Enjoying my new approach to a todo list

After reading 'Getting Things Done' (GTD) and realizing that the book basically did what I thought was reasonable, but with a few refinements, I decided to try to come up with a new way to handle my todo list. Being a heavy computer user I initially searched around for OS X applications that implemented what GTD suggested. But I didn't find anything free nor exactly what I was looking for.

That segued into trying to scratch my own itch and contemplating writing my own todo list app. I took this on as my first real GUI application to write. But that quickly sank when I discovered wxPython under OS X is kind of buggy and the book 'wxPython in Action' explains things in a way that just doesn't work for me (by example instead of by fundamentals).

At that point I just needed something, so I created a Google doc that consisted of a bunch of header sections and bulleted lists. It worked well enough as I kept a bookmark to the doc in my browser. But scanning through it didn't motivate me to get stuff done. And deleting a line and typing in a new one when I had a multi-step project was just not satisfying enough to motivate me to get a bunch of todo items done in a day.

That's when I started to think about a dead-tree solution. I skipped right over the PDA idea as I had been there before and I didn't want another device to maintain, let alone having another technological dependence in my life. Plus I didn't need another bulky thing to keep in my pocket. But the issue I always had with planners was they tended to have more than I needed (e.g., a calendar section when all I wanted was todo items that had no hard deadline). Plus I didn't want to be beholden to a manufacturer's custom paper refill.

And that is when I came across the Hipster PDA. Using the magic of 3x5 cards and binder clips, I had found a solution that was based in the physical world that used generic parts. I already had a bunch of binder clips so that was simple. I didn't want to colour coordinate as I was worried I would over-optimize on the colours or feel restricted in the categories I could create for todo items based on how many colours I had. So I decided to go with mint green for category cards and to write todos on white ones. Then I use an individual binder clip for each category. Each binder clip is then connected on to a single binder ring to keep them together.

So far it has worked out well. I write a todo item on a card, along with a project name if it is part of a larger project and thus consists of multiple todo items, and stick it in a category. I can then just pick up the binder ring and flip through the categories and cards to see what todo items I feel up for completing. I then pull them out, stick them down in front of me and do them. Once complete they go into the shredder.

Having the todo items easily accessible and quick to flip through has been key. The barrier of entry of just casually looking for one to do is very low. Plus having a physical 3x5 card to shred when something is done is very satisfying and acts as a motivator to get more done.

I am now experimenting with using a single binder clip, though, instead of the binder ring of multiple clips. I have split my categories in half and trying both approaches out at once. We will see if the space savings and being more wieldy makes up for the ease of flipping to a specific category.