Foundation
PARA Organization
Organize your workspace using Tiago Forte's PARA method
I use Tiago Forte's PARA method to organize the workspace. The core idea: organize by actionability, not by topic.
- Projects -- Active work with a defined goal and end date
- Areas -- Ongoing responsibilities with standards to maintain (no finish line)
- Resources -- Topics of interest, reference material
- Archive -- Inactive items from the other three
Setup Prompt
Set up PARA organization in the workspace. Create a PARA.md file
documenting the system and create these directories:
- projects/ -- Active projects with clear goals and end dates
- areas/ -- Ongoing responsibilities (health, finances, career)
- resources/ -- Reference material and topics of interest
- archive/ -- Inactive items from the other three
Include a decision flowchart:
1. Is it an active project with a clear goal? -> projects/
2. Is it an ongoing responsibility? -> areas/
3. Is it just interesting/reference? -> resources/
4. No longer active? -> archive/
Rules:
- Projects have goals. Areas have standards. Don't confuse them.
- Keep it flat -- one level of subfolders under each category.
- Move, don't delete. Archive is the safety net.
- Everything stays inside the workspace directory.
Maintenance cadence:
- Weekly: are active projects still active?
- Monthly: any new/ended areas?
- Quarterly: prune resources and archiveExamples
| Item | Category | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Building a docs site | projects/docs-site/ | Has a goal and end date |
| Health tracking | areas/health/ | Ongoing, no finish line |
| AI research papers | resources/ai/ | Reference material |
| Old portfolio site | archive/projects/portfolio/ | Done, might reference later |