Everyday Systems

So I went to buy some colored index cards today to jump-start me on the personal-punchcard/chain of self-command stuff.

I was unable to find colored index cards not packaged together. I went ahead and bought a pack, but now I have way more "year cards" than I will ever live and not enough "day cards" (in the long run that is).

Where do you find colored index cards not in packs, or if you don't what do you do with the extras? Do I trade then like baseball cards? (Do people trade baseball cards anymore?) It seems so wasteful.....

Have you checked HabitCal? It's exactly like the seinfeld thing but it's free/customizable on this site (just look up).

I was able to get single color cards at a local mom and pop stationary store.

At some point, because I was in a rush and couldn't get to this store, I did resort to a multi pack from cvs with colors I don't use for personal punchcards. They make good bookmarks.

The daily cards are by far the most important thing -- and you can do those fine with plain white. So don't let the lack of color selection prevent you from started.

Regarding habitcal vs. punchcards, there is some overlap in what they're intended to do. But I don't think either can quite replace the other. I do both. The habitcal is good for well defined routines that you are officially, publicly committing too. The stakes are higher -- you really, really don't want to put red on your habitcal. The punchcards are more flexible. Routines are present, but (if you do them like I do) take up only 1/3 of each card. You might find yourself redefining them frequently, adding new ones, and retiring others. When you feel like you've hit on something you absolutely want to do every day, then maybe promote it to the habitcal. There might be some overlap -- I track shovelglove on both. And then of course there are the other 2 columns, the variable tasks of "work" and "errand," which don't fit into the habitcal paradigm at all.

I've thought about better integrating habitcal with punchcards, or adding more punchcard like flexibility to habitcal, but I want to be very careful before introducing more complexity into the habitcal.

Reinhard

What about just buying white cards and writing your month/year cards in red/blue ink? Or put some sort of identifying sticker/paperclip on them

That's what I was going to do as well. I have many white cards and it seems a shame not to use them.

The disadvantage of not using separate colored cards for the monthly and yearly is that when you file all your cards you can't identify them from above (a very satisfying sight after you've been doing this a few months -- I'll post a picture soon). I guess a paper clip or something attached to the monthlies/yearlies could serve the same purpose, but it won't look quite as nice.

If you can't fine bulk yellow cards for dailies, white is fine (I like yellow because it stands out more in my wallet). But I would advise getting different color cards (and you won't need very many) for the monthlies and yearlies. One of those ubiquitous multi color packs would should easily last you a whole year, and you can use the extra colors as bookmarks.

Reinhard