these are cards made from colored slightly thicker paper with lines on them, orientation is landscape, not portrait. those can be found in many stores where i live so when i am out, i am sure to find more that are the exact size. also there are a few boxes/cases that already fit them perfectly available for purchase. i built two boxes from paper but both where not as nice and userfriendly as one i bought from a pen and paper store that i am currently using. mine look retarded but it was fun using them. i glued an old video cassette box to one of the paper box to turn it into a box for pens, which i still miss on my new box.
for a while i tried writing all the things i wanna do on those cards but then when it was something trivial like 'wash clothes' i noticed i would have cards in there so simple that would never use all the ~10 lines of space each card provided so i felt like i was spamming my card stack. i didn't want to bloat the card stack with these easy cards. still not fully satisfied with this but it has already been working good for me. the reason i am not satisfied is the thought of not even having any other system. just cards. managing my life would feel like playing yu gi oh, these cards are amazing to hold and flip through. they add a very pleasing physical sensation to my day.
i like how this is like a to do list but all the other entries are beneath the current visible entry on top, so this obscures the rest of the to do list to give the whole attention to just the thing on top. singleminded focus without trying to be all over. i was hoping this would help in crystalizing priorities and making sure to do the more important things first. too early to tell, i really only started minding priority for a few days. so far it is working a little i guess MEANING THE NEW FOCUS ON PRIORITIES. THE CARDS ITSELF WORK AMAZINGLY FOR ME. I HAVE A STACK OF HUNDREDS OF COMPLETED CARDS. first i would just rip them in half when i completed but i started collecting them and now i like looking at this stack getting bigger. is a girthy stack!
one card like that gives me the space to grow an idea over the course of many days/sessions of thinking about it while not forgetting whatever small amount of progress i may have made. also having this space of the ~10 lines for each idea gives me a place where i can collect idea that just ambush me throughout the day. i would do something unrelated and BOOM an idea about one of these cards would hit me and i would quickly find the card and write it on one card as to not forget the stroke of genius again. pen is always near the cards as to waste no time! ideas are rare and precious and they come when i don't expect them so with a system like i am always ready to quickly write them down to a space i can later find. this fights the problem of forgetting stuff i wanted to do.
here is the way that evolved that i write on them:
i turn each index card upside down so that the big space for the headline is at the bottom and then i write each uncertain idea on an index card and i write the goal at the bottom in this big space meant for the headline. the reason for that is the approach of knowing the goal but not the way. i start at the goal and then walk backwards (writing upwards from the most bottom line) until i find a way that i am able to walk at which point it becomes the best order of reaching it, conveniently already broken into several more easily chewable bites. i just start at the top to manifest them then. i noticed this helps when venturing into uncharted territory. i also like to paint little checkboxes (or progress bars just like on a loading screen of a video game) next to items so i can track the progress just on this one card. it is fun to watch these card get populated with text, symbols, chekmarks, crossouts and emojis. the more complete they are, the messier they get. by the end they look worn down, dirty, bent with crooked edges and with smudges and doodles on them 🤣
