PARA Method is Tiago Forte's system for organizing digital information into four categories, Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives, arranged by how actionable each item is.
Forte Labs defines projects as short-term efforts in work or personal life taken on with a certain goal in mind, and areas as important parts of work and life that require ongoing attention. Resources cover topics a person is interested in and learning about. Archives hold anything from the other three categories that is no longer active but may be worth saving for future reference.
Forte Labs presents PARA as a simple, flexible system for organizing any type of digital information across any platform. Its governing principle is to organize by actionability: information is filed according to the projects and goals a person is committed to right now.
PARA serves as the Organize step of the 📝CODE Method, which Forte teaches in 📝Building a Second Brain (BASB); in a 2022 CNBC op-ed he describes that step as filing each saved note into one of the four categories. Forte Labs promotes the Building a Second Brain book as the actionable guide to implementing PARA. It is one approach to 📝Personal Knowledge Management and to keeping a 📝Second Brain.