you need to organize? Perhaps you’ve thought, “I should create a better system for storing and finding my files, tasks, and projects.”
You’re not alone. Information overload has been a workplace (and personal!) problem for more than a decade. The worst part? It’s only growing.
Tiago Forte saw it coming. So, he developed the PARA method – a digital organization system that helps you organize your tasks, ideas, and resources in a simple way. The best part? It’s easy to implement and flexible to mould according to your needs.
In this article, I’ll explain the PARA method's details, origin, and benefits, and show you how to implement it in Todoist.
What is the PARA method?
Put simply, the PARA method is a system to organize your digital life with its abundance of apps, platforms, and websites (although you can use the principles with your physical files, too). Here’s what the acronym stands for:
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Projects: These are the current tasks you’re working on. Projects are for the short-term and have a clear deadline or foreseeable completion date. For example, your sales presentation tomorrow is a project you need to work on.
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Areas: Zoom out a little bit, and you’ll see the large pieces of your life that keep things in motion. These are long-term responsibilities that require continual maintenance with no end in sight. Your health, family, travel, and productivity would be the “areas” in the PARA method.
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Resources: These are the things you read or come across and would want to save for the future. It can be work-related – like a sales tactic you’d like to experiment with – or personal – like your hobbies.
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Archives: This one’s self-explanatory. Archives are anything from the above three categories you don’t need anymore – but might need in the future. For example, if you were working on a house renovation project in a place you no longer live in, that project can move into the archive folder.
The goal is to organize your entire life into four folders to reduce your overwhelm and find what you need when you search for it without scrambling.
Many people often get hung up on the difference between a project and an area and struggle to categorize their information or ideas.
The first solution to this is to follow your gut. Don’t overthink it – trust your intuition. The aim isn’t to categorize everything perfectly, but to organize everything you need in an actionable, easy-to-maintain-way.
That said, I know this answer isn’t always easy to digest. So, here’s a flowchart to guide you in making the right choice:
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Tiago Forte created the PARA method as a part of his larger project, Building A Second Brain. There’s a whole book dedicated to the PARA method if you get inclined to dive even deeper into this system.
Should you go PARA (and never go back)? 3 Benefits of the PARA Method
I hear the groans. “Ugh. Do I need yet another system to organize my life better?”
If your existing method is working efficiently – helping you store and categorize everything in that big brain – then great! But if you often find yourself anxious, scrambling to get things done, hunting for that one file you were sure you saved, it’s worth considering adding the PARA method to your life. Here are the top three benefits you’ll see almost immediately:
1: You’ll experience less mental load and decision fatigue
You consume a lot of information in a day. And your brain pops nearly a gazillion ideas, too. Without an organization system like the PARA method in place, you’ll lose all those gems.
With the PARA method, you’ll take the load off your shoulders. You won’t stay up past your bedtime tallying everything you have to “remember” because you didn’t store and categorize it anywhere.
And you wouldn’t have to decide, “Where do I put this so I can find it when I need it?” about any note, file, or piece of information because you’ve already set up a system with four possible options.
2: You’ll find what you need, when you need it
How many times have you thought, “I’ll just remember it!” and forgotten something important? Or needed to refer to something and thought, “I know I saved that somewhere...” and never found the resource again? Been there, done that (too many times).
The PARA method ensures you keep your brain organized so you can find exactly what you need whenever you need it. You won’t have to rummage around a messy (digital) drawer to find what you’re looking for. All you have to do is search for it within one of the four folders.
3: Your productivity and focus will improve
The PARA method is a way to organize your life – you’ll know the most important priorities of your life (areas), the things you need to actively work on & when (projects), and have a catch-all folder for anything else you need (resources). Imagine the level of clarity you’ll gain once you’ve set up your life using the PARA system over a long period of time.
And having this clarity and focus will allow your productivity to soar and your creativity to shine. Instead of spending your time deciding, finding, or organizing, you’ll spend your time getting things done.