My Hipster PDA
Posted Monday, April 14th, 2008 5:22 pm by Dave Moyer
For those of you unfamilar with the great Merlin Mann’s Hipster PDA, it is, in essence, a bunch of 3×5 index cards clipped together with one of my favorite tools of all time, the awesomely powerful binder clip.
You can put things together however you want, and many people have put out their suggestons and ideas for hacking the Hipster. I decided to try out this tool a few weeks ago, and have been absolutely astounded by the results. Being a raving fan of David Allen’s phenomenal book, Getting Things Done, and a raving fan of binder clips (see my next post), I organized the Hipster in my own way, tweaking and changing some things along the way. Here’s my current setup, in order from front to back:
- Mini black binder clip - It’s the classic, and the size is hard to beat!
- In the front, around 5-8 blank index cards, for capturing events and other tasks
- A laminated divider card labeled Lists
- My GTD lists, including my Next Actions lists for all my different contexts, my Someday/Maybe list (mostly unused, I love my tickler file- post on that soon), and Waiting for list. I have them all here, this is the only place I use them.
- A laminated divider card labeled Calendar
- Individual cards containing time-sensitive actions, one card per day
- A laminated divider card labeled Inbox
- Any extra tasks or reminders to drop into my central inbox when I get home each afternoon
- A laminated card containing a little “reference diagram” for the GTD workflow.
I laminated the cards with packing tape. Just cover both sides, and cut it out to make a perfectly laminated card! In the beginning of my Hipster days, I had trouble with wrinkles. Not anymore!
Each afternoon when I get home, I do the following:
- Drop anything in my “Inbox” section into my inbox, to sort during my processing time later.
- Synchronize any date-sensitive actions with my trusty Google Calendar. I can’t do without it, but I can’t have it everywhere! This is my solution. I can schedule and keep track of events wherever I am, but I still have sharing capabilities and “black belt” scheduling when I’m at my computer.
- Refill my index cards, and I’m ready for a new day!
How do you all keep your life organized? If you use a Hipster PDA (try it out if you don’t- it’s too cool), what are your techniques? Got any GTD management suggestions? Comment like the wind, my friends.
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That’s some hardcore organisation right there!
…wouldn’t it be a bit less time (AND TREE) consuming to just…I don’t know….get an actual, digital type PDA thing? I mean….seriously, Dave. What were you thinking?
Dave.
GET SOME HELP, BUDDY.
wow i like that!