Finally took the plunge

[Zippy]

... and bought some moleskines!
I am a palm user. Always have been (since the days of the Handspring Visor) and always will be (until I get a bluetooth dongle for my brain!). However recently I hae been using a blank notebook for scribbled ideas - in the corridor at school (I'm a teacher), in the yard, walking round shops ... basically where a PDA is impractical. OK. I still can't read what I've written but that's due to scruffy handwritng on the move ... not bad grafitti strokes (why did they "update" it???? :? )

Then yesterday our local branch of Waterstones had some moleskines on the shelf. So I bought a plain and a ruled small notebook (don't know the technical term ... 9x14cm ) and a larger plain one (13x21cm ) - I mindmap so plain is nice.

Yeah. I know. There are cheaper places to buy online, but it was an mpulse buy! If I carry on I will look elsewhere!

Then I found a link to Mojo in London and ordered an 18 month diary ... good for making notes on what things went well or not with the new science courses we are about to start.

Only thing left to decide ... pen (Ink/gel/biro/fibre tip?) or pencil?

So. Can I juggle analogue and digital? Watch this space ...

 

[apinaud]

From Another Palm User... (since 1995, Palm Pro)

I have been trying to do everything in the palm. Early this year I got a Moleskine... After try that I felt in love with Paper, to the point that I start printing my lists in Index Cards... Productivity Sky Rocks...

I continue using my palm 24/7, I even have my lists in the Palm, but use paper for efficienty factor and speed...

I keep Calendar, Contacts and Reference Information and Lists in the Palm...

Also my backup tasks but with the exception of @Errands everything I used in Paper.

Everything else I do it in palm... I was concerned about the dual system, but I can tell you has work like a charm... I imagine since you work in a School your lists should be really long... wait until you see those in paper and then you will see how easy is to start moving forward and getting things out...

Good luck...

BTW You will get your original graffiti (the one you learn in school as a kid) in few weeks...

 

[tarentola]

Maybe you could post the details how projects and NAs are listed in your respective paper systems?

Another Palm user, I use vanilla Palm + Bonsai. Bonsai allows me to make a hierarchy of Areas-Projects-NAs. All NAs are given a category in Bonsai and the active NAs are linked to the Palm's To-do list, so they automatically appear in the To-do application in the right context. Other NAs that come to mind are added directly to the To-do application in the relevant context.

There are some big advantages here, like the ability to do most of this on the PC, including cutting and pasting extra information where required. It is pretty low-maintenance: NAs are entered either in Bonsai (projects) or in To-do, and deleted when done.

I also keep an A4 pad handy for ideas and planning projects, and where necessary carry project support materials in standard punched plastic envelopes in a ring binder. So all the essential info is portable in the Palm, and the planning part is in a binder which I can leave at home.

And yet, and yet... although the system works and is pretty foolproof, I find the lists on the Palm or PC a bit remote, so I am trying out a paper system which sounds similar to apinaud's: keeping calendar, contacts and checklists on the Palm, and the projects and NAs on paper.

Specifically, I simply divided a small spiral notebook into sections as described by sonia_simone in
board.43folders.com/showthread.php?t=88

My current GTD lofi notebook is very simple and streamlined, and so far it is working well. I revamped it for Jan. 1, so we're still in the early infatuation phase.
I have the front 15 or so pages marked for Waiting, the back 25 or so pages marked for Projects, and the area in between is for NAs. By my eyeball, the NA section is about the same size as the Project section. The very back page is for Someday/Maybes. The sections are marked with post-it flags. If I run out of NA room because I bump into Projects, I can work backwards from the first NA page until I bump into Waiting. Similarly, if I go over a page of Someday/Maybes, I work back until I bump into Projects. Once two sections connect, time to buy new notebook. Obviously I can tweak the allocations next time based on what happens this time.
Simple, neat, self contained and easy to cart around.

I use two facing pages for each project and two facing pages for each context. I still keep the A4 sheets for planning, as these notebook pages are too small for planning a whole project.

I find this more real, and so more motivating and more pleasant to work with. I can leave the notebook open on the desk and flip the pages, scribble in comments and additions, and tick the items when they are done. I am still experimenting with this. The issue is really one of the Palm+PC efficiency in trapping everything, versus the flexibility and friendliness of the paper system.

A side effect of using paper is that it really made me think about the logic of my GTD system, rather than the pros and cons of different software tools. One thing I noticed was that I had very few formal projects: my system fills up with reactive daily tasks, but most of these are not visibly project-related. This has made me reexamine the higher levels to decide longer-term direction.

I now wish I had started GTD with a paper system, as this helps to define the logic and flow of your system in detail -- as I am doing now in retrospect. The final much-debated choice of medium or media (notebooks, cards, paper diary or electronic) can be made much later.

 

[BigStory]

Anyone have an extra Moleskine 28p address book?

Hi all. After using 3x5 cards to capture ToDo's in my new position, I am dropping the Palm for a Moleskine. I was encouraged by this posting from Mike Rohde.

http://www.rohdesign.com/weblog/archives/001850.html

I bought an 18 month Weekly Planner, but it doesn't come with the small 28 page address book that the Daily and Weekly Diaries do. Does anyone have one they are not using, and are willling to part with?

TIA, Gordon