The LIFT principle

Discover the LIFT principle and why you should apply it to improve your personal organization

The LIFT principle

In this article, I will introduce the LIFT principle for organizing digital information.

This content is part of my Obsidian Starter Kit

What is the LIFT principle?

The LIFT principle was introduced by Google as part of the AngularJS and Angular style guides. It is a code organization best practice for software developers. But in reality, this principle applies really well to Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and Information Management (IM) in general.

LIFT is an acronym for:

  • Locate
  • Identify
  • Flat structure as long as we can
  • Try to stay dry

This principle's goal is to ensure that we keep files and folder structures as flat as possible in order for us to be able to quickly locate and identify what we need. Also, it recommends applying the "Don't Repeat Yourself" (DRY) principle and thus avoiding duplicating information as much as possible.

Whenever you organize information, whether it is code, personal or work information, try to keep the LIFT principle in mind.

Going further

If you want to further explore Personal Knowledge Management, then take a look at starter kit for Obsidian. It will give you a solid starting point for your note-making efforts.

Also check out my Personal Knowledge Management Library. It’s a huge collection of resources (articles, books, videos, YouTube channels, and a lot more).

By the way, I publish a weekly newsletter about PKM, note-taking, lifelong learning, and more!

If you find PKM interesting (I really hope you do!), then you might want to join our community.

Conclusion

In this article, I've introduced the LIFT principle, a recommendation to keep your organization systems as simple and as flat as possible in order to always be able to quickly locate and identify what you need.

That's it for today! ✨

References

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois. I'm an author, founder, and CTO. I write books and articles about software development & IT, personal knowledge management, personal organization, and productivity. I also craft lovely digital products 🚀

If you've enjoyed this article and want to read more like this, then become a subscriber, check out my Obsidian Starter Kit, the PKM Library and my collection of books about software development 🔥.

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If you want to discuss, then don't hesitate to join the Personal Knowledge Management community or the Software Crafters community.