Merlin Mann and the Hipster PDA

I’m a very big fan of Merlin Mann of 43folders, especially for his writings and talks about David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system as well as Merlin’s Inbox Zero methodology. But one of my favorite “techie” things is the Hipster PDA.

This is really nothing new but I find that in addition to all of the different tech toys that I have a slightly unhealthy obsession, the addition of the Hipster PDA to my arsenal about 9 months ago has proven very valuable.

It’s a stack of 3×5 cards and a pen.

Actually for me, it is several well placed stacks of 3×5 cards (in my car, on my desk at work, on my desk at home) plus this portable leather “jotter” from Staples which is much more comfortable than a binder clip in my pants. I also have a compact pen pen that is always with the jotter.

Since I “process” the cards from it (GTD), I also keep any receipts in there, rather than make my wallet expand.

I’ve turned a few people on to this, some techies and some not. My biggest surprise was that I’ve actually gotten more use and happiness from my gadgets with this around. I don’t try to make the gadgets do things that they are not suited to do.

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