Merlin, I appreciate your honesty in admitting what did and didn’t work for you. One of the most enjoyable facets of this site has been watching you rigorously examine what works and why.

And one of the enjoyable things about the comments is examining where people prefer paper or digital tools for productivity optimization.

To my surprise, I found that managing things in Levenger’s circadex pocket address books was the easiest way to manage contact information with people. Two separate books (different colored-covers): one for work and one for not-work. Contact categories set up for each. Entries color-coded according to category. Pop and reshuffle as needed. For me, it was faster than keeping a digital database, and it quickly solved cross-compatibility problems and data duplication issues between the WinBlowz PC I have to use at work and my beloved G4 iBook at home.

It’s surprising sometimes to see where paper works. And I do like that 43 Folders embraces low-tech hacks too.