Potpourri

Isn't that a Jeopardy category meaning "a little of this, a little of that"? That's what today's entry is about.

Lightening up. Last week, I changed by A5 work-dedicated Filo from a day-per-page to week-per-2 pages. Boy, did that lighten my load, and made me more likely to use the book. It was just so much easier to find things! It meant I had room to put the A-Z tabs back in, and I also renamed the 6 blank tabs, giving each major project its own tab, plus a tab each for meeting notes and miscellaneous notes.

Creativity. Went back and looked at all the A5 pages I filled with ideas last year. I found I've actually done a lot of those things in the meantime. Others were truly valuable ideas and reminders that I've since forgotten -- which defeats the purpose of writing them down in the first place. There was a lot of great thinking I could use here. Considered going back to an A5 (instead of a Personal size) for these personal matters, too.

Impulse purchase. Based on the above item, I'd need another new A5 for the kitchen counter. Something inexpensive and easily cleaned with a sponge, right? Wrong. On impulse I purchased a fancy, red, alligator-look leather organizer, which I now have to return to the store (but I'll take a picture of it before I do). As I said, total impulse.

Rethinking. After using my new, lightened up work Filo for a week, I see that it's helped me get better at getting individual tasks done on time, and keeping all the notes for one project consolidated. But I still have lots of material for each project (timelines, documents, printed emails) on 8.5 x 11 paper, and I see that I should be looking at that information, now in file folders, more often, too. Plus I have our company's electronic shared calendar to update. See where I'm going with this? Why not just use a letter-size 3-ring binder for the stuff I have loose in a file now, PLUS the handwritten notes that I have in the A5 Filo now? I can't make the change now, since I'm in the middle of a hectic project...but I created a to-do item in my Filo to switch the future projects to letter-size.

Ouch. The poor thing must be crying now. Containing the declaration of its own demise.