Getting organized is not about aesthetics, or the way things look. Don’t be lured into believing that a workspace full of squared edges, clean lines, and minimalistic whitespace will somehow magically grant you clarity or peace of mind.

Getting organized is not about control. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to rigidly control your digital environment as an excuse to avoid facing the inherent uncertainty of life.

Getting organized is about acquiring power. Everything you want depends on how much power you have. All the goals you have for your career and your family, all the change you want to cause in your field or your community, all the relationships you want to form or improve, all the things you want to experience and possess.

It all depends on your ability to draw power from every source available to you and direct it toward the outcomes you want. Power comes from the strength of your intellect.

Power comes from the force of your emotions. By surrounding yourself with information that provokes a feeling of fascination, you’ll begin to harness the incredible enthusiasm for learning and growth you have trapped inside.

Power comes from systems that don’t depend on your energy levels, attention span, or self-discipline. That’s why PARA asks you to make one decision for each piece of information, and one decision only: When will this be relevant next?

Finally, power comes from alignment. Don’t create a bunch of aspirational projects and goals that are merely wishful thinking. When you have the courage to tell the truth about what is truly occupying your attention right now, and make PARA reflect that, the power really begins to flow.

We encounter reality as a chaotic stream of information flowing around and through us at all times. It doesn’t arrive in preformed units, neatly labeled as “projects” or “areas.” You are the one who reaches out and carves out chunks of information to make your own. You have the choice to grasp only the pieces that move you and make you feel alive. Often as people begin working with PARA they realize that they already have more than enough knowledge to pursue the goal they’ve been dreaming of.

—excerpted (and lightly paraphrased) from The PARA Method