I’m going analog. No more PDAs for me, thanks. I’m back to using notebooks. Here’s a picture of my current personal productivity system:
What you see here are two notebooks, one 8 1/2″ x 6″, the other 4″ x 6″. Beside those are two small stacks of 3″ x 5″ index cards bound with bulldog clips. (The green index card in the back is my shopping list.) Topping it off is my brand new Space Pen.
So far it’s working very well. The trick is carrying around a stack of blank index cards and the Space Pen all the time so when I think of something I actually write it down instead of pretending that I’ll remember it 10 mins later. It’s like having a TODO list that I actually remember to add to and look at. How handy!
Here’s the breakdown:
- Blank index cards: this is a stack of 20 index cards, 5 each yellow, blue, green, and white. Yellow = Work, Green = Home, Blue = Personal, White = Writing Ideas. This is the stack I carry around.
- Not-blank index cards: this stack actually contains 2 weekly planner cards, 1 2005/2006 calendar card, 1 shopping list, 1 TODO list (for the day), and a stack of cards detailing the stuff I want to get done. This is the stack that sits on my desk and reminds me what I need to get done.
- Small Notebook: work-related stuff — meeting notes, etc.
- Large Notebook: personal stuff, mostly exploring writing ideas, and other such things.
- Space Pen: When closed it’s about 4″ long and has no pointy bits. When open with the cap on the back, it’s a proper pen-sized pen. Small with no pointy bits means you can actually carry it around in your pocket without getting poked. Pen-sized when open means less writer’s cramp. The “space” part of the space pen is semi-solid ink and nitrogen-gas pressurized ink flow, so no leaking and no relying on gravity. For $25, it’s quite an awesome pen.
There you have it. I’ve joined the Hipster PDA revolution. Or, actually, just reverted to the system I used throughout all of highschool and university. Whichever. Space Pen!
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