My 2G - Personal Organization

Sometime after I improved my personal organization with my Franklin Day Planner, the realization of living in a paper world with its limits and bulk became apparent. Around this time, a new emerging market of electronic organizers which included digital organizers or personal digital assistants (PDA) came into existence. This market and these emerging devices were small, compact and able to fit in my dress shirt pocket. I also noticed that the key features I enjoyed in my Franklin Day Planner – contacts organized alphabetically, daily appointment schedule, tasks, and my notes were enhanced and improved in the electronic organizers, digital organizers and personal digital assistants.

My investigation led me to the Palm Pilot. I do not remember the exact number of contacts, appointments, tasks or notes this personal digital assistant could hold, but it was very impressive to me at the time and the small portable hand held digital organizer took me into the 2G (second generation) phase of my own personal organization.

Another feature I enjoyed and found extremely valuable was the ability to connect my Palm Pilot to my computer and “sync” the two together. I could work at my desk and update my data using my computer and keyboard and then sync. The Palm Pilot also allowed me to take notes and make changes while I was in meetings or walking around my buildings performing inspections and sync. Thus, after working in either my computer or personal digital assistant and within moments, I could have all of my information available to me both on my computer and in my pocket whenever I was out of my office.

This second generation of personal organization, the Palm Pilot, had a monochrome display and I soon out grew its memory.

In the Beginning

In the beginning, before personal digital assistants and electronic or digital organizers, I used a Franklin Day Planner. I found the classic size with the daily layout to be the most convenient for my needs at work and in my personal endeavors.  I enjoyed the size of (5 ½” X 8 ½”) divided into the hours of the day on the left page and the right page for notes in a diary fashion.

This organizer proved to be a great improvement for my personal organization, resulting in increased productivity, and keeping track of my appointments. The benefits were immediate – fewer missed appointments, more on-time appearances, more actual scheduling and therefore productive outcomes. I was also able to make and manage lists of tasks to be performed with due dates to meet.

The planner had an alphabetized section for all of my contacts both business and personal, with their phone numbers, addresses and other valuable information. This feature replaced the rolodex file, a stationary fixture and a less than portable item on my desk.

I also purchased blank pages and set up my printer and word processing to print useful information to be kept in my binder. I used additional tabs to organize this information which included notes from meetings, reference materials and data, talks, meeting agendas, and other useful information.

This planner, even though it was two inches thick - the size of a thick book, almost became my constant companion and was nearly always with me, at my side, on my desk, on the table in front of me in the meeting I was in, or beside me in the car.

Such was the beginning of my personal organization, pre electronic organizer, digital organizer, personal digital assistants or communication device.