I so love that Mr. Bush wrote his request for a bathroom break in what appears to be a disassembled Hipster PDA.

Over on DIYPlanner.com, SusanBeth outlines how she’s created a writer’s version of the Hipster PDA.

« Start with yesterday's “Building a Smarter To-Do List, Part I”

Non-RSS visitors may notice a few little changes to 43F's appearance and functionality this morning, including a slight change to the page layout, the addition of a print-friendly style sheet, plus a number of little widgets and finials sprinkled here and there.

Some of the changes are experimental and others are incompletely implemented, so if you are experiencing any visual blips or functional farts, please email “bugs” at this domain. Thanks in advance for your help and forbearance.

Why bother?

In my own experience wrangling life's entropic challenges, some of my best gains have come from maintaining a smart, actionable, and updated accounting of all the things I've committed myself to doing. While the quality of that list may vary from day to day, it's the best place to train my focus whenever things are starting to feel out of control. In fact, the health of my to-do list usually mirrors the health of my productivity (as well as the barometric pressure of my stress). On the good days, my to-do list has a living quality that helps guide my decisions and steers me through unexpected changes in priority or velocity. And on the crummy days, it becomes the likely suspect when I need to quickly reassess the state of the union and make changes.

While you can argue for the flavor and approach to task management that best suits your style (and your personal suck), it's hard to disparage the benefits that come from getting task commitments out of your brain and into a consistent location. One list scribbled on one busy day is not necessarily the answer (although it can be a lifesaver). Try thinking of your to-do list as an evolving plan for responsibly focusing your effort and attention in the near future.