AGENTS/skill/task-management/references/para-methodology.md

PARA Methodology Reference

PARA is a universal system for organizing digital information, created by Tiago Forte.

The Four Categories

Projects

Definition: A series of tasks linked to a goal, with a deadline.

Characteristics:

• Has a clear outcome/deliverable
• Has a deadline (explicit or implicit)
• Requires multiple tasks to complete
• Can be completed (finite)

Examples:

• Launch NixOS Flakes course
• Hire senior backend developer
• Complete Q1 board presentation
• Publish self-hosting playbook video

Questions to identify:

• What am I committed to finishing?
• What has a deadline?
• What would I celebrate completing?

Areas

Definition: A sphere of activity with a standard to be maintained over time.

Characteristics:

• Ongoing responsibility (infinite)
• Has standards, not deadlines
• Requires regular attention
• Never "complete" - only maintained

Sascha's Areas:

1. CTO Leadership
2. m3ta.dev
3. YouTube @m3tam3re
4. Technical Exploration
5. Personal Development
6. Health & Wellness
7. Family

Questions to identify:

• What roles do I maintain?
• What standards must I uphold?
• What would suffer if I ignored it?

Resources

Definition: A topic or theme of ongoing interest.

Characteristics:

• Reference material for future use
• No immediate action required
• Supports projects and areas
• Can be shared or reused

Examples:

• NixOS configuration patterns
• n8n workflow templates
• Self-hosting architecture docs
• AI prompt libraries
• Book notes and highlights

Questions to identify:

• What might be useful later?
• What do I want to learn more about?
• What reference material do I need?

Archives

Definition: Inactive items from the other three categories.

Characteristics:

• Completed projects
• Areas no longer active
• Resources no longer relevant
• Preserved for reference, not action

When to archive:

• Project completed or cancelled
• Role/responsibility ended
• Topic no longer relevant
• Information outdated

The PARA Workflow

Capture

Everything starts in the Inbox. Don't organize during capture.

Clarify

Ask: "Is this actionable?"

• Yes → Is it a single task or a project?
• No → Is it reference material or trash?

Organize

Place items in the appropriate category:

• Active work → Projects (linked to Area)
• Ongoing standards → Areas
• Reference → Resources
• Done/irrelevant → Archives

Review

• Daily: Process inbox, check today's tasks
• Weekly: Review all projects, check areas, process resources
• Monthly: Archive completed, assess areas, audit resources

Project vs Area Confusion

The most common PARA mistake is confusing projects and areas.

If you treat a Project as an Area	If you treat an Area as a Project
Never feels "done"	Feels like constant failure
Scope creeps infinitely	Standards slip without noticing
No sense of progress	Burnout from "finishing" the infinite

Test: Can I complete this in a single work session series?

• Yes → Project
• No, it's ongoing → Area

Maintenance Rhythms

Daily (Evening - 10 min)

1. Process inbox items
2. Review completed tasks
3. Set tomorrow's priorities

Weekly (Sunday evening - 30 min)

1. Get clear: Inbox to zero
2. Get current: Review each Area
3. Review all active Projects
4. Plan next week's outcomes

Monthly (First Sunday - 60 min)

1. Review Area standards
2. Archive completed Projects
3. Evaluate stalled Projects
4. Audit Resources relevance

Quarterly (90 min)

1. Review life Areas balance
2. Set quarterly outcomes
3. Major archives cleanup
4. System improvements

PARA in Anytype

Type Mapping

PARA	Anytype Type	Notes
Project	project	Has area relation, deadline
Area	area	Top-level organization
Resource	resource	Reference material
Archive	Use archived property	Or separate Archive type
Task	task	Lives within Project or Area
Inbox	note with status=inbox	Quick capture

Recommended Properties

On Projects:

• area (relation) - Which area owns this
• status (select) - active, on-hold, completed
• due_date (date) - Target completion
• outcome (text) - What does "done" look like

On Tasks:

• project or area (relation) - Parent container
• status (select) - inbox, next, waiting, scheduled, done
• priority (select) - critical, high, medium, low
• due_date (date) - When it's needed
• energy (select) - Required energy level
• context (multi_select) - Where/how it can be done

On Areas:

• description (text) - Standards to maintain
• review_frequency (select) - daily, weekly, monthly

Common Pitfalls

1. Over-organizing during capture - Just dump it in inbox
2. Too many projects - Active projects should be <15
3. Orphan tasks - Every task needs a project or area
4. Stale resources - Archive what you haven't touched in 6 months
5. Skipping reviews - The system only works if you review it