Why Are So Many Note-Takers Dropping PARA? Here’s the (Ugly) Answer

What if there was a better way to organize your notes?

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I’ve been looking for the perfect note-taking system for over a decade.

The reason? I take notes like others binge-watch Netflix. They’re also the backbone of everything I do as a content creator. My notes are my most important asset: my ideas.

The problem is that conventional note-taking systems don’t encourage revisiting notes and make retrieval too hard.

Does PARA fix this issue? Here’s what I (and my students) found out.

What the heck is PARA?

If you’ve never heard of PARA, read this section because it will give you the context you need to understand the article. Otherwise feel free to skip to the next one.

PARA is an acronym that stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive.

In essence, PARA is like your digital closet. Every file, task, or note should snugly fit into one of these four categories. And that’s what makes it so darn appealing.

Here’s how it looks in detail:

PROJECTS are your task masters, anything with a deadline. Picture this: you’re hiring an assistant or planning to sweat…