1/ PARA is based on an insight I had working at an Apple Store in college: the moment of starting over is magical
2/ I’d see ppl buy a new computer, and the blank slate would inspire tremendous relief, energy, creativity
3/ I started recommending they not use the “restore” feature to transfer all their old files to the new computer. Or at least, keep them all together in a dated folder
4/ As they reported back, to my surprise they told me that having all files from a certain “era” of their life made it EASIER to find old files, not harder
5/ It is intuitive to look for a file based on which broad period of time it was created in. Buying a computer also often corresponds to major life transitions
6/ What this means is that they got the benefits of a blank slate, without losing the benefits of long term file storage
7/ I started to organize my files specifically so that once in awhile, I’d just plop them all in a dated folder and start over. The ideal time to do this was at the end of a project
8/ There’s one disadvantage: we tend to lay out our stuff, whether digital or physical, to remember where we left off for next time. Pouring everything into one big container lost all that context
9/ So I started looking to produce one tangible artifact from each project, that would be inherently valuable and easy to preserve even if all the project files got mixed up
10/ Vacation photos became a slideshow, songs became a CD, videos became iMovie films, and eventually, blog posts became an ebook
11/ I found that with the artifact in hand, I didn’t really care what happened to all the raw material. I still kept it, but very rarely went back to it
12/ This consistent pace of project delivery became the lynchpin of my productivity, and later, my business. All the energy usually spent on meticulous organizing I spent driving to completion
13/ With this mindset, changing computers or programs is an opportunity. I’m looking forward to one day having to move on from Evernote. It’ll be a great opportunity to start over
14/ All your notes and files are just training data, tweaks to the algorithm that is your conscious mind. Once trained, you can leave it all behind, and create new things unencumbered by the past
