Peace of Mind Organizing

Paper or plastic?

15 May 2009

No, this isn’t a post about green organizing (though I am doing a free talk on that topic next month…you might consider coming if you live in St. Louis). Today I’m thinking about keeping track of things using a paper planner/notebook versus an electronic device.

Personally, my calendar is electronic (iCal on my Mac and iPod Touch) and my task list is paper (I use a Miquelruis notebook for my Autofocus task list). That works for me.

What got me thinking was I read the enjoyable ebook, Todoodlist, by Nick Cernis. Nick’s a big fan of simplicity and unplugging your organizing life. His little ebook provides some innovative ways to harness the power of the pen.

The great thing about this book is that it’s a fun read, regardless of whether you’re on board 100 percent with his ideas. It starts with seven fun essays on simplicity, which are followed by five solutions for using paper and pen to embrace simplicity. They include:

• The Toodlist (a sort of mind-mapping way to keep track of tasks)
• The Sudoku Calendar (which uses a Sudoku puzzle as framework to track up to seven recurring or important events)
• The Tagbook (which adapts the concept of photo tagging for use in a idea-catcher notebook)
• Glyphies (personal shorthand symbols)
• The Banana Reminder (the concept of location-based written reminders)

Me, I’m not looking to make a change, really. So I read the book with an open mind but perhaps not an entirely open heart, if that makes any sense. I found some of his ideas, like The Toodlist and The Sudoku Calendar to seem overly complicated (for me, anyway).

But The Tagbook really grabbed me. I haven’t yet implemented it, but I plan to. (What am I waiting for?)

The book also includes Nick’s five steps to simplify your life (automate, delegate, reduce, drop, focus), along with a blueprint for launching products, another for lunching (i.e. better meetings) and, finally, his final, powerful message:

Lead a simple life. Chase your dreams. The rest will follow.

I like this little book and its message of embracing simplicity. The essays are really fun—they alone are worth the $14 price tag. In fact, I like it so much I’ve added a link to it in my recommended section in the right-hand column. (Full disclosure: that’s an affiliate link, so if you click on it I get a cut.)

It’s paradoxical that a book eschewing electronics is offered only in an electronic format. But it makes sense. The book is easy to purchase and easy to read on the screen—its formatting is delightful. No trees were killed for paper to print it on and no truck is needed to deliver it. So it’s environmentally friendly.

Look at that. I’ve managed to bring this post back to the topic of green organizing. (Sign up for my talk!)

Tagged with: autofocus, balance, nick cernis, productivity, simplicty, time management, to-do list, todoodlist

Comments