I've just bought a paper planner for 2006. I do most of my planning on paper these days. Don't get me wrong. I write for tech magazines and I love, love, love technology. I'm never happier than when I'm tinkering with my computers or trying out a new piece of software.
Unfortunately I spend a lot of time tinkering with my planning systems, too, time when I should and could be getting more writing done. As Douglas Johnston of DIY Planner says about his own habits and those of a colleague using a paper planner, you can spend a lot of time tinkering with your systems:
While I would carefully set up my list of 50-odd next actions, prioritising them, categorising them, setting alarms, and syncing between all the technology tools I had at my fingertips, Bettina would just glance at her book and get things done. This is not to say I was a slacker -- on the contrary, I did manage to plough through an extraordinary amount of work and training-- but a certain needless percentage of my time was spent tweaking my productivity system and trying to make it all work smoothly as a whole, mostly after-hours.
I still use MS Outlook, Tinderbox, and OmniOutliner, not to mention BackPack, and couldn't stay organized without them, but paper helps me to organize myself, the tech tools organize my tasks.
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