Thank you for the site. I now just need to keep up with school assignments and I will be able to keep organized at least a little. I am taking a humanities course from Medial ages to the 19th century. I am going to check out the site now.

Quote

Thanks so much! I will check it out!

Quote

what do others think about Life Balance? I just got a palm z22 to try to help keep up with stuff. I did a trial of Agendus and it was ok, but I want to know what others think about PDA organizing software.

thanks nicole

Quote

Now that a few months have gone by, I have two questions.

1) How is this working today for those who have it?

2) Will this work on my iPAQ with Windows Mobile? I am about to shop for a new PDA, so if Life Balance works well, I could change to Palm. I might anyhow.

Calvin

Quote

I have a Palm Zire I don't remember which number off-hand. I tried Life Balance and it just didn't work for me. I think it was too linear for my zig-zag brain! I integrated my PDA with my Microsoft Outlook and have been ok so far. I've color-coded (you just need to match up categories in Palm with labels in outlook) my kids and my husband, as well as various other dates and appointments so everything is nicely coordinated between my PDA and my home computer. I'm a bit inconsistent still with keeping my lists all on my PDA, but I'm getting there. My big challenge is remembering to check both my calendar and my to do list everyday! I still like to have something on paper from time to time, and using Outlook allows me to print out my calendar and to-do list on one page in a format I like (I didn't like the Palm printouts).

I'm interested in trying the Franklin Covey software for Outlook because it can be interegated with the PDA -- I like being able to create "project" categories for my lists, which this does, and I like the Franklin Covey planning approach. They have a trial version, I just need to figure out how to schedule some time to do this!

I hope this is helpful.

Quote

I had two different Palm models. It didn't work for me because you couldn't see the whole month view with the viewable notations. You had to click on it to read what was in the day. I need to be able to see it all at once.

I've tried the Franklin/Covey planners, and end up only using the double-paged month calendar. The writing down everything on the daily sheets became to tedious for me.

Most recently I"m trying a full-sized calendar book that has the weeks, one per double page, with the days noted in 15 min. increments. My goal is to use this not only for scheduling my weekly schedule (appointments - I'm a school social worker) but also to have all my meetings in there and to-do items.

So far, I've not been consistent enough for anything. For me though, I think my last "system" is the one that has the most hope of working. I just need to remember to WRITE THINGS DOWN in it instead of just throwing the post-it notes or memos inside of it to eventually write down... I've missed things at work and its been bad, and embarrassing...

I believe this is my most difficult chore: to find something that works and then stick with it consistently! Well, onwards and hopefully, upwards!

Happy '08 to you all - lets make it great. :)

Quote

Hi I just joined this forum and your message has me written all over it. I think you are on the right track with the written calendar. I've tried it all, as well, with little or no luck on the follow through. My best organization came from a very small 2 year planner with good sized dailly blocks and and note lines along side. It also had an address and note section (and a blank inner cover. You can pick one up at any dollar store and the covers are soooo cute. Still after 2 years, I keep it in my purse. It has all my family's, doctors', friends', and drug store phone numbers. No one looks at it but me so I don't have to be that neat. I have since switched to an Outlook program that works with my phone/pda. Over the 2 years, I was able to enter in my information (not all at once). The pda works great because I use the notify 15 minutes prior to all my appointments. I can see the whole month on the computer and the pda shows each day's appointments (things to do) from the night before. It does take a while to switch over to electronics, but with 2 years always in my purse, it's was possible. Good Luck.

Quote

Nicole, I have had a Palm for about 3 years. I would not live without it. I sync it with my computer so it's on my computer as well as my Palm - I've actually upgraded to a Motorola Q so that my Palm is part of my phone and I always have it with me.

The great thing is if I get an e-mail about a meeting, I can copy and paste it right in my Palm and I have it all right there. When I have to do a presentation, I can even paste directions to the city that I'm traveling too. That way I don't have to remember a "piece of paper". It's always right there with me.

I use the reminders ALL the time. If I have a presentation in a month, I'll have it remind me 1 week ahead so that I can get the materials together (and not wait to the last minute).

I would not know what to do without mine.

Quote:

Misscole said: what do others think about Life Balance? I just got a palm z22 to try to help keep up with stuff. I did a trial of Agendus and it was ok, but I want to know what others think about PDA organizing software.

thanks nicole

Quote

After trying every organizational product and method invented since I was born, I've found only 2 things I can count on.

1. PDAs are great for carrying around limitless info in a small, light object. 2. Paper is critical but my methods change as I do.

Re PDAs, I can keep all the phone numbers, messages and info and emails (copied into Notes), etc. I will ever need, and it doesn't add to the enormous weight of my bag. Which is good, since I carry around all kinds of stuff "just in case"--I am constantly amazed by all the things I still forget or misplace, so I carry all kinds of papers around. It's embarrassing and hard on the shoulder and back, but it works.

With PDAs you can also get programs that help you with just about anything. I use "Big Clock" because it has a, yes, big clock for the times I need to pay extra attention. It also has countdown timers, count-up timers, many alarms to be set, world time (for time zones of far-flung friends), etc. "Tube" is a subway map and schedule, with versions for many cities. And so forth. For my appointments & to-do lists I use Outlook, just because I can always update it from my work computer as well as home, and it synchs with my Palm PDA (Handspring Visor Edge).

With calendars & paper, I follow my own version of GTD (Getting Things Done by David Allen). And I get lots of ideas for adapting my paper planner at "DIY PLANNER" website. People have designed templates for all kinds of pages, and you can download them to use and/or modify for free.

Both the DIY Planner site and the GTD site (davidco.com, check the forums) are frequented by people who are either obsessed by organizing their thoughts and themselves, or driven to it by necessity (like me). It can get very nerdy and detailed sometimes when discussing nitty-gritty specifics of how to track this or that, but unfortunately that's what I need sometimes. You try lots of things that don't work but eventually you find the balance of time & effort & money vs. result that you can put up with.

There are many people with ADD at the GTD forums (free and paid), and I'm pretty sure that's true for DIY as well. They're just not so open about it there.

JM2CW

Quote