P.A.R.A. method

Developed by Tiago Forte, PARA is a system of organization or a methodology for tending one's second brain, zettelkasten, or digital garden.

Projects | Areas | Resources | Archives

  • projects - now [Intend]
    • a series of tasks linked to a goal, with a deadline
  • areas - now [Attend]
    • a sphere of activity with a standard to be maintained over time
  • resources - now [Remember]
    • a topic or theme of ongoing interest
  • archives - now [Forget]
    • inactive items from the other three categories.

Speculation

Whether this is an example of an associative ontology that emerged to Tiago, or a hierarchical taxonomy that will restrict me unwarrantedly remains to be seen.

As I have attempted to sort my notes and writings into the PARA structure, I have found the distinction between Areas and Resources unclear, and that often notes belong in more than one bucket, e.g., a note about expanding consciousness that surely falls into Areas but also applies to a project. This may be true in the [FAIR Method] as well. I will give priority to Projects, and to Intention, but also will not fret about where a note is stored, because the [wiki-links] enable sufficient freedom from file hierarchy.

Evaluation

  • quite business, work, and productivity oriented
  • I'm giving it the old college try at least through today [Kerrbear Journal 2021-03-19]
  • so far I'm displeased with the system, but want to stabilize the app before I throw it back into upheaval

Evolution

Projects become Intend

  • Projects need a goal but not a deadline, the goal has a desired span
    • we'll just call them by the core action: Intend
    • intentions have a context and an impact

Areas and Resources become Attend and Remember

  • Areas are close to okay but needn't be maintained, just enjoyed

    • we'll call them by the core action: Attend
    • attention covers a field
    • the context of an intention is also a field

  • Resources are effectively identical to Areas, only separate in Tiago's system according to the obedient boundary between have-to and want-to.

    • could forgo a separate categories for fields we enjoy and fields we don't, since we won't be attending any fields we don't enjoy

Archives become Forget

  • Projects, Areas, and Resources that aren't serving me to pursue can be cordoned off
  • this might be rare. I don't know if this is useful yet.