It is with some fear and trepidation that I make this revisited pocket post. My system for carrying things in my pockets has been a fairly stable and consistent system over the years. But alas, any system has its time for examination and renewal. Let’s take a look at pockets, and the stuff contained within.
It’s hard to imagine a world without pockets. Not having pockets would mean that anything you had to carry was either held in the hand (not a good system), or stored together in a bag (which would then require its own system of organization). When pockets came along, people now had a way of carrying one or two or three small essential items on their person without too much worry.
Most pants that you buy today have at least four pockets. If you include the pick pocket (because it’s a good place to keep your guitar picks), and cargo pant pockets, some pants have a great deal of space for storage.
My old system was simple and fool proof. Pen and keys in the front left pocket. Wallet in the front right pocket. That’s it. This was before the advent of cell phones. I simply needed a pen to go about in the world of knowledge, and keys and wallet covered the transactional realm of life. Life I’ve said in previous posts, having a consistent place for items allows you to employ the “tap test.” The tap test is ingenius in its simplicity, and once trained into the mind provides an absolute trustworthy system.
In either case, System Sally started needing more things on her person than previously. At one point, I thought the more the better and even invested in a carrying bag where a large number of items could be stored keeping the pockets empty. Overall, a carrying bag, purse, or murse is not a good system for me anymore.
Here’s the new system (but I imagine this too might change shortly):
Keys in front left pocket. (FL)
Wallet in front right pocket (FR)
GTD System (Hipster PDA, real PDA), Cell Phone, and PEN in back left pocket (BL)
Personal Hygiene (lip balm, earplugs, gum, etc.) in the back right pocket (BR)
I know what you’re all saying. But system sally, all that stuff in the back pockets is going to be a problem when you sit down. Yes, this is very possible. So let’s examine this together.
Like using Spaces on your mac, we should start by designating different areas of life to different pockets. Having areas of specific activity we should be able to be more productive and less confused when making or performing any transaction or action.
So, we have four spaces: FL, FR, BL, BR. I do not think it matters which subsystem goes where, so I’d be open to changing my current system. Still, I will hold to the new system, which is that only objects directed at the same activity can be placed in the same pocket.
We have GTD, PDA, Communication (cell phone, iPhone), note cards, and pen subsystem that we’ll call Office.
We have personal hygiene (lip balm, earplugs, gum) which we’ll call body maintenance.
We have keys which we’ll call access.
We have cash, cards, license, business cards, which we’ll call commerce.
The biggest stumbling block in this system is the sharpness of pens and keys. It is not nice to carry either of these items. There are a couple of solutions. Since keys are the only item in the access space, would it be good to combine keys with commerce? You’re reaching for your commerce items a lot, and constantly fishing out a tangled set of keys is an unnecessary stress on the system. So, no, we can’t put the keys with the cash and cards. The pen. In an ideal world we would all feel comfortable wearing pocket protectors, and pens could be carried up high in a shirt pocket. But today, not all shirts have shirt pockets, and no one except the rare Harvard professor wears a pocket protector. No, folks, our vanity has led us to quite a predicament. The pen must be carried in the pants, and it either sticks you in front or back, or leaks, or gets bent, or turns sideways and really screws up the way you look in your pants. It’s possible that this is the final frontier of pocket systems. I challenge others to find a good system for this.
Your keys are a problem too. While you can cut down on the number of keys you carry, keys are still a door opening technology that we have to live with. All of the fingerprint and voice recognition things we thought we’d have in the future (2008!), are still absent and this very old key technology has remained. Oh, when will the key go the way of the CD and soon-to-be obsolete book.
As we walk around and interact with the world we have to ensure access to the places we go (access), we have to engage in certain forms of social and financial commerce (commerce), we have to continue our creative work and manage our lives (office), and we have to maintain our bodies (body maintenance).
As I’m writing this, I’m beginning to rethink the driver’s license. The license is an almost completely unused item in the system. Besides the occasional entrance into a bar, or the occasional interaction with a policeman, the license in some ways, is a bridge between access and commerce. It allows you access to use your credit/debit card. The driver’s license, at heart, I think is more of an access item, but for now, since it can so easily be clipped together with your credit card, I think should remain in the commerce pocket. What do you think?
This is still in experimental mode, but I will try some things and report back to you. And please, in the comments let me know what your system is, and what you think about these important matters.
Another thing, cell phones close to certain parts of the male anatomy (and possibly female) could be harmful. This is another reason why office supplies should go in the back.
Current Status of Pocket System:
access FL: keys
commerce FR: license, debit card, cash (cash has its own binder clip, and the plastic has a binder clip)
office BL: pen, 3×5 cards (hipster pda), cell phone
body maintenance BR: lip balm, chewing gum
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