Try these for starters:

http://www.jerrybrito.com/blog/000458.shtml

http://pigpog.com/node/1030

Oz:

There are a few resources out there to start thinking about such a system. Some jumping off points:

PigPogPDA Moleskine Hacks - 43 Folders Google: moleskine hack

My own system is notebook based, a self-evolved thing influenced by the above links. I desperately want to write all about it, but right now I have hard landscape to deal with.

Good luck!

Bill Kracke
www.billkracke.com

Thanks for the tips! I had heard about "PigPog" PDA, but hadn't put it together. The tabs hack is a good idea. Many other useful hacks too.

I can see how you could "flag" your next actions with re-stick tags. Cool. :D In fact, I can see the whole pocket notebook thing working ok as a "next action tracking and capture system."

What I don't get is this: if you have your pocket notebook set up as a GTD system with pages for projects and other pages for contexts, do you write an action twice and check it off twice? i.e. once in the list of project tasks and once in the appropriate context?:confused:

Still confused,
Oz

Now that I think about it listing next actions on your to-do list and under projects seems unorthodox. I always understood the "projects" section to really just be a list of projects that you have open.

Ah, I get it now. Projects are like big next-actions made up of increments, and when you've done all the increments you can check it off like on your to-do list.

So, it's up to you. I kind of like the idea of having my "projects" consist of separate pages instead of a list and using those pages for brainstorming. Then you can generate next actions from there.

I asked the exact same question to Emory about possible redundancy regarding lists of items under each project and having the same stuff listed as Next Actions. His idea works for me:

Have a list of Projects with the necessary steps beneath each Project, yet without a context assigned to them. Then, when you are ready to actually get to work on a project, you "promote" one of the tasks beneath the project to your NA list and assign it a context then.

I use my moleskine very simply. The front is my inbox, where I scribble down anything that I want to pick up on later. I also sometimes write ideas, short stories, shopping lists and such into my inbox area and mark the entry with a yellow post-it tab (I some stuck into my front cover). The tab reminds me to go back and reread it later, at which point I can decide whether it is worth copying somewhere more permanent.

I also use the back of the moleskine, rotated upside-down, as my calendar. I use half a page per day and copy my 'hard landscape' for the next week or two on Mondays.

Finally, I have all of my next action contexts on 3x5 cards stored in the little pocket. Ok, that means that I am not purely using the moleskine for GTD but I find index cards much more useful than pages. For a start, I can scan more than on index card at a time, depending on my location. For example, in the office I can have my computer, phone, and office contexts in front of me without having to flip pages.

This could be true depending on how you do your project planning. You have to write down the steps required to complete a project somewhere. If you just have a list of projects, you will likely have a section of a notebook or a file folder for project support material and this will include planning notes. If you don't keep a list of projects as "meta-actions" then you don't keep your planning notes with your support materials but on the project's card. Hope this makes sense.

This guy has put up a couple of nice posts on how he uses a notebook for GTD:

http://www.emaginacion.com.ar/cym/tims-moleskine-hack/ http://www.emaginacion.com.ar/cym/open-thread-tim-moleskine-hack/