A Proven System For Achieving Your Life Goals

Every Saturday I share a story about my life in a way that you can hopefully relate to. I believe we are all here to share our journey, both the highs and the lows, as this is how we collectively raise the consciousness of the planet. If anything resonates with you, please share! 🙏

Have you ever seen those shows about hoarders? If you're like most people the thought of living your life that way is incomprehensible.

That's not the only type of hoarders, though.

While you may not be a hoarder of physical things, there are those that have a particular fascination when it comes to information that is digital in nature.

The challenge is that when it comes to digital information, the present day barrage shows no sign on slowing down.

The Elegance of Systems

For as long as I can remember, I always been a fan of systems. It seems to be the way my mind works.

When I work with a new coach and look to implement their frameworks, it's so much easier for me if I can simply plug my details into their templates.

Which is why I'm such a fan of the work of Tiago Forte, the founder of Forte Labs. One question that drives him is “How can humans reach their creative potential?”

I've taken his Building a Second Brain course which I highly recommend if you're interested in learning new ways to thrive in our increasingly digital world.

Discovering P.A.R.A.

I'd like to give you an overview of one of modules of the course, called P.A.R.A. It's a system he's created for organizing your digital content, not by topic, file type or category (which is what we're used to) but more so by the actionability of the piece of information.

This was a game changer for me.

With PARA, you focus your time on what is most actionable, followed by what is less actionable, then followed by least actionable.

What that tends to look like for most people are these 4 categories:

• Projects

• Areas of Responsibility

• Resources

• Archive

Projects

Projects are series of tasks linked to a goal, with a deadline. In other words, what's cooking now, in this moment. Examples include: Write newsletter, Update website, Attend conference.

Areas of Responsibility

Tiago defines this category as "a sphere of activity with a standard to maintained over time". A bit dry, I know. These are things you are responsible for, but are more long-term and ongoing, over time. and are personally relevant to you.

Areas of Responsibility are the roles you take on in life and the hats you wear (Spouse, Parent, Team Leader, Soccer Coach), the ongoing standards where the buck stops with you (Product Development, Company Newsletter, Legal), and things that take a certain amount of constant attention (Exercise, Finances, Apartment, Pets).

If a deliverable doesn't fit either of these 2, then we move on to:

Resources

A topic or theme of ongoing interest. This is a catch-all for all the other types of information you might want to access in the future. Information that is generally useful.

Resources are interests (web design, gardening, woodworking, basketball, bio-hacking), themes (psychology, spirituality, leadership, integrity), and assets (stock photos, typography links, marketing swipe file, product testimonials, code snippets).

Tiago recommends using using lower-case titles with resource notebooks, to remind you that they are just interests, and capital letters for areas of responsibility.

Archives

By far, the least actionable, this is everything from the previous 3 categories that is finished, complete, no longer active or no longer relevant.

What you're doing by virtue of this process, is organizing your knowledge so that most of your attention is always directed to the most actionable categories. Inversely, much less of your attention is going to the non-actionable categories.

Projects vs. Areas

Where newcomers to the system find challenging is the distinction he makes between Projects and Areas of Responsibility.

A Project has a goal to be achieved — a discrete event that will happen, allowing this item to be completely checked off and struck from the list. And this goal is supposed to take place by a specific moment in time. It has a deadline or timeframe, whether externally or self-imposed.

An Area of Responsibility, by contrast, has a standard to be maintained. There is no end date or final outcome. Your performance in this area may rise and fall over time, but the standard continues indefinitely and requires a certain level of attention at all times.

Projects always fall into Areas. A few examples:

• Running a marathon is a project, whereas Health is an area

• Publishing a book is a project, whereas Writing is an area

• Saving 3 months’ worth of expenses is a project, whereas Finances is an area

• A vacation to Thailand is a project, whereas Travel is an area

• Planning an anniversary dinner is a project, whereas Spouse is an area

There are three absolutely critical things you cannot do unless you break out your Areas of Responsibility into clearly articulated projects.

1. You can’t truly know the extent of your commitments

2. You can’t connect your current efforts to your long-term goals

3. You can’t know if you’re making progress toward your goals

One final note on Projects vs. Areas: they require completely different ways of thinking, approaches, tools, and methods.

There is a very illuminating exercise you can perform once you’ve taken the time to formulate a clear Project List. Put it side by side with your Goal List, and draw lines matching each project with its corresponding goal:

Most people find is that they don’t completely match. This is problematic because a project without a corresponding goal is known as a “hobby.” As Tiago mentions in the post, if you’re not committed to or haven’t fully articulated the outcome you want, you must be doing it just for fun.

And if you have a goal without a corresponding project, that’s called a “dream.” You may desire it with all your heart and soul, but without an active Project, there's no way to know if you are really making any progress.

The beauty and elegance of PARA is in its principles:

• It uses the concept of the magic limit of 4 (explained in the post)

• It perfectly mirrors your current systems

• It aids the user in clearly distinguishing between actionable and non-actionable information

It's a multi-phased approach and you'll likely need to read it several times over (like I did) before you begin to fully grasp the concepts.

The article goes much deeper into the practical application of PARA. If you choose to implement it, you'll need some time to actually begin to put this into motion and slowly adjust your task management, document, and note systems.

Once you have a grasp of the basics you can take it to the next level as the full series consists of 9 posts and even I haven't made it through all of them!

A Thought Experiment

Tiago asks, "What would you do if all your digital files were automatically erased every year? No matter which backup solutions you employed, it would all be gone when the clock struck midnight on December 31."

"I think you would start putting a lot more effort into showing your work. You would spend the absolute minimum amount of time gathering research and raw material, and more time sharing your knowledge and helping people solve real problems."

"Our perfect digital memory is both a blessing and a curse. It frees us from the burden of forgetfulness, only to imprison us with perfectionism."

I resonate with that last line a lot. It's something I work on daily. And a reminder to you that I'm figuring all this out as I go along.

Overall, Tiago's views align with my new-found interest in writing and sharing the experiences, lessons and resources that have been helpful for me over the past few decades of my life.

My hope is that this letter inspires you to find a system that works for you, so that you can begin sharing your knowledge with the world as soon as possible.

It's truly an all-hands-on-deck moment.

🙏 with gratitude,

Harry

What I Created This Week

One big thing I started this week was the Ship30for30 cohort. It's a course designed to make you a more consistent digital writer and I'll sharing some of my insights and wins in future letters. When complete, it will provide me with a much stronger foundation for continuing and strengthening my writing practice.

🎧 Vertical Farming Podcast (Season 7) sponsored by Cultivatd

• Episode 71 | Tom Adamczyk, CEO of Planted Detroit - Biosecurity, Vertical Farming & Improving the Food Supply Chain | Consolidation

🙋‍♀️ P.S. When You're Ready...

Here are a few of ways I can help…

✡️ Download a free copy of my Conscious Voice Expansion Plan. The most powerful way to transmit and elevate your voice is with a podcast. This plan will outline for you the pillars of success needed prior to the launch of your show!

🎥 Watch my free video, 5 Key Pillars of a Profitable Podcast that every business owner needs to know prior to launching their show.

🎙️ Subscribe to Podcast Junkies + Vertical Farming Podcast to hear inspiring stories guaranteed to make you a better host.

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