A compact field guide you can revisit
The System for Thought and Action (SPA) is a modular architecture for personal organization that integrates knowledge management, goal planning, and task execution. Unlike other systems, SPA enables the creation of new knowledge by fusing and maturing ideas that come from different life areas.
It is designed as a functional network of components that interact both hierarchically and bidirectionally—from deep thinking to everyday action—through a continuous process of iteration.
1) The story & intent
SPA was born after 6 years of iterations that started from a simple frustration: I wasn’t able at all to organize myself, ideas lived in one place, my daily routine in another, and my expectations and ambitions in a third — none of them talked or were related. After trying to use Notion’s second brain, GTD, PARA (even habitica lol), I decided to create yhe System for Thought and Action in spanish Sistema de Pensamiento y Accion (SPA) as a solution to unify all of my islands. It treats your knowledge, goals, and time as one living network so that what you learn becomes what you ship—reliably and on purpose.
Core: translate personal knowledge into tangible outcomes, starting from who you are, then moving through your life areas, projects, and finally into scheduled action.
2) Why this system works?
- Bridges knowing and doing. Ideas mature into goals, then tasks, then calendar time blocks.
- Creates new knowledge. Notes cross-link across life areas so patterns and insights emerge.
- Adapts to your tools. It’s methodology-first and tool-agnostic.
- Scales with you. Works for artists, engineers, students, founders — anyone who ships.
- Encourages reflection. Built-in review loops sustain momentum and learning.
3) The model (four layers, one flow)
Think of SPA as a layered stack with feedback:
First layer
Keep (Fast memory / cache): Quick capture of fragments, checklists, and frequently used info. It’s the inbox and scratchpad for ideas.
Second layer
Vault (Deep knowledge): Linked notes where ideas mature: your life areas, your domains, your projects, reflections. (Essentially is your identity in a file system vault)
Third layer
Tasks (Decisions): You use tasks to develop projects, domains and eventually areas in your life, the goals are decomposed into executable steps.
Fourth layer:
Calendar (Time-boxing): Blocks on the calendar are translated into accountble time spended on working for tasks and routines it gives all the projects the required attention for deep work, habits, and commitments.
Flow: Capture in Keep → mature in Vault → commit in Tasks → protect in Calendar → Review and feed learnings back into Vault.
4) Quick example
Goal: Run a half marathon.
- Vault: Area – Health → Domain - Running → Project – Half Marathon; note motivations, constraints, references.
- Tasks: Create sized tasks (S: pick training plan; M: buy shoes; L: long run; XL: monthly check-in).
- Calendar: Block Tue/Thu (45m) + Sun (90m).
- Keep: Pinned note with routes, shoe size, hydration checklist.
- Daily: Execute blocks; move tasks; jot micro-learnings.
- Weekly: Adjust plan, log progress in Domain – Endurance Running as patterns emerge.
note: people usually dont just casually decide to run half marathon, if you’re one of those people, you probably already have a health area and even a domain in running, domains are not meant to mutate that frequently or easily much less the Areas
6) How to start
If you are interested in starting using spa, I strongly recommend you visit the spa repo, there you will find a much more extensive documentation and even the download of the boilerplate (if you want to use the recommended tools)
