So imagine my surprise when I came across/read this blog post:

https://medium.com/internet-artist-collective/the-simplest-combo-to-maximize-productivity-6bd29c96eed4

that I actually tried something very similar (my own creation) with index cards in 2020.

I was stunned that someone actually had already turned this into a product!

https://ugmonk.com/pages/analog#container_36aa62a9-883b-4ffc-acea-324c27791ee0 (video).

Great minds think alike! ; - )

This is interesting. I’m going to give it a whirl.

I've tried a lot of notecard-based systems (both hard copy and digital), and find that hard copy note quickly get covered with all the crap that hits my desk, then are past due when I dig down to them. Bullet Journal works better as it is harder to lose. I'm not ready to spend $80 or so on a nice wooden card holder.

The digital notecards are nice, but aren't accessible if they are not iOS-based as well as Mac-based. Taskheat came up on this forum a while back, and now it is both OSX and iOS, so I'll give it a try.

I've been doing something similar for some years. Not the Ivy Lee method - that's far too restrictive for me and would tie me up instead of liberating me - but the "Analog" system, using cards containing appointments and tasks for the day on the desk in front of me. My "cards", though, are dated (someday events are written on paper elsewhere), so I have the today and tomorrow cards on my desk. And my system is a LOT cheaper - I use scraps of paper cut to A7 size. That system works great for me - being able to see what's planned for the day without having to try to find/open/scan/scroll etc. is great.

The Analog hardware does look nice if you want to spend money making your desktop look snazzy, though ... :-)

I have been heading this way for some time, but it now seems a bit like this method has become FOTM. MS To Do has a similar feature built in where it requires you to add items to your "My Day" list and then it clears out the list at the end of each day (a "feature" that would drive me crazy). As I mentioned in a recent thread, I have been using Kanbanflow in this manner alongside Clickup. This is a much more fluid approach IMHO, and I like using it, but I have not seen how well it holds up when things get really crazy.

--Ken

Index cards are nice. I always carry a pocket index card wallet for quick notes. Shirt pocket sized pads bug me because I hate to waste a sheet out of a limited resource. I can go through two or three index cards a day and never hit bottom. Just keep ten or so in the wallet, and all's well.

Markology might appeal to you too, or possibly QwikCards (both of them cross-platform macOS/iOS). The very amiable developer of QwikCards is currently rewriting it from scratch in Swift, but the app is already pretty powerful and nice to use. Markology is really a Zettelkasten system with tags and back-linking; it’s a great alternative to The Archive.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

I've tried a lot of notecard-based systems (both hard copy and digital),
and find that hard copy note quickly get covered with all the crap that
hits my desk, then are past due when I dig down to them. Bullet Journal
works better as it is harder to lose. I'm not ready to spend $80 or so
on a nice wooden card holder.

The digital notecards are nice, but aren't accessible if they are not
iOS-based as well as Mac-based. Taskheat came up on this forum a while
back, and now it is both OSX and iOS, so I'll give it a try.

IRONY ALERT!!! After reading all the replies I had a brain flash! Many, many years ago I got in the habit of using index cards at work. I liked using them for various tasks, notes, etc. But they got a little out of hand until I found this product: Bomber Jacket International Pocket Briefcase

https://www.levenger.com/stationery-notebooks-322/pocket-briefcases-763/bomber-jacket-international-pocket-briefcase-5465.aspx

As time went by at work, PC and network software improved and I used index cards less and less until I went totally digital. (FYI I went digging around my storage boxes and found it!!! It's like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in years!)

The Whole Earth catalog was onto that a decade ago (and their recommendations repeat-filter out through the Recommendo site from that mag's Kevin Kelly)

https://kk.org/cooltools/levenger-pocket/

And every few months it seems someone rediscovers index card BuJos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acqA2MvlXqU

I know this will shock everyone, but I have one of those too! I've never used it... also shocking.

bartb wrote:

IRONY ALERT!!! After reading all the replies I had a brain flash! Many,
many years ago I got in the habit of using index cards at work. I liked
using them for various tasks, notes, etc. But they got a little out of
hand until I found this product: Bomber Jacket International Pocket
Briefcase

https://www.levenger.com/stationery-notebooks-322/pocket-briefcases-763/bomber-jacket-international-pocket-briefcase-5465.aspx

As time went by at work, PC and network software improved and I used
index cards less and less until I went totally digital. (FYI I went
digging around my storage boxes and found it!!! It's like meeting an old
friend you haven't seen in years!)

I have one of the non-bomber variants. Office Depot sells a version that's about $8 (Oxford something-or-other).

Rite in the Rain has a more outdoorsy version. That's actually my index card EDC. I guess that makes me a true nerd.



bartb wrote:

hand until I found this product: Bomber Jacket International Pocket
Briefcase

https://www.levenger.com/stationery-notebooks-322/pocket-briefcases-763/bomber-jacket-international-pocket-briefcase-5465.aspx

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I know this will shock everyone, but I have one of those too! I've never
used it... also shocking.

You're the one who coined the term CRIMPing.
No, I am not shocked, I am not even astonished. :-D

Heh heh heh… ;-)

Franz Grieser wrote:

You're the one who coined the term CRIMPing.
No, I am not shocked, I am not even astonished. :-D

What's worse, I covet the little box this Analog uses... but I'm really not going to buy it just for that.

Just for an experiment, I thought I'd try to recreate the Analog method in Milanote. If you're interested, my initial attempt can be found here:

https://app.milanote.com/1LyzRC1uJVWYax?p=z1bTssRM9db

Use the password: Outliners



Franz Grieser wrote:

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I know this will shock everyone, but I have one of those too! I've
never
>used it... also shocking.

You're the one who coined the term CRIMPing.
No, I am not shocked, I am not even astonished. :-D

I've become attached to using an all-purpose electronic Inbox into which I can enter or voice-transcribe ideas and tasks while on the go, and then sort them into task lists later. When I'm sitting at my desk I'll make thoughtful lists and sublists, but most of my tasks are entered on my phone, usually while in the midst of walking or doing something else. Quick creation, easy organizing.

Index cards could also be used, but not as elegantly or as quickly.

What's a little strange to me is how the idea of a general Inbox repository is ignored by the main OS makers: neother Apple Reminders, Microsoft To Do, nor Google Keep implement it, requiring you to put tasks into a list, which adds friction when trying to just jot something down. (And the less said about the dog's breakfast of Google Tasks the better.)

I use index cards on a corkboard because there's nothing I've found that duplicated the ability to stand back and see the flow of a book in terms of chapters and a beat-sheet, color-coded by character POV, with color-markings delineating subplots. Seeing the same thing on the screen just doesn't work for me.

But with a phone on my person at all times, there's no reason for me to use index cards for notes and tasks.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

What's worse, I covet the little box this Analog uses... but I'm really
not going to buy it just for that.

Just for an experiment, I thought I'd try to recreate the Analog method
in Milanote. If you're interested, my initial attempt can be found here:

https://app.milanote.com/1LyzRC1uJVWYax?p=z1bTssRM9db

Use the password: Outliners

This looks almost identical to my Kanbanflow board that I described. I like it because it has almost no friction in use, and I can color the tasks so I can quickly see which ones are in progress, which are urgent and which are on hold. Coloring is not necessary, but sometimes very helpful as I can see things at a glance quite easily since the whole card is colored and not just a band on the edge.

--Ken

Hm, there is something ridiculously attractive about neat little boxes or cases – we humans seem to love containers of all sorts, including notebooks (containers of mystic writings).

I’ve got a number of pocket-sized notebooks from the Troika series (easy to find on Amazon), which come complete with even more collectible tiny, tiny pens. It’s the wardrobe equivalent of CRIMPing, I guess.

… I hasten to add that I do use my Troika notebooks! Sometimes it’s just more convenient to jot something down than whisk out the iPhone and start tapping.