The way I see things is that you don't always need your planner with you, but you should always try to have an Ubiquitous Capture Tool (UCT) with you. Now, this is different for a lot of people. Some people carry voice recorders, or a small stack of index cards or post-its, etc. I myself usually try to ensure I've got my pocket Moleskine handy for those things I need to capture ASAP. Then, when I get to where I've got an inbox, I process the entries just like everything else. I find, I don't always need all my lists, calendar, etc, with me everywhere, so this works best.

HTH.

Adam

Yes, the pocket moleskine for capture is great. But another point is having your context list with you when you're in that context. Your "@Errands" context list does no good if it's in your planner when you are running errands. Of course The David offers the example of having a few minutes in a waiting room and checking off something from your @phone list. So I have both my capture and my Contexts list in my Moleskine. My projects and support materials live in my planner.

David Allen suggests that you should have some sort of capture/collection tool with you at all times. In the out-of-print "GTD Fast" audio program, he explains the NoteTaker Wallet that way. "I'm not going to take this [pad/folio] with me. The dork factor is too high. Instead..." and then he elaborates on the goodness of the NoteTaker Wallet as a ubiquitous capture tool.

All your notes should go into your inbox for processing, so you can take notes on anything you like. :)

..I get that carrying an index card or something like that helps in capturing the new material (I can also see I didn't write the question very well, sorry), but keeping the context lists with you to make effective time of sitting in traffic or riding the train, etc. is what I'm struggling with.

I think these posts have all nailed it pretty well. Personally, I carry with me a Shirt Pocket Briefcase for capture and contexts. It serves as a satellite to my main planner. I think it helps to review frequently so as not to have to carry a lot around. I will generally know my schedule for the next few days off the top of my head, so I can commit to things without consulting the planner.

I do carry my planner everywhere, for the reasons others talked about:
o capture tool (thoughts, names, phone numbers, 6YO daughter doodling, etc.)
o Errands context

In addition, carrying it with me brings peace of mind - it allows me to check my calendar to verify I shouldn't be doing something else. I know my brain well enough to realize it might "up and bite me," so I need to be prepared to put it at ease.

Another thing that's useful is the phone numbers in it, although many people now have those on their cells.

[more thinking...] I also carry printed "drops in the bucket" to share with people (http://www.bucketbook.com/drops/print.aspx).

Cheers!

The glory of the Hipster PDA is that you can carry your planner in your pocket. Lists, calendar, capture device--all in one 3' x 5' x 1/3' package.

And you can mix and match. After a lot of experimentation, I've finally settled on a 2nd project support Hipster, organized alphabetically by project. I carry this in my bag during the day, take it out and put it on my desk next to my main hipster when I get home. (The main hipster travels in my pocket).

If I'm heading out without a bag, then I simply pull out whatever project support cards I plan on needing during the day and put them in my main hipster. So I can travel as heavy or as light as you want.

And, what makes this technology superior to an electronic PDA, is that you can always keep a loose 3 x 5 card handy for capture--so you don't have to pull out the whole hipster.

The downside: for the whole system to work, you need a pretty rigorous processing regimen. But since this is an important part of GTD, I prefer a technology that actually forces me to process.

..Outlook. I didn't find 3.5x5 cards and they would work better but you may like this anyway. I bought blank 3x5s and then experimented with Outlook print output adjusting the page setup for both the weekly calendar and task pages.

For tasks I found if you:

• select "Page Setup" then on the "Format" tab changed the two Font settings to 6pt (just type it in);

• then on the "Paper" tab in the "Paper Type" section select 3.5x5;

• in the "Page Size" section select 3.5x5 instead of the default 3.5x5 in half;

• in "Orientation" select Landscape;

• finally, in "Margins" make Top .75 and the other three margins .25. Look at the Print Preview and see if you don't find this useful.

I did the same for the calendar weekly page setup and was very happy with the result.

Thanks for all the help. I have my Moleskine (the new 3 small ones) and my 3x5s and feel armed for the week. Take care....

I thikn its a good idea... its a smart thing... tha way you?ll never forget what you have to do...

My current practice is a Moleskine, which I use both as general capture tool (front) and an NA (context) list storage (from the back backwards). Somewhere among the Moleskine hacks at 43folders I got the idea to use small index stickers for each context list: I can open up the Moleskine at the right context in a flash. (The stickers I marked with little icons that show the context, eg. a little house for @home.)

My problem remains that my calendar is online...