{"id":1778,"date":"2009-07-08T09:40:32","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T17:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gtdtimes.com\/?p=1778"},"modified":"2014-02-03T14:39:03","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T22:39:03","slug":"paper-is-king-for-some","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/paper-is-king-for-some\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper is King (for some)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As we all know, GTD is a tool-agnostic approach.\u00a0 The tools you choose are up to you.\u00a0 Some say it’s all got to be electronic. Others swear paper is king.\u00a0 And many\u00a0 of us will choose a hybrid of paper and digital. In our ongoing GTD Times series featuring GTD’er systems, we wanted to give you a peak into someone’s paper system.\u00a0 Here’s Sam’s story (including some great photos of his setup):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dear David Allen,<\/p>\n

I discovered GTD about a year ago while listening to “The Sound of Young America” podcast interview of Merlin Mann. Jesse Thorne asked Merlin to produce his “Hipster PDA<\/a>” and Merlin complied. I was intrigued, did the research, and bought Getting Things Done shortly thereafter. Since that time, I’ve been tweeking my GTD system.<\/p>\n

My Ubiquitous Capture Device is a pocket-sized Moleskine Cahier<\/a> notebook with a few index cards stuck in the pocket. Pictured on my Flickr account are photos of my set up at work. I like to think of my desk as a GTD cockpit.<\/p>\n

The basic building block is my homemade 3×5 Context Card with a large check box to follow my progress and a series of check boxes to denote into which context the Next Action falls. I keep a template on my computer and print cards periodically to make sure I’m never without one. I also use the Project Planner and the Agenda cards from the DIY hPDA<\/a> designed by Douglas Johnson. I took the PDF of those cards to a printing store and had a ton made shortly after I began GTD. I think I may have a three-year supply.<\/p>\n

At my desk, I have three areas to organize my cards: a bill organizer that I use for a tickler file which I check each morning, bins for each context to keep my Context Cards sorted for easy access, and card bleachers from Levenger which I use to display my Agenda Cards. The bins are made out of plastic index card boxes cut into a “mini-Inbox”. They are labeled: @Computer, @Email, @Work, @Office, @Calls, Waiting, Inbox, and Reference.<\/p>\n

I keep Agenda Cards for co-workers, committees, and meetings. When I need to call someone or know I’ll be around his\/her office, I’ll grab the Agenda Card with their name on it and go. For on-the-go list management, I repurposed a Readbles brand pocket folio. I used post-it tabs to label the pockets, all of which are the same as the bins in my office except I replaced “Reference” with “Home.” If I need access to any of these Next Actions while I’m away from the office, I can store them in my folio. On the inside cover, I keep an icon key for my Next Actions that I found on the internet. I’d like to give credit to the person who originated the icons, but I can’t find the link again.<\/p>\n

For all other paper stuff, I have a cubby hole set on my desk comprised of an Inbox, Pending, Home, Read\/Review, Financial Filing portions. The Pending File holds reference materials that pertain to meetings listed on my Agenda Cards or referenced in my Tickler File.<\/p>\n

I use both an electronic calendar and a paper calendar. I “sync” the two at the end of the day. I use Outlook for digital reminders. It also syncs with my iPod Touch. Right now, I’m using a Moleskine Cahier a la Mike Rhode for my paper calendar, but only until I can use my Moleskine 18-month Red Twin Planner.<\/p>\n

I keep my Active Projects and Someday\/Maybe lists in a binder with tabs deliniating Project Planner pages to collect ideas related to each. This comes in most handy when I’m at the end of my Next Actions lists and\/or during the Weekly Review. I use pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks for meeting notes which I include in my Weekly Review. I use a post-it flag to mark the last reviewed page.<\/p>\n

I’m looking for new ideas and ways to streamline without adding or eliminating too much. Each component of my workspace has a particular size and location for a particular purpose. It works well for me for now. I look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing what others post as well!<\/p>\n

Here are photos of my setup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Sam Mauck
\nJackson, TN
\nProfession: Associate Dean of Students and Director of Career Development<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you would like to share your GTD system, please send your story and photos<\/a> to us. We’d love to see how you’ve made the GTD approach work for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we all know, GTD is a tool-agnostic approach.\u00a0 The tools you choose are up to you.\u00a0 Some say it’s all got to be electronic. Others swear paper is king.\u00a0 And many\u00a0 of us will choose a hybrid of paper and digital. In our ongoing GTD Times series featuring GTD’er systems, we wanted to give … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Paper is King (for some)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[699,32],"tags":[67,74,186,400,537],"class_list":["post-1778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-productivity-tips","tag-hipster-pda","tag-paper","tag-index-card-system","tag-gtd-on-paper","tag-moleskine","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPaper is King (for some) - Getting Things Done\u00ae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gettingthingsdone.com\/2009\/07\/paper-is-king-for-some\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paper is King (for some)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we all know, GTD is a tool-agnostic approach.\u00a0 The tools you choose are up to you.\u00a0 Some say it’s all got to be electronic. 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