In this book I’ve outlined the exact process I follow to keep my own PARA system running, but I want to emphasize that all the steps I’ve described are optional. None of them are absolutely essential to get value from organizing your digital world.
Some weeks, I’m too busy to review my inboxes and add titles, so I don’t. I know that I can always find what I need using search, which doesn’t require any manual effort.
Some weeks I’m too busy to individually move each item from the inbox into the right folders, so I just “select all” and dump them anywhere. Again, search is the magic solution to finding things even if they haven’t been perfectly classified and labeled.
Finally, there are times when things are so crazy, I don’t update my Project List for many weeks at a time. It doesn’t matter—I promise there won’t be a catastrophe just because there are a few inactive projects lingering on your list.
PARA is highly resilient, and it will preserve everything just as you left it until the day arrives when you have time to reset, whether that’s in seven days or seven months. That’s the whole point of using a simple system—it easily withstands the passage of time until you’re ready to return to it.