Ever since I discovered GTD (Getting Things Done), a technique advocated by David Allen to increase personal productivity and time management, I had tried putting it to use in many forms. Even tried using my Sony Ericsson K750i but that required too many buttons to push and didn’t provide a uniform view. As I don’t have a PDA, so I was looking for alternatives which suit my lifestyle and requirements. Moleskins, Hipster PDA etc are too bulky for me. I needed something affordable and handy to take my notes and ‘next actions’.
Then I came across Pocketmod.com and have been a fan ever since. Pocketmod, is a kind of template to be printed on an A4 size paper and then folded in a way to look like a small 8-page booklet. The booklet can have lists, calendar, notes pages, story boards, sheet music, paper based games etc on each page. The Pocketmod website provides a Flash utility (online and stand-alone versions are available) which offers some nicely designed templates for To-Do lists, planners, calendars, simple games, formulas etc to be printed out on an A4 size paper. Now some people have come up with some more page ideas to further compliment the existing collection of templates. Read more about this in another post. Its virtually free (just the cost of paper and toner), looks cool and is very handy.
But there was one thing about the Pocketmod that I wanted to change. Each time I printed one from the Pocketmod website, I had to copy by hand all my stuff to the new one. I wanted the ability to save my lists to avoid writing them all over again with every fresh print. Also, a printed list looks more neat. This also forces me for the weekly review of next actions and print a fresh copy. I believe the Pocketmod team is already working on that functionality but I couldn’t wait. I guessed someone must have created some utility to do that already or at least have designed a template which could be edited. I searched on the Net but nothing for me. So I’ve decided to design my own and share it with Pocketmod fans. You can fill in your lists/appointments and then print it. Get it by clicking here. The folding instructions are available here.
This template has the following pages -
- Front page for brief contact info or a favorite image
- To-Do lists for home and office
- Reminders for phone calls, emails and ideas for blog
- Wishlist/Shopping List
- Two single lined pages for taking notes etc
- Weekly calendar (the dates need to be changed manually, though)
I designed this for myself and your needs might be different so you can edit the template as you wish and maybe forward it to me also. Or drop me a mail about what you think about it. Till then, Enjoy!
Post edit: If you find my template too “complex” then there is a simple one available too here.
September 28, 2006 at 12:08 pm
Can you give a little more detail about how you created the template? I’m not familiar with some of the drawing techniques you used in Word.
September 29, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Hi Ken
I put line objects to divide the page into eight parts. Each of the eight parts has a normal table object with the text alignment rotated. The rows of the tables act as the editable fields. This needed to be tweaked a bit though, by trial and error
January 9, 2007 at 3:12 pm
This is better than what I was looking for! Thanks!!
January 10, 2007 at 3:42 am
[...] Template for ‘Pocketmod’ « Eyes Of Calvin [...]
January 10, 2007 at 3:44 am
[...] Template for ‘Pocketmod’ « Eyes Of Calvin [...]
January 11, 2007 at 9:28 am
[...] Tips & Tricks, Pocketmod — Author:EoC @ 9:28 am I have created/mentioned a ‘fill-in-your-lists-and print-it-out‘ kind of template in .doc format for [...]
January 12, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Excellent. Have you given any thought to mail merging lists from say Excel into your template? I have done something similar to 5×3 cards, but yours is much more polished.
February 4, 2007 at 5:56 pm
[...] over to a new one. Tired of copying stuff over, I thought to find a Word template instead. There’s a pretty complex one available, but I wanted simple. So I made one that’s just lines and a 2007 calendar. Now my [...]
February 15, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Your Pocketmod template is amazing. I, too, designed something like it though, much, much simpler. I’d also be fascinated to hear how you created some elements, the gray lines in the email, calls, blog section, for example. I’m more curious, however, to know if the template can be edited in landscape mode, allowing me to easily read text as I input it.
Thanks again for some impressive work!
February 16, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Hi Lerwegian
I have not considered mail-merging as yet but I guess that would make editing the contents bit easier. Will try to look into it. Thanks for the idea.
Hi J.P.
Most of it is just tables with dotted border and grey color. The rows of the tables acts as editable fields. I haven’t figured out a way to rotate it to landscape mode for editing though. Maybe somebody can help me with this.
Thanks for your comments. I’m glad you liked it.
February 19, 2007 at 5:03 am
This is great. I too thought that somebody must have already done this, but I was the lucky one, I found you.
One problem, not being a heavy Word user, when I uploaded the template into Word it is in portrait and I cant figure out how to rotate it.
Thanks
February 19, 2007 at 6:56 am
Sorry, I did not read the previous posts. I will keep checking back to see if someone figured that out. Could you do it with all the tables facing the same way? I for one wouldn’t mind rotating the pocketmod while I was using it.
Thanks again
February 19, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Hi Rich
I must say that having this template in landscape mode is most practical for editing purposes and thats how I initially intended to do it. Then we could fill in the fields for the top side and then rotate it 180 degrees to get to the other side.
But I couldn’t figure out a way to rotate it so I took the middle way. I created it in portrait mode. Now you have to tilt your head sideways to do the editing. Did I invent something called Pocketmod Yoga??!!
It would be great if somebody could figure out a way to rotate the template.
February 21, 2007 at 5:42 am
I figured it out!!! Just rotate your monitor. Ha Ha. Actually there used to be monitors available that you could do that with.
March 9, 2007 at 12:12 am
I came across this article that shows how to rotate the screen in some versions of Windows. So till we find out a way to rotate Word documents, why not just rotate the whole screen temporarily?! At least better than fussing with your monitors!
March 20, 2007 at 2:07 am
[...] My PocketMod Word Template works well for me and I’ve been using it for a while, but I thought it would be cool to have task lists that get updated as you GTD. Excel seemed a better tool, though others have done a great job bending Word to their will. [...]
April 27, 2007 at 1:45 am
I have made my own template using Word. I used the PocketMod to PDF utility which is located at the main PocketMod website. I make an 8 page Word document, then convert that to a PDF using PrimoPDF. Then I use the PDF to PocketMod utility. Works like a charm but I like your template very much. It is nicely done.
April 27, 2007 at 11:35 am
Hi Joseph
PDF to Pocketmod is a nice application because you can create your own templates according to your requirements. I have tried it too.
My purpose for creating own Word template was to be able to type or edit my Pocketmod lists at the time of weekly review and to save them. Of course we can’t do that with the the PDF version. I’m glad you liked my template. Thanks.
September 12, 2007 at 9:17 pm
[...] whether you use a simple Word version, a fancy Word version, an Excel version, or the online PocketMod, or whatever, just remember you’ve always got a [...]
January 3, 2008 at 9:27 am
Thanks! This is cool. I’m thinking of ways I might be able to use this with my students as a review tool – I teach 6th grade Science!
March 31, 2008 at 3:51 am
This is sooooo perfect! Thanks!
April 23, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Just what I am looking for.. I;ll be modifying some of it though.. or I’ll try to create a word macro to convert word docs to this template.. thanks a lots..
I never thought of that
June 9, 2008 at 1:33 am
I have been using the Pocketmod for a bit now, and it’s found SO MANY handy uses for me already!
I am on two softball teams, of which a few of the players are on both. This confuses some with schedules, so i uploaded our team logos, put them on one page, and the the respective schedule on the facing page.
Then the Pocketmod site has the tip tables…so i threw them in for when we go to the pub/restaurant afterwards. And a few games for bench warmers.
I also took some roster sheets & blank score sheets i found online, and added them.
Turns out, the very first day i brought these to our game, the coach had forgotten his score book! (only time ever!)
But it sure came in handy – I looked over, and he’s standing on third base as the new batter comes up…he’s marking down the plays!
It was great.
Also, my son has home reading for school. He is required to write out the last sentence he read, the date & chapter, every night.
So i found that i can take a .jpeg from the web (google under images for the title of the book) and use that as the cover page of the pocketmod.
the next 5 pages i just put the story board template (it gives him a place to draw, too)
And at the end, i just put a ‘this week’ calendar.
This is a great place for the parents and teacher to pass correspondence.
And to top it off, flipped upside down, the pocketmod is used as a perfect bookmark just slipped over the last page he’s on!
I love all the little mods…thanks for yours – I appreciate the full template – with some minor adjustments, it is a perfect companion for the week!
June 9, 2008 at 2:34 am
Great tool! I found your template a few days ago and have used your page measurements to build my own. I just used several Text boxes with tables to make it. I also added a “Book __ of __ “, and a “Week Of” line to the front cover. Then I added a “Priority Jobs” page and a “ToDo While Out” page to help me keep it in context. After a little rearranging I was ready to start getting organized. Thanks for putting this out there. Now my brain has a brain.
October 31, 2008 at 12:58 am
Thank you so much for this!! I have been meaning to make one, but always put it off. This is exactly what I needed.
January 6, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Well, I’m quite new to pocketmod and i did not like the “pdf-way” of creating my own pocketmod. So your template comes in very handy. Thank you for publishing!