Introducing MiLO.
I’ve been intrigued by Merlin Mann’s Hipster PDA for some time. I tried building and carrying one myself, but I found I wasn’t really using it in a way that suited my own note taking and “next action” capturing style.
I don’t work well with discreet items all on their own note card and when I tried to capture more than one “action” per note card I found that didn’t work well for me either! I liked the idea of a low-tech solution to capturing my random thoughts and urgent action items, but the HPDA didn’t seem to be the best fit for me.
So I started thinking about what was a good fit, and I realized that keeping a list on paper was how I worked best, and making something that was easily carried was most important to me. Around the time I formalized my wants, I happened across a web site for the “Cheapster PDA” - a single 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper folded into a little booklet. I immediately whipped out a sheet of paper, folded it up and thought, “The form is good, but how can I improve on this?”
I decided that I wanted some structure to my booklet. A place to keep my list of actions, a place for free-form notes and maybe even a place for a schedule would be all items I would want to incorporate. After some tinkering around with page layout software I came up with a design that suited my desires and put it to the test. It was a single 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper run through my laser printer and then folded up. It worked great.
I dubbed it the micro life organizer; “MiLO” for short. I printed a handful out and gave them to my wife and some select friends for testing. The feedback was positive, they all liked the form and the usefulness of the MiLO! After some feedback, and tweaking to suit my own needs, I decided to roll out the MiLO to the Internet for all to use.
When the MiLO is all folded up it’s 2.75″ wide and 4.25″ tall, only a little bigger than a credit card. It takes about 40 seconds to fold the MiLO into booklet form and all you need to make one is a laser or ink-jet printer that can print to within a quarter inch of the edge of the page.
There are five lined pages, complete with check boxes, two pages are blank for free-form notes and the back page is a week-in-a-view calendar (Sunday - Saturday).
I find that I can easily get a normal week’s usage out of one MiLO, and during really busy weeks I might need a second MiLO by the middle of the week. It’s also setup so if you’re a devotee of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system you can assign a context at the top of each “action” page (for example; @work, @calls, @home, @internet, @someday).
I’m hoping that other people will find the MiLO useful too which is why I’m posting it here. You can download a PDF that you can print out for yourself: Download MiLO2.0.pdf (version 2.0) here.
PLEASE NOTE: If you’re printing this PDF with Windows, make sure to select “Page Scaling = None” on the print options when you print out a MiLO or Acrobat Reader will shrink the MiLO down by a few percent and it will not fold properly. This is one of the biggest frustrations people using Windows will have printing out a MiLO for themselves.
The MiLO is available free of charge for anyone to use. I hope you find it as useful as I do, it’s an easy way to keep a lot of items handy without needing a lot of space to do it. If you find it useful, please leave a comment and let me know!
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December 3rd, 2005
14 Comments Add your own
1. Guy | February 12th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Would it be possible to build another version in A4 for us European readers? It looks really interesting, but I can’t test it without the proper size paper
2. Jacob | February 12th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Guy, I will take a crack at an A4 version of MiLO. Check back in a few days, I should have it online by then.
3. Andre | March 12th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Great Site thanks. I found you on google
http://www.google.com
4. erisraven | May 22nd, 2006 at 5:51 pm
http://pocketmod.com/
This is the origin of this technique. Much more flexible system. Select your own pages, and there’s even an downloadable customizer to create your own pages.
5. Jacob | May 22nd, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Erisraven,
Actually I saw this method of folding a sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper first on the web site: http://pigpog.com/node/1078 under a posting called “Cheapster PDA” which was popular right around the time Merlin Mann’s Hipster PDA really took off in the public conscious.
I thought it was a very interesting way to fold up a little booklet from a single sheet of paper, and I set out to make something more useful for me than just a blank booklet. This MiLO was born and shortly afterword FiLO to track financial transactions.
I’ve checked out the PocketMod site and it’s pretty interesting - MiLO and FiLO work perfectly for me and hopefully for others like myself. There is a place in the world for both I think - they each have plusses and minuses! Keep up expanding the pages available for PocketMod - I really like the auto-genrated Sudoku page - man that’s an addictive game!
Jacob
6. from an agency on the hil&hellip | May 22nd, 2006 at 11:29 pm
[…] SuccessMinders » Introducing MiLO. […]
7. catharsis » too muc&hellip | May 23rd, 2006 at 1:01 am
[…] online there are tons of websites offering you many similar things like the hipster pda the milo, the cheapster pda. cheap paper alternative ways to getting to done. and they’re getting mad attention. they seem to be super trendy, super popular super cool. they’re the next big thing and everyone is writing/blogging about it. . okay.. seems reasonable, you wanna get things done so you do need an organizer and this is a cheap way of doing it. […]
8. mike ross | June 4th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Problem with this system is that the data in the MILO must be entered manually each morning (or whenever you periodically set up the sheet). About the only advantage I can see to this system is the method of folding the paper.
9. Jacob | June 5th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Mike,
It depends on how you keep your action items. I can get a few days out of a MiLO - but I find I keep in more for spur of the moment-actions I need to capture. Or I write them down on a 3×5 index card.
I also keep a daily list on my desk at work.
I guess it all comes down to loving paper or loving technology. I’ve not been able to discipline myself to use technology (PDAs, Excel, etc.) efficiently AND effectivly to keep my tasks and projects in line and under control.
Jacob
10. mike ross | June 5th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
I actually use a hybrid system. I used to use Palms fanatically but it became a pain when I couldn’t sync with my work computer. Since I’m married to Outlook at work I print paper copies of my calendar, action, call lists, etc. and build a daily planner in a Levenger Circa notebook. I can take the whole notebook to meetings or on trips and I can rip out a page for a short errand or walks around the jobsite. I also use a pocket notebook as a constant companion inbox.
You MILO format would be my preferred format if someone would develop it into an Outlook print option.
The search for a better way is endless.
11. Nick | June 13th, 2006 at 4:26 am
Jacob, FiLO is great! I’ve been using it a few weeks now and its already helping in a big way to keep a handle on finances - thanks.
I saw Guy asked about a European A4 version. This would be great idea. I’m in the UK and still use FiLO despite the US currency motivator and US letter format, but an A4 UK & Euro version would be awesome.
Nick
12. Mont Blanc Pens » B&hellip | April 26th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
[…] MiLO - the Micro Life Organizer from SuccessMinders - a PDF to make a Cheapster-style organiser, with some ToDo list forms, and a handy little weekly calendar. […]
13. Photography Blog Site &ra&hellip | June 19th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
[…] MiLO - the Micro Life Organizer from SuccessMinders - a PDF to make a Cheapster-style organiser, with some ToDo list forms, and a handy little weekly calendar. […]
14. Music and Songs » C&hellip | June 19th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
[…] MiLO - the Micro Life Organizer from SuccessMinders - a PDF to make a Cheapster-style organiser, with some ToDo list forms, and a handy little weekly calendar. […]
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