Paper and Pixels: Tips for Combining Methods

The last installment looked at examples of digital and hardcopy organizational methods, used in combination.

1. Print out to-do lists, mindmaps and action plans. Having them in tangible form makes them more real, and allows items to be added on the fly.

• 2. Type handwritten notes into the appropriate software. It’s repetitive, but the process forces me to review the ideas, with the added benefit that notes/tasks are more likely to sink in and be remembered.

3. Scan in notes/sketches, and attach them to the appropriate project. Most task managers, (including my favorite ListPro)allow links to other files. Some, like Evernote, can import a scan directly into a note, and the pro version even does handwriting recognition, making scanned handwritten notes searchable.

A few more tips:

• If you organize best on the computer, but are more likely to work with or review a physical list, go with it. Print your task list.
  —-Include reminders about related electronic files
  —-Make checking your digital organization tools one of your listed tasks/action items.
• If you think best in long hand,, but review your digital information managers more frequently, transfer hand written notes into them. —-Include references to the related physical files/inboxes, etc.
  —-Make reviewing/sorting folders an action item/task.
• Don’t overdo it!
  —-If a paper note doesn’t need to be digitized, don’t bother converting it.
  —-If you don’t need a printout of a list, don’t make one.
  —-If you’re fine with having a file folder for your receipts, don’t scan them in.
  
  It can be really tempting to over organize, but by try to convert too much, or work against your natural work habits, and you’ll only confuse matters, bog down the workflow, and waste a heck of a lot of time.

Remember: Even if you converted every last bit of information into digital or paper form, you would still need a combined method. Personal Information Mangers will never replace your brain.

MindTweak: Your own mind is your best organizational tool:
organize accordingly.

Related Links:

• Paper or Pixels? Choosing A Productivity Preference
• Paper & Pixels: Combined Productivity Methods, Already In Place

Link Part One

Link Part Three