It’s Only Papr

Welcome to Papr. Papr + CAARDS = (PC) is my analog companion to everyday life helping me with tangible productivity. David Allen coined the term “GTD” and created a pretty great system, and this system has been adapted over and over again. The base framework is always there, different sections are removed, or added, and exchanged with what works for our individual needs.

This is my interpretation, and adaptation.

From doom-scrolling to mindful shuffling and flipping. Papr is physical!

Personal Development (in) Analog

Less Friction, little size

Papr comes in a small enough package that takes up less pocket room than your phone. It’s travel friendly, for all your open adventures. It’s lightweight, it’s Papr.

Slow Down, Foster Mindfulness

Papr helps us slow down by being analog, and being entirely hand-written, and hand made from the ground up. This also helps us become more mindful instead of endlessly adding a mountain of tasks, like you might in an app.

CAARDS

CAARDS is a (WIP) arcroym for: Carry, Arrange, Agenda, Routine, Do, Save

You typically have a minimum of

Card Design

The main design has been tweaked a few times (3) since it’s public launch. Of course, feel free to design your own, or use whatever version you like the most. However for this post, I will be using the current V3 version.

The V3 version manages to make the most out of the space of your typical index card. All the information such as the Type of card (today, next, someday) are now in the top-right corner in a small square. They use respective letters to represent the type. Today = T, Next = N, etc etc. From that small square I draw a vertical line all the way down to the bottom of the card, and now I have a long empty bar/box where I can input the date of the card, or whatever “at-a-glance” info I need. Lastly I reserve the very bottom right corner for a special tracker. (more on that later.)

This design gives you the entire rest of the card to jot down your tasks, events, whatever needs to be written down, that’s important to you. I follow the Bullet Journal Method for the core bullets, and main task flow and structure.

Today Card

Your today cards help you focus on about 7-10 total tasks you want to get done that day. In my case I often set a few in the morning when I wake up, and then add finished tasks when I am done, as I don’t always know what’s planned but I want to keep track of what got done. This works best for me.

On the back of my today cards, I typically write relevant information of that day I want to remember, like a important moment, quote from a friend, maybe symptoms of new medication, etc.

Lastly that special area in the bottom right corner I reserve to grade that particular day’s mood. Or rather how my energy level felt overall that day. Was it positive, mid, or meh? Again this helps me keep track of my energy, but feel free to make your own system!

Next Card

Next cards are similar to a Kanban board which are usually “Todo, Doing, Done” this means you have an ongoing task or project and you have more actions to perform as you go. No set dates, but it’s a priority enough for the whole week.

In some cases you can simply take your Next card and slip it into your next week if you need to. Again whatever works for you, you can experiment and see what works best in your case. You may not even need a next card at all!

This card is entirely optional, and you can make your own card to fit your own needs. These are all just examples.

Someday Card

Reserved for very loose plans, or ideas you may want to revisit later and see if it’s something you want to take action on. For example maybe you know you need to organize your junk drawer? Not sure when but you jot it down here, and check up on it whenever. Same applies to maybe a shopping list, of items you don’t need urgently, but you have some ideas, for later!

Again, another optional card. Feel free to dismiss this one.

Brain Dump Card

Lastly is the Brain Dump card. Does exactly what it sounds like. Pour out whatever thoughts you got going on and see if anything comes of them. Good or bad ideas, whatever. As long as you get it down maybe it’ll turn into something, or maybe it’s nothing and at least it fees up some of your mental head space so you don’t have to worry too much about it anymore. Brainstorm other ideas if you want. Basically a free “whatever” card.

Cal Card

Calendar cards I have experimented loosely with. I tried to write them on the back of Next and Brain Dump cards, but it sort-of fits best all by itself. This is just a calendar. I write down maybe important events, but this is often already on my today cards, but again I am still exploring this card actively.

Wrapping Up

Overall Today cards are the most important, and in my experience I have managed to squeeze a little over 30 cards into one single PC (Papr Companion.) without any issues. I could stuff more in there, but to me each PC should hold at least a month’s worth of Today cards. Easy to store in bulk, when you think about this in a whole year or so.

In a year you would need about 12 PCs which again each PC is one single sheet of common printer paper. You are more than welcome to experiment with other types of paper and materials, I have also done so with pretty good results!

Each PC holds about 30 cards, and to get cards, you have a few options. - Cut your own cards yourself. - Buy a standard pack of index cards (preferably blank)

Note: If you choose to cut your own cards, I have counted that a single sheet of paper, cut for cards, will get you about 5 cards. You will have scraps leftover, so please keep this in mind. Save them for another project, or recycle!

Note 2: Durability. This is paper, so it has all the same weaknesses you might expect from paper. Don’t get it wet, or get it too oily or greasy. This will damage it overtime. I have not had any issued with PC, and taking it out of my pocket, or putting it back in, temperature changes, or tossing it in my backpack. I would imagine this all depends on the quality of the paper you are using. I have tried to gently wax the outside of my PCs with beeswax. I have not noticed any durability increase, but this did help with oils, and small bits of water/rain.

I currently hold my 12 PCs (and more) together with a single rubberband and it’s just for storage but I haven’t encountered any issues with it.

Remember this is a open system, it’s not a product and I am not selling you anything. This is something I encourage that you make yourself, or make for a friend, or have a friend make it for you, either way, I strive for this to always be handmade.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you ever have questions about Papr. I’ll do my best to help if I can!