GTD advises those that practice it to empty their minds often. If you suddenly get a great idea or if just remembered something that you must do, you have to write it down somewhere as soon as that comes into your head. Not only will it be less likely to be forgotten, it will also free your mind to think about stuff that you actually enjoy thinking about.
The problem with this advice is that most of those ideas pop up when you’re on the go, and thus requires you to bring a portable note taking tool with you always. Ticklers or small notebooks are often too bulky to fit in your pocket, while PDAs and smartphones are often too expensive for such a simple task.
Enter the Hipster PDA.
The Hipster PDA (Parietal Disgorgement Aid) is a fully extensible system for coordinating incoming and outgoing data for any aspect of your life and work. It scales brilliantly, degrades gracefully, supports optional categories and “beaming,” and is configurable to an unlimited number of options. Best of all, the Hipster PDA fits into your hip pocket and costs practically nothing to purchase and maintain. Let’s make one together.
Tongue-in-cheek introduction aside, I’ve personally used a hipster PDA back when I still had to both remind myself of my upcoming tasks and jot down random bits of short-lived information (i.e. back when I was still employed). That PDA is the one on the picture above.
Being an “extensible” tool, everyone has their own way of using their hipster PDA. The following arrangement worked for me:
- Use 4 x 6 index cards cut in half. This reduces the “footprint” of the tool and the orientation of the guide lines allow me to write on it at a more natural upright position.
- One side of the PDA is used for work related stuff while the other side is for personal stuff.
- Once a leaf is too cluttered, I transfer the pending (non-crossed out) tasks to the next leaf. I then move the old leaf to the center of the PDA to fill up space and for reference.
