I set out to update my daily carry to solve two simple problems: one, I carry a lot of crap; and two, I wanted an iPad case that wasn’t a purse. I love having a slew of writing and drawing tools at my disposal and I hated the idea of needing a big bag (or again, a purse) to carry them all.

I discovered the TwelveSouth BookBook Travel Journal for iPad (a mouthful, I know) as a practical alternative to carrying around a bunch of stuff in a bag. It’s got lots of straps, pockets and organized zones, proving they thought through a lot of realistic use cases for the product.

I find myself carrying it into meetings—even long, planning meetings—without a computer. I find it’s helpful to single task with an iPad and physical media rather than manage the constant distractions of having a computer with me. There’s definitely a tradeoff, but it’s almost always worth it.

For physical media, I rely a lot on notecards. They’re cheap, easy to draw on, write on and organize. Tearing one in half is a little cathartic and shows how easy it is to bail on early ideas. They’re a great size for sketching interfaces or user workflows on, too. Notecards eventually manifest as Trello boards, making it easy to digitally extend a physical note.

I also whiteboard a lot. Same deal: a whiteboard is so fast. Ideas just show up and concepts get written out. There’s almost no barrier ot entry or learning curve. I love having a pocket whiteboard with me but sometimes I bring a Nuboard along with me, too. It’s great to have flexible, simple drawing tools that allow for collaboration and brainsketching on the fly.