HABIT #1:
Organize According to Outcomes

One of the biggest pitfalls in organizing is to treat it as an end in itself.

There’s something so satisfying about neatly arranging your workspace or designing beautiful notes that look like they belong on Instagram.

There’s nothing wrong with those things if you enjoy them, but I don’t think that’s why you picked up this book. I’m willing to bet there’s something you’re committed to achieving—a result or outcome that would be meaningful for you.

This is exactly what PARA is designed for:

• •  Every decision is made through the lens of “What will help me move this forward?”
• •  All the up-front work of meticulous tagging and labeling and titling is eliminated.
• •  There’s no maintenance required, except getting your projects done.
• •  The most actionable category of “Projects” is closely guarded against distractions from other kinds of information that seem interesting but aren’t useful.

Each of these guardrails is designed to help you eliminate everything that doesn’t advance the goal you’re striving toward.

Whether you are trying to reach the finish line of a challenging project or striving to elevate your standards in an area of life, always begin with the end in mind and work backward to decide only which information you’ll need to get there, and push everything else aside.