My Top 5 Free and Cheap Productivity Tools
Today’s “Geek To Live” over at LifeHacker.com lists 10 Top Free and Cheap Productivity Tools. It’s an interesting read, but I don’t agree 100% with the list, I do however agree with the principle - “Free and Cheap” is a good thing, in fact it sums up most of my entire “Getting Things Done” solution, here’s what’s in my top 5 tools right now.
- Pen and Paper
Don’t leave home without it, in fact, don’t leave the room without it. You want to capture that flash of inspiration you had while waiting for your cup of tea to brew without having to hunt down materials to do so. - D*I*Y Planner or Filofax
In theory, I love the idea of a D*I*Y planner. In practice, I use a Filofax (A5 Logic Zip) with a few sheets from D*I*Y Planner to complement it. I did try to use non-Filofax binders, but there is such a lack of consistency in “contents”. With a Filofax I know I can pick up a new calendar refill each year, without trouble, and I can’t see myself printing, cutting and punching my own diary. The cost of paper, ink and time just makes it ineffective. But for additional sheets, D*I*Y Planner is invaluable. - Pocket Diary
Carrying an A5 binder that contains your whole life is not ideal, so I picked up a Filofax pocket diary, that doubles up as my wallet so I always have a quick reference of my diary, somewhere to collect notes. - I have mixed feelings about it currently, usually depending on my trouser pockets and how tight they are. Keeping it in sync with my main diary is sadly a memory job currently, something I need to address. - Post-It Notes
I collect most of my “Next Actions” on Post-It notes that I then stick to a pair of section dividers in my Filofax, or to my monitor edge for the one’s I’m actively working on so I always have an at a glance view of my work load. - An Inbox
I use an old sweet tin from Christmas as an inbox, it’s an odd shape and so after a while it becomes very difficult to stack extra things in, which prevents over filling and forces me to process it. I’d love to say I use this correctly, but I don’t nearly enough at present.
What I don’t have yet, and what oddly the Lifehacker list also missed, was a Whiteboard - something which is currently top of my to-buy list. (Well, a Nintendo DS lite is top… but the whiteboard is second, and practical to boot) and maybe index Cards might get a look in, but they come more under pen and paper.
