Getting Things Done in a Filofax

Here is how I GTD in my Filofax. The basic GTD system can be viewed here.

1. Collect

My Inboxes are my Bullet Journal Brain Dump (Pocket Malden in Ochre) and my Out and About wallet (Mini Raspberry Finsbury) plus any larger papers are put in an inbox by the side of my computer.

2. Organise

From all the jottings in the above I do the following:-

a. Schedule from the BD into my monthly, weekly or daily pages of my personal Filofax (Personal Malden).

b. Do the task straight away or the same day.

c. Put in my A-Z binder (under Master To Do, Information, Ideas, Projects) which is reviewed monthly and updated or scheduled as tasks in the Personal day to day Filofax or the Hobbies, Travel, Recipes or Wallet Filofaxes. 

d. Trash

Here's an example of one of my entries in my Brain Dump.

Paint fences

This was put on my Monthly To Do sheet as a yearly task to do in Spring. A Monthly To Do sheet always follows my Monthly vertically laid out page. Monthly Tasks that don't occur every year are on the back of the Monthly page.

I'm pleased to say that all the garden fences were painted in wood stain by the end of May. Mind you, I worked flat out at it as the end of the month drew nearer. Yeah! The system works.

Happy Planning.

Yearly and Monthly Pages

My yearly pages just hold the dates of birthdays and anniversaries. Any other dates are put on my Monthly Pages. My Monthly Page is just a vertically laid out list of dates on lined paper. I write in the days and dates. Birthdays, anniversaries and important dates and appointments are written on this page. Any gaps are filled in with something I've done that day. I shall keep all these monthly pages and ditch the weekly pages at the end of the year.

On the reverse of the page is a To Do list for that month with things I want to achieve and things that need to be done in that specific month every year. The Monthly recurring tasks are listed on the opposite page and added to as the month progresses. I aim to have eventually a complete Monthly recurring task list but I feel it will take time to achieve. I have tried a two page monthly spread with boxes but kept coming back to a list view. There's no decoration and it's purely functional as I want a planner that is quick and easy to use and one which enables maximum productivity with minimal stress.

Happy Planning

Pilot Frixion Pens

These eight Pilot Frixion pens cost me £11.50 including postage from Ebay. I have been using Pilot Frixions in black as my pen of choice for all my planners. With these pens I can rub out my writing if necessary without making my pages looking a mess. My black pens came from B&M Bargains with 2 for £3.99, I think so these colours are way cheaper and they come all the way from Japan. I shall enjoy using them.

Happy Planning.

Filofax personal Active as a Travel Planner

This robust organiser was from car boot at a very reasonable price. It needed a wipe with a cloth to take off some dirty marks and now it is a beautiful royal blue. The cover, I believe is made of Neoprene, which is a synthetic rubber.

I'm going to use this organiser as a Travel Planner.

My set up is still in its infancy but so far I have the world map under the Filofax plastic page.

Before this homemade dashboard I have punched a plastic postcard wallet to hold my passport. (Haven't tried it yet so I hope it fits!). I think I'll put another one in to hold boarding passes.

I am not a great traveller but I thought I'd keep in the world map as a handy reference. Behind this map are 2 further pull out maps of our destination area.

Some of the printed pages I downloaded from Printed Portal, a site I found while trawling through travel planner videos, blogs and sites.

I thought I'd better have a Brain Dump section for ideas that spring to mind.

Now for the sections.

Section 1 will contain information needed for the trip, emergency contacts, addresses, phone numbers and information about the country we are going to.

Section 2 ...

… houses the Itinerary pages, one per day, which will log the day's activities, meals and any notes or observations. Any extra journalling can be done on the reverse of the page.

Section 3 is the expenses section and I downloaded an expenses envelope from My Life all in One Place.

Section 4 is home to a timetable to hold any advanced scheduling,

while section 5 contains checklists - a packing checklist and ...

… a checklist of things to do before we leave.

Section 6 will be for notes and at the very end of the planner is a place for cards.

I'm not sure whether this planner will be useful to me or not but it will help me organise and plan for our holiday in a methodical way.

Now I have to find a bag to hold it to make sure I keep it on my person. I'd hate to put it down and lose it in a foreign country!

Happy Planning.

Mini Malden in Ochre

This new to me mini Malden has started its organiser life as a diet and weight tracker. I aim to lose some weight and this baby is going to help me.

The first section shows which weight range I should be in for my height. I'm only a little overweight but I aim to be in the middle of the healthy band.

After that I aim to have my own graph charting, hopefully, a downward trend in my weight. The weigh-in will be weekly. Any upturn will influence my future goals. At the moment it is eat fruit for afters, no biscuits, chocolate or any calorie laden food and no alcohol.

Next section houses any recipes that I come across on my Internet travels which will help me fulfil my goal.

In order to make the ideal meals I need a list to remind me to shop for the right ingredients.

Finally the last section houses a pull out week on which ...

I can record my meals. From this I can set myself the next week's goals and tell myself off if I fail to keep on track.

I also have in there somewhere a body measurement chart (waist, thigh, arm, hips etc) which will graphically show my changing body shape!!!!! 

Another incentive is a page promising me small treats or presents if my weight loss stays on track. My first 5 lb loss will give me permission to buy some coloured Pilot Frixion pens. It's early days yet but I aim to get there.

Happy Planning

No Washi

I don't use Washi tape as part of my day to day planning but I do use it to disguise recycled Filofax pages or as and aid to making my own pages. Find them here and here. My latest buy was £1.28 for a pack of rainbow colours from Japan.

The box was rather squashed and it wasn't easy to get out each colour so I cut a side out and then stuck the other sides together with - wait for it - Washi!

Now I have a bright an colourful carrier and the tapes don't get lost.

Happy Planning.

Bullets for a Bullet Journal - portable dashboard

I use my pocket Malden as a Bullet Journal because it is the only one of my planners that moves around with me. It's portable and convenient and one place to put all my ideas as and when they occur to me! I suppose it's my own portable dashboard.

I've been playing around with my own design of bullets for my Bullet Journal in my pocket Malden. It has squared paper pages, (there's a name for this kind of paper and I keep forgetting it), and I thought I'd try a simple way of marking my notes. 

Most of my notes are tasks that are to do and these get marked off when done - so a simple tick does the trick. Some tasks I move into my personal diary Filofax to do another day so they are 'Forwarded' there. 

I couldn't get my head round the difference between Forwarded, Migrated and Scheduled so my Scheduled mark means that I put that task on my Master To Do list which I dip into from time to time. 

Abandoned means either -

great idea but not a chance of carrying it out

or

rubbish idea, why on earth did you write it down!

Put back means - it's a possibility - stick it in a goals list somewhere and I may or may not get round to doing it. I can't decide.

From the first mark many different arrows can be drawn. I couldn't think of what I could name them.

Watch this space!

Happy Planning.