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The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

fortelabs.co

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Re: The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

#51

Post by codemac »

thenerdhead wrote: post #49
codemac wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you see this different from "systems thinking"? My current thinking about how this works is: - Identify that there is a system - Learn, document or describe the system - Align your behaviors as an individual to use or change the system The hardest part for me is the last, actually getting my behaviors to change to take advantage of an identified system.

This is the trap of productivity. You find a system and fail to figure out how to change your behavior to take advantage of it. Instead, think in systems and deconstruct what makes said system great and apply that slowly to your life. For example a great concept is having a “information capture system” of some sort. Now go figure out your own unique version of that.

Right, that seems to echo my last statement, that I struggle to do exactly that. "Now go figure out [the part I struggle with]"

Re: The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

#52

Post by thenerdhead »

codemac wrote: post #51
thenerdhead wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the trap of productivity. You find a system and fail to figure out how to change your behavior to take advantage of it. Instead, think in systems and deconstruct what makes said system great and apply that slowly to your life. For example a great concept is having a “information capture system” of some sort. Now go figure out your own unique version of that.

Right, that seems to echo my last statement, that I struggle to do exactly that. "Now go figure out [the part I struggle with]"

Well look at the post for example. The author is explaining their system of the specific apps and flows they use. Are they the right apps or flows? That’s up to you.

Personally I don’t think of Tiago Forte as a productivity expert. He just happens to be a social media personality that does productivity stuff. Like other “productivity gurus” on social media, if you pay close enough attention they switch their systems regularly. Maybe it’s to have fresh content, who knows. I think it is because they fell in the trap.

It’s all FOMO at a certain point. Like the pioneers I mentioned earlier, their advice is to not be afraid to do your own thing even if the masses are going in the other direction.

Re: The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

#53

Post by CGamesPlay »

notuger wrote: post #38
CGamesPlay wrote: post #24

So, PARA or no, the thing that has worked really well for me (14 months so far) is Thiago’s idea for weekly/monthly/annual reviews. This has really been the important gem for me, and while PARA helps define a framework for that, it would work with any organization method. Basically, weekly reviews are tactical, where you can mostly mechanically prioritize the upcoming week and clear out your inboxes. Monthly are more…

I got curious, is this the one? https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-one-touch-guide-to-doing-a-wee...

Yep. I actually purchased a subset of his blog in Praxis Volume 2, which has three chapters dedicated to the topic. And, frankly, I didn’t really care for the rest of the book, but it was worth it for those three chapters.

https://www.amazon.com/Extend-Your-Mind-Praxis-2-ebook/dp/B0...

Re: The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

#54

Post by pdfernhout »

kkfx wrote: post #43
devnull255 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can read about many of these historical methods of organization in Judith Flanders' A Place for Everything: The Curious history of Alphabetical Order - https://www.amazon.com/Place-Everything-Curious-History-Alph... , and The Library of Alexander: Center of Learning in the Ancient World by Roy MacLeod - https://www.amazon.com/Library-Alexandria-Learning-Ancient-R...

Thanks :-) I'll add Cataloging the World, by Alex Wright and Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548-1929 by Markus Krajewski plus few relatively recent articles: - Note Taking as an Art of Transmission http://doi.org/10.1086/427303 - From Note-Taking to Data Banks https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2010.492615 - Facing Interfaces: Paul Otlet's Visualizations of Data Integration https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/ima…

Thanks for these insights and listing these alternatives in one place and showing their commonalities (like tagging, hierarchies, and parsing/subdividing). One book I have found interesting along those lines is "The Discipline of Organizing". https://berkeley.pressbooks.pub/tdo4p/

Tangentially, William Kent's "Data and Reality" (the first two editions especially) also explores the larger meta-issues of moving from human-ish nuanced thinking to more limited formal representations (i.e. "The map is not the territory"). http://www.bkent.net/Doc/darxrp.htm

Coincidentally this other HN article showed up the same day: "25+ years of personal knowledge management" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30903940

I have my own FOSS explorations to make software related to these sorts of themes called Pointrel/Twirlip -- but still a work in progress after over forty years. Indirectly Pointrel did in a sense help inspire Wordnet though. :-) And Wordnet was core to the rise of Google (via Adsense) which claims to want to organize the world's information (even if they may have other goals as well).

Re: The PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information

#55

Post by sharmi »

pdfernhout wrote: post #54
kkfx wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks :-) I'll add Cataloging the World, by Alex Wright and Paper Machines: About Cards & Catalogs, 1548-1929 by Markus Krajewski plus few relatively recent articles: - Note Taking as an Art of Transmission http://doi.org/10.1086/427303 - From Note-Taking to Data Banks https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2010.492615 - Facing Interfaces: Paul Otlet's Visualizations of Data Integration https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/ima…

Thanks for these insights and listing these alternatives in one place and showing their commonalities (like tagging, hierarchies, and parsing/subdividing). One book I have found interesting along those lines is "The Discipline of Organizing". https://berkeley.pressbooks.pub/tdo4p/ Tangentially, William Kent's "Data and Reality" (the first two editions especially) also explores the larger meta-issues of moving from hu…

Thank you for wordnet! Wordnet is also the starting point of so many dictionary/language exploration sites, including mine, niftyword.com
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