Staying Organized by Writing Things Down

Chris Guillebeau blogs at The Art of Non-Conformity and has written a book by the same name — while traveling constantly. ... Guillebeau’s favorite tool is a paper notebook. “I try to avoid keeping things in my head… so I carry the notebook everywhere.” [from Favorite Tools from 9 Exceptionally Productive People, at Distracted Enterprise]

I've long been a fan of what the Getting Things Done community calls the "ubiquitous capture tool" - whatever it is you carry with you, all the time, to capture those random ideas that pop into your head, or commitments you've made, or anything else you need to remember. This tool could be a voice recorder, an app on your smartphone - or some sort of paper note-taking device.

For years I've been happily using Levenger's pocket briefcase, as I've noted before. There are many different styles; some come with pens, and others (like mine) do not.




But at the organizer's conference I just attended, I saw another interesting option - the NotableXchange from KC Streamline Concepts. You can see I chose one that matches my iPhone case; the bright color makes it easy to find in my purse. It had a bad off-gassing odor when I first removed it from its packaging, but the odor went away within a day.




Another similar option, available in leather or cloth, is the GTD NoteTaker Wallet from the David Allen Company.




For an extremely small note-taking device, there's the PicoPad - available through Bas Bleu and other sources.

And of course you could simply carry some sort of notebook, as Chris does; there are many great choices if you want to go that route.

Categories: GTD , organizing products