This is the specification of Luca-decimal, the system I designed over time to organize my digital life. It has been influenced by:
- Johnny Decimal, a system inspired by Dewey Decimal.
- Building a Second Brain, a note-taking system.
Key principles
- Acting is always preferred to not acting.
- Better to create more messier, than to create less orderly.
Start with the four main folders of Building a Second Brain: 1 Projects, 2 Areas, 3 Resources, 4 Archive. The purpose of each folder is based on the kind of action you are performing:
- Something I am acting on for a limited time frame. → Projects
- Something I am regularly acting on. → Areas
- Something I am not acting on, but might be useful to act. → Resources
- Something I am no longer acting on. → Archive
- 1 Projects
- 2 Areas
- 3 Resources
- 4 Archive
Each folder in 1 Projects has a prefix starting with 100 and increasing.
- 1 Projects
- 100 Learn COBOL
- 101 Taxes 2022
- 102 Roof repair
- 2 Areas
- ...
- 3 Resources
- ...
- 4 Archive
- ...
To add a new project, e.g. finding a birthday present for Johnny, you add a folder with the number prefix.
- 1 Projects
- 100 Learn COBOL
- 101 Taxes 2022
- 102 Roof repair
- 103 Birthday present for Johnny
- 2 Areas
- ...
- 3 Resources
- ...
- 4 Archive
- ...
Folders in 2 Areas and 3 Resources don't need to be numbered. Some folders may be indexed with a prefix (201, 202, 203, ..., 301, 302, 303, ...) to "pin" them to the top when sorted alphabetically.
- 1 Projects
- ...
- 2 Areas
- 200 Health
- 201 Finances
- 202 Work
- 203 Family pictures
- ID documents
- Travel card
- Utilities bills
- ...
- 3 Resources
- 300 Books
- 301 Comics
- 302 Software
- History documentaries
- Instruction manuals
- Mathematics
- ...
- 4 Archive
- ...
If used, the indexing logic in 2 Areas, 3 Resources is different than the one in 1 Projects.
- In 1 Projects the index sorts the folders by creation date.
- In 2 Areas, 3 Resources you define the order which makes the most sense to you.
There is no naming restriction in 4 Archive. When archiving a folder, consider removing the index to avoid confusion.
E.g. project 117 Lorem Ipsum is complete, you rename it to Lorem Ipsum and move it to 4 Archive.
Before:
- 1 Projects
- ...
- 117 Lorem Ipsum
- ...
- 2 Areas
- 3 Resources
- 4 Archive
- ...
After:
- 1 Projects
- ...
- 2 Areas
- 3 Resources
- 4 Archive
- ...
- Lorem Ipsum
- ...
You may decide to index subfolders (.01, .02, .03, ...) similarly to Jonny Decimal's IDs. When in doubt, don't index. If any other kind of naming convention makes more sense (e.g. by date), use it.
- 1 Projects
- ...
- 2 Areas
- 200 Health
- ...
- 201 Finances
- 201.01 Bank account
- 201.02 Savings account
- 201.03 Credit cards
- 201.04 Receipts
- 202 Work
- ...
- 203 Family pictures
- 2022
- 2023
- ...
- ID documents
- ...
- Travel card
- ...
- Utilities bills
- ...
- ...
- 3 Resources
- 300 Books
- H.G. Wells
- Umberto Eco
- ...
- 301 Comics
- ...
- 302 Software
- 302.01 Operating systems
- 302.02 Drivers
- 302.03 Applications
- History documentaries
- ...
- Instruction manuals
- ...
- Mathematics
- ...
- ...
- 4 Archive
- Lorem Ipsum
- ...
- ...
Whichever structure and indexes are used, they must be kept consistent among all applications:
- local files,
- note taking apps,
- todo-apps.
There is no need to replicate the whole structure on each system constantly. It is only necessary to ensure consistency once a topic is shared across multiple applications.
Example
- You have a folder in 2 Areas called 201 Health, where you save the pdfs of your exams results.
- You don't need a Health folder in your note taking and todo apps right away.
- If you add a reminder in your todo-app for a yearly check-up, then you should add it to a 201 Health folder.
- If you add a note for the opening times of your doctor, it must also end up in a folder called 201 Health.
Both Johnny Decimal and PARA share a similar instruction.
Copyright (c) 2023 Luca Franceschini (lucaf.eu)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
