My Moleskine Method

I finally figured out how I wanted to use my Moleskine. It’s not an elaborate hack, it’s just a system. For those of you less inclined toward the complexity of the hPDA, here’s a way to make use of a very beautiful, very sexy notebook while keeping organized and working with whatever computer based system you’ve chosen…

The Notebook

I used 3M 1” Durable Tabs to separate the pages into 3 groups: Inbox, Lists and Notes.

The Inbox contains any item from any context and any project that comes up while I’m away from my computer. It gets out of my head and into a place I’ll know to look for it. Back at my computer, I use quicksilver to drop the tasks quickly into iGTD, making quick determinations as to whether each one should be a task or a project. Once it’s been entered, it gets crossed off in the notebook. Sometimes I get things done before they make it back to iGTD. I put an X to the left of those items in the Moleskine and enter them anyway so that my completed folder in iGTD has a complete list of tasks I’ve finished in it.

The Lists section contains, you guessed it, lists. All kinds of lists. But not to-do lists. Just lists of things that I need to keep a running tally of in my everyday life. Grocery lists (especially repeating items), movies friends have recommended (with a note about who to blame when it’s a stinker), etc. 1 list per page, with a headline at the top of each page for easy reference.

The Notes section is for freeform brainstorming. It’s not for meeting notes, or client notes, or anything that will have a specific project referenced to it. It’s my place to write ideas, thoughts, draw mindmaps, etc.

I went to the trouble to number the pages (well, the odd ones) of my first Moleskine. I may not in the future. The idea was to be able to add page references to lists and notes in projects/tasks in iGTD for reference. I haven’t used it yet, but might. We’ll see.

The Folder

This has got to be my favorite part of the system. It was suggested to me in the comments on an earlier post that I put index cards in the folder of the Moleskine. This was a brilliant idea. I use one index card each time I meet with a client. Their name goes in the upper right hand corner and notes go from left to right, top to bottom in two columns, front and back of the card. Add cards as necessary, labeling them as 1/2, 2/2, etc. At the end of the meeting they go back in the folder. Any action items that come up during the meeting go in the inbox. Reference items are gathered on the card. Once a project is started and has its own physical folder, I can move the card into that folder and put it in my desktop filing system until the project is complete. But until then, I’ve got a mini-file of recent meetings in my pocket. It’s got business cards with it, notes about the estimates I gave and deadlines we set, client expectations, and general reference items. I can answer a phone call at any coffeehouse and be prepared to discuss changes with almost any current client.

I keep a couple of my own business cards tucked in the front of the Moleskine. I always seem to be short when I actually need one, so that’s my emergency stash. It’s serving me extremely well.

I’m also really, really excited about the next release of iGTD. There are a ton of new features being promised, and some of the rough screenshots of the new UI are looking really great. If you haven’t checked it out already, be sure to at least give it a look-over.