Black Belt Productivity

Four years ago, I purchased my first Windows-based PDA. I got a Dell Axim X5. It was the first round of Dell’s PDAs. It was a great machine. I enjoyed using it. It was dependable. The only real complaint I had was the size. It was somewhat uncomfortable to carry even on a belt clip. I had a nice Sena belt clip case that I used it with. The case was great, but it could only do so much to make it easy to handle.

I have recently been looking to refresh my PDA and do something new. David Allen often speaks of a PDA as a hi-tech list manager. If I wanted to do some really fancy stuff with it, I would have limited myself to buying another Windows-based machine. However, I never was a hardcore user who taxed the limits of the machine or its operating system.

I kept that in mind as I did my research. In the end, I decided that it would be best to go with a smartphone. My thinking was that it would be sort of nuts to carry around a cell phone and a PDA when I did not have to. I would want to have both on me at all times. I also (no offense to anyone who does this) feel tacky with a machine on each hip as I go throughout my day. Some in the corporate setting will take it wrong, and get the idea that I think I am important. I am not into that. I am interested in being productive, not making everyone think I am ‘Inspector Gadget.’

What I really need in a PDA is the following:

• List manager
• Calendar
• Address book
• Application for logging travel expenses
• An electronic Bible

My wireless provider seems to really like Blackberrys. I know several people who have them, and really like them. My company issues them to executives (no danger of my being an executive any time soon). So I ended up buying a Blackberry Pearl.

The only drawback is the lack of a full QWERTY keyboard. However, the smaller profile more than makes up for that in my eyes. If you did not see the keyboard, you would really not think that this is a Blackberry. I was able to get a really cool leather belt clip holster for it that has a magnetic closure.

Once I purchase a Bluetooth GPS receiver, I can also use my Blackberry as a GPS device (BTW, if anyone has any good tips on finding an affordable, dependable Bluetooth GPS receiver to use with this smart phone, I am open to recommendations).

So far, I am quite happy with my Blackberry Pearl. I hope to continue to customize it to suit my needs as I get more familiar with it. I am working on ways to use it to enhance my GTD experience.

Does anyone else use Blackberry with GTD? If so, I am always open to any tips or suggestions.

- Jason