Living on a beach in Nicaragua allows me a somewhat detached perspective on life in North America and from here personal organization websites and blogs like 43 Folders appear almost comical. There is endless advice offered on the minutiae of how better to structure your time and information, to the point of fetishism. Should you carry a Blackberry or a personal digital assistant to keep your days on track? How about the low tech Hipster PDA version using a stack of index cards bound with a bull clip? You can e-mail notes to your computer from your cell phone, or leave voice messages that will be automatically transcribed into text and sent to your e-mail inbox.
What's all the fuss? The incredibly complex ways people find to do simple things are astounding. Some years ago I was in an office supply store and came across a flip top cover that holds a standard 3 inch by 5 inch note pad. In black microfibre with kidskin leather over the hinge, this item from the Cambridge 'City' series by Meade is a handsome, pocket-sized organizational solution that costs a mere $9 and looks just as appropriate in a classroom or in a boardroom. I have never considered using anything else since. Pockets on the outside and inside of the front flap are the perfect size to hold 3 inch by 5 inch cards with my schedule and other quick reference information. A loop beside the pad holds a pen always conveniently ready for use.
As a page of the notepad is filled, I turn up the right hand bottom corner until the bottom edge of the page is aligned with its left-hand edge. When the next page is complete, the left-hand bottom corner is turned up to align the bottom edge with its right-hand edge. This practice is continued as the notepad fills up. The folded pages reveal the lower part of the next unused page, so that opening the cover and placing your thumb on the next page allows all of the filled pages to be flipped back, out of the way. Well structured notes make it easy to refer back among the folded pages. It's a note taking method common among police and military personnel.
If you follow David Allen's popular Getting Things Done programme, the notepad becomes your Inbox and a few cards serve to hold your categorized Next Actions list and Waiting For items. Project pages and Reference materials belong on your computer and your Contacts are already in your cell phone's memory. Updating your computer files from each days notes takes only a few minutes and requires you to review and organize your information. If your days are so hectic that you need more than this to run your life, then a PDA isn't the answer. Hire an assistant, or perhaps a virtual assistant
After years of being carried in my pocket the City notepad cover still looks like new. The compact pen that came with it was too small for my hand, but an excellent replacement that fits the pen loop perfectly is the Pilot G2 Mini gel pen. It's push button design allows for one-handed use and many online reviewers have praised the smooth writing G2 as their favourite writing instrument. If you want something more elegant and are willing to spend the money, the Porsche Design P3140 pen is an alternative.
Leave the Blackberry at home. Organizational experts warn that e-mail is a distraction and should only be checked twice a day anyway. A wad of index cards makes you look like a chump. Expensive high-tech gadgetry isn't necessary to keep yourself organized. All anyone really needs to carry with them is some basic reference information, a clean sheet of paper and a pen. Of course, if you want to radically improve your productivity, you could try "The Four Hour Work Week"
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