I’ve flip-flopped between PDA and PAA, using three different DayRunners and three different models of Palm Pilots. I do still try to use my Agendus software on my laptop, and still find myself neglecting things because the electronic medium is not so readily accessible, and I can’t be bothered to power up my laptop to access my lists and/or schedule, on occasion, to my detriment. And despite numerous attempts to utilize the Palm in every day jotting down of things in general, the device just doesn’t have enough room on the screen to display what I need displayed, or doesn’t lend itself to just being a quick note, but rather a process of turning it on, going to my memo application, open a new memo… by the time I start typing or entering via my stylus, I could have taken out a piece of paper and written down what I needed to.

After reading the many responses to the article, I think I will try going back to paper-pen for a while. I just find I go back to electronic form when I get sick of my inconsistent handwriting (neat at first, messy by the end), or its not utilized in an interactive way that gives me that zen-like feeling of being in control. So wish me luck… I hope to find a PAA system that works better than my attempts in the past…

For long-term planning, I use index cards on a board or wall for long-range, and outliner software for task breakdowns. The outliners I’ve liked are Ecco Pro, Word, Frontier, and Omni Outliner.

For note taking, I use a cheap spiral-bound notebooks. Everything goes in there. For long-term notes, password lists, etc, I have a small stack of index cards, bound with a metal ring. They are printed with data from word processor files.