Substitute your PDA for index cards and Google Calendar

While I am a firm believer in organization, making ourselves more productive and so on, I see so many people forgetting that the emphasis is on productivity, not on organization. If you don’t feel comfortable with a step of GTD, or some other method, just come up with something that works for you.

Many people are set back, because they try too hard to get things out of their heads. When you start a method you have so many things in your head it becomes a bit tedious. Just go a day at a time, and in a few days or weeks, your mind will be free, don’t try to get everything down at once. In addition, I think many people find it counter-productive to always enter a task that comes to mind into some sort of organizer platform

I have come up with a solution for myself using three small paper trays, index cards and Google Calendar. In case your wondering I use A7 index cards and small A7 sized trays I actually mounted on my desk. Here’s how I organize myself, focusing on the collection and filing process, I promise it’s not long and many of you could find it helpful.

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I sit down in the morning and think of all the stuff I will need to do that day. I write it all down, each thing on a separate card. If something needs to be elaborated you have plenty of space. This way I can start the day with a fresh mind, knowing I won’t forget anything.

I start working and usually a lot of ideas come to mind. Whenever this happens, I just jot it down on a new card. This takes me less than 5 seconds. I have two “In” trays and one “Out” tray. In one tray I put all the cards that relate to my normal job, in the other tray I put stuff that has to do with the blog, and my other sites.

I don’t actually make a distinction between long term ideas, short term ideas, projects, tasks and so on, this is unnecessary complication at this stage. The reason for this, is that at the end of the day I sort through these tasks and put them in an organizer program. During the day all tasks that are linked to that day are placed horizontally, all others are placed vertically in the tray.

When the sun sets I am left with tasks in my “In” trays and finished tasks that I put into my “Out” tray. Whatever is left over, you can input into your GTD program, or task manager, but whatever is in the “Out” tray I also file. These go into Google Calendar actually. Why? Well, if I input everything as a separate event for that day, I have a searchable database of what I did, when I did it, and how I did it (adding notes to the event). You now have free trays for the next day.

This method leaves me pretty well organized on a day to day basis, since during the day it is lightning fast, and at the end of the day it is only about 15-20 minutes extra. You may argue that this way, when I file something I may need to write it down again when it comes up. This is true, although I do save these cards mostly, but to me this is a small price to pay for staying organized.

(This post is part of an organization series where I share my daily ways of organizing myself. This is work in progress, since I am constantly trying new things. My aim is to eventually release an ebook explaining a good solid method. Take a look at the Easy Organization page for more info.)