Why I don't use the PARA system

As an ADHD diagnosed person, I tend to keep searching for the Holy Grail productivity system. And, oh boy, that’s a rabbit hole.

And, if you’re like me, and keeps watching those “productivity Guru’s” on YouTube, you probably “met” Tiago Forte. This guy is famous for creating the PARA System. A system for you to create a, what he calls, a Second Brain. He even wrote a book about it.

I don’t mean to speak evil about him or his method. AFAIK it works for him and for a lot of people. For me it didn’t resonate.

I tried it for 2 weeks and it wasn’t a good experience. My brain is not wired the way it expects to be. The Resource and Archive folders are too much similar in meaning and the 3 level hierarchy it creates if you want/need to keep personal and work/business stuff separated is too much for me.

I actually use a similar structure that resonates better for my brain. And it’s quite a simple one:

- Personal
    - Blog
    - Bass Lessons
    - Home
    - Growth
    ...
- Work
    - Current Employer
        - Project 1
        - Project 2
        ...
    - Side Project 1
    - Side Project 2
    ...
- Archive

And that’s it. I use UpNote as my main note taking app and each item in the list is a Notebook or a Nested Notebook. This way I can dump as many notes as I need for that topic.

UpNote is really good in keeping things simple.

I’ll probably write a post on my current productivity method/setup if my ADHD brain doesn’t change it. Again.