“Imagine for a moment the perfect organizational system. One that supported and enhanced the work you do, telling you exactly where to put a piece of information, and exactly where to find it when you needed it. … I believe I’ve developed a system for organizing digital information that meets all these requirements. After several years of introducing it to a wide variety of people, I’m confident that it works. In this post I will attempt to show you how.”
With those words, Tiago Forte introduces readers to the P.A.R.A. method of organization. The system name is short for its four constituent components:
- Projects
- Areas
- Resources
- Archives
Although most of Tiago’s blog is members only access, he recently made this very popular post free for all to view. Be aware that this post is the first in a series, so membership would be needed to see beyond it. However, this one stands as a full overview on its own, which is why I highly recommend the read.
Charles Duhigg is a best selling author of two great books on productivity and efficiency: 
“Physical organization has a huge impact on how we work. For example, I have a habit of taking the pile of paper on my desk and cleaning it out before I work. When my physical surrounding is organized, I feel like my thinking is organized as well. Some people say they find that when they are doing creative work, some clutter on the desk can make them feel more productive. There is no one set way to be productive at work – the physical space primarily works as a cue to a habit, like getting to work in a productive mindset.”
Physical actions are visible to other people such as calling someone on the phone, typing an email, drafting a memo, or talking to a colleague. A common trap is to believe that “thinking” about an item is a next action. Thinking could be part of a next action if that process is accompanied by a physical movement to capture the ideas, such as drawing a mind map.
book that provides an answer to this dilemma. In 
Sometimes when we think about the effort it will take to get organized a negative reaction will arise. Is it really worth all the time and energy necessary to put things in their right spot? How about the constant practice of getting things out of your head – sounds like a pain! Can’t we just relax and have fun?
Why do I use the word “efficient” to describe this path of librarianship? In my article, 
Last week, my article on 
n his recent book, 
Efficient Librarian 