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43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Hipster PDA: Why?

What is the advantage of the hPDA? I've looked through a great deal of sites that concern themselves with the hipster or variants thereof. Most of them deal with the construction of the hipster, and the physical advantages it offers. So what's the advantage of the hipster otherwise? I understand what to use it for, I just don't see a huge advantage over the cheaper prebound option of a memo book. You know, those tiny little spiral notebooks that cost a few cents? They fit in a front pocket better, and are already ruled vertically. They have a hole punched already, so if need be, any tear-outs can be consolidated. They can't be re-organized, but if that's the only advantage the hPDA offers over the memo book, is it really worth it? You pay the price in the danger of losing all your cards when you remove the clip. One bump on the train, and it's 52 pick-up time. I'm not trying to nay-say the hPDA, I truly want to know.

randellt's picture

Great points made here that...

Great points made here that make me see the value of the hPDA more than when I first tried it out.

I found it difficult to keep the ~50 projects I do and oversee and the ~500 next and pending NAs spread over those projects in an hPDA because I was spending more time re-writing and shuffling than I spent doing the things on the cards.

I suspect I did something fundamentally wrong, but from what I see here on the board and elsewhere the hPDA and 3x5 cards are exceedingly useful to people.

For capture and ultra-light list portability I use 3x5 cards. Most of my input is a Moleskine for meeting notes that I process for NAs and direct input into MyLifeOrganized.

No one system is perfect out of the box. You have to tweak it to fit your needs and your style. I was on the hunt for the "One System" to rule them all (and in the darkness bind them :) ) since first reading GTD in early 2002. I thought the right system would save me and cure my procrastination. When I finally admitted it is *me* that controls what *I* do, I realized the physical manifestation of one's system matters far less than the personal commitment to developing it and using it.

Stick with it. Your interest and determination are your best allies in pursuing this goal.

 
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