Sometime back I had decided to put myself into a path of self-development. I started using various methods and tools to ensure that I’m a better person every day. One of them is the Hipster PDA or HPDA. For those who are ignorant of HPDA, you can find out more from Wikipedia.

Reason for using HPDA

One of the main reasons I selected HPDA was because of its simplicity. HPDA is basically a paper version of a PDA. You have a bunch of papers tied together and jot down things in it. This simple approach provides immense flexibility and costs next to nothing. I required only the commonly available stationeries like paper, binder clip, pen and plastic folder.

Synergy with GTD

Getting Things Done is a personal productivity methodology provided in a book with the same name – by David Allen. HPDA is only a tool, it has to be used along with the GTD principles. You need not read the book to start using HPDA, but reading the book does make a difference. I recommend reading the book if you intend to use HPDA.

My summarization of the book is – no reminders should be held in the brain; anything that enters your milieu will have to be classified into one of the following: Project, Next Action, Waiting, Reference, Someday, Calendar or if it can be done under two minutes – do it immediately. By implementing GTD I can attain a state in where I’m sure which action I need to do next; and at any point of time I’m confident that there nothing missing from my radar.

My Templates
The key is to use proper templates – by effectively using them, it is possible to capture and effectively track all our daily activities. The following are the templates that I currently use in my HPDA: Next Actions, Project List, Project Page, Habit tracker, Agenda, Calendar, Someday list, Waiting List. It can be seen that these templates correspond to the list presented in GTD.

Any singular action to be completed like “get the book from library”, “book train tickets” goes into the Next Actions list. Anything involving multiple steps like “learn typing”, “complete OCA” goes into the project list. Then for each entry in the project list I have a project page – where I state the desired goal and the steps I have charted to achieve that goal. Habit Tracker is used to check if I can turn a behavior into a habit by doing it continuously for 21 days. Agenda – here I note down things I need to discuss with specific people; so that next time I accost someone I know what I need to discuss with them. The other template names should be self explanatory.

How I have been benefited
I’m just beginning to understand and effectively use HPDA, but I’m able to see the glimpses of the intended results. The most obvious benefit is the clarity of my thoughts. By thinking within a certain framework I’m able to identify my goals and plan for them. I’m doing my errands quicker than pre-HPDA times. I’m able to list my goals and track them.

Blockages to overcome

Often I put an entry in the wrong list, consider “Preparing a food chart” this should have been in the Project list, instead I put in the Next Actions list and I started procrastinating it because it looked like a huge task.

I’m struggling with my calendar. This is where I’m feeling the antiquity of HPDA. Being paper based I do not alerts an event in my calendar is due for action. I will be able to resolve this by a daily review of my calendar. And a weekly review of the HPDA.

Another area for improvement is the someday list. I’m treating as the poor cousin of project list. I need to define specific rules for entry into someday list and ensure that they get completed.

Hope this helps you to kick start your HPDA days.