Track Travel and Workouts with a PocketMod [Lifehacker Book Contest Winner]

Category: Science/Tech | Posted by laraib 1523 days ago

For the next week and a half, readers are submitting their best life hack for a chance to win an autographed copy of our new book, Upgrade Your Life.
Reader Beth writes in with her favorite trick for keeping track of info on the road and at the gym—using the previously mentioned PocketMod print-yourself notebook. Beth says:
Before a trip (especially handy on business trips!), I build a PocketMod that has all the most important travel information in it. First page is my flight and hotel information, including confirmation numbers and contact phone numbers. Other pages are stocked with schedules, other contact information for the trip, whatever will come in handy.

It has saved my sanity many times to have those handy in my pocket or laptop bag at any moment to check on a flight, make calls if travel snafus occur, or to check on where I'm supposed to be at any given moment. Checking the PocketMod works even faster (and is more technologically reliable) than my smartphone.
Here's a screenshot of Beth's travel PocketMod PDF:
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Beth also uses a PocketMod at the gym. She says:
I'm also including pictures of my exercise PocketMod—my gym hack. It has my workouts, target heart rates, and space at the end for logging my results. Fits easily in my gym shorts.
Here's what that looks like:
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All folded up:

Finally, Beth describes how she prints out her PocketMods:
I use a program called PDF reDirect to print my PocketMod pages to PDFs. The font that I've found that works best is Verdana, at least 20pt. PDF reDirect lets me print 8 pages, different docs if needed, to one PDF. I drop that PDF into PDFtoPocketMod, and bingo, I have my custom-made PocketMod of whatever info I want.
If you're new to the PocketMod, check out this short video on how to fold the template into a little notebook.

Congrats, Beth! You just won an autographed copy of Upgrade Your Life!
You too can get your own copy shipped personally from me to you—submit your favorite life hack for our consideration. Remember, we love photos, screenshots, templates, screencasts, and video clips—even if it's a hack we've covered before—so impress us with your best stuff.