Creating a Moleskine PDA
September 21, 2007
Click the image to enlarge
I love organizing things - creating more organization in my life. When I was in Idaho, I used an old Palm Pilot for awhile, and then used a Sony CLIÉ for awhile. So I love to be organized and I also love the newest tech gadgets. However, there is a movement of folks who are striving to get back to a paper-based system, one that helps enable creativity for some. It’s based on a book called Getting Things Done and the movement is called GTD. Many people have “hacked” Moleskines to be their GTD-devices, their PDAs. My friend Wess wrote about how he organized his Student GTD version here and I was intrigued. I love Moleskines - I have a few, and I use a couple of the super-thin ones for notes sometimes, but it would be nice to have it all in one place.
To be honest, after reading this and this, I became more confused. It seems there is definitely a learning curve within this community - some lingo that is required. But Wess encouraged me to just keep on keepin’ on and I put together a little GTD Moleskine of my own (pictured above). You can see what supplies I used here - but it did include my favorite pen, the Zebra F-402.
Sarah thinks I’ll last maybe 3 weeks using this system - I’m giving myself till the end of the semester. I think I can do it - and hopefully it will help me stay a bit more organized.
Tags: Getting-Things-Done, GTD, Moleskine, Moleskine-Hacks, Organization, PDA
Posted in General, Technology ShareThis
Adam Walker Cleaveland: I am a 28 year old 
September 21st, 2007 at 10:21 am
Nice Adam! I used to have a Clie as well. This works just as well! ;)
September 21st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Somehow I’ve collected at least a dozen Moleskins over the past couple years in every size and every variation. I’ve just failed to use them and so they’ve been filling a storage box in my office. Little did I know I was sitting on a techno goldmine! A simple and brilliant idea!
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Wow. This appeals to my organizational-nerdiness in a huge way. Moleskine PDA, where have you been all my life?
September 26th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
what size moleskin do you use for this?
September 26th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Pocket-sized bro. Pocket sized.
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 am
a long long time ago i bought a handspring visor thinking it would change my life. i used it for about a week before i gave it away to my sister. i’m going out to get a moleskin tomorrow. btw, i came across your site searching for a wordpress theme. nice job on cleaker 2.1. oh, and i also went to pts (mdiv 2000).
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Adam, way cool! I’m loving my Moleskine PDA these days — been using it over a year and it works really well. For more info on my approach:
http://www.plannerhack.com
Have fun with it and remember that you need to set it to suit your needs, whatever they may be… :-)