What do you mean paper and pen?!?

This post may show me to be a complete troglodyte and technophobe, but one of my most important travel items remains my good old-fashioned pen and paper organizer. It’s not that I like being dependent on paper and pen – in fact, I have tried for years to get rid of it. I have found, however, that when I’m out of the office it is the one place where I’ve managed to record all of my notes, store pieces of paper, carry passport and other information, and keep a few spare business cards on any reliable basis. If I stayed in the office all day, I likely wouldn’t need it, but I don’t, so I do. So there.

I’ve long since stopped using my organizer for its intended purpose – after all, my calendar is synced to both my iPod and my phone, as is my to do list, but my organizer is still indispensable. That’s probably because I have managed to follow one rule from the organizer’s days as my primary calendar – the organizer should be the center of your non-electronic life. If you have to scribble a note, do it in the organizer. If you want to keep a note or piece of paper, keep it in the organizer. You get the idea. When I travel, I keep printouts of my itinerary in there, record and store receipts, take notes, and basically do anything I can’t do on the computer.

In theory you should be able to do this with any number of binders or portfolios, but try as I may I’ve never found a good substitute for the organizer I’ve used since the mid-nineties, from FranklinCovey. I’ve never bought into the whole Covey thing, but the binder works for me. Maybe it’ll work for you (or, if you’re in gift mode, a loved one).

NB – I happen to know Jean used one for many years as well, not sure if she still does. Maybe she’ll pipe in on her preferred non-electronic organizational method.

image from FranklinCovey