18 September 2008

Free for All Friday No. 12

Any Franklin Quest or FranklinCovey refugees out there?

Are you marking the change of seasons in your Filofax?

Does 12 posts make a tradition...our tradition of open Friday threads.

—Inky

14 comments:

  1. Allo --
    Your blog has been invaluable, in terms of helping me to make up my mind to get organized, and to figure out which systems and forms to use. Thank you!
    Might I post a tale of one man's journey from darkness into light? I'd hate to bore everyone, but it's chock full of references to Filofax gear.
    Regards,
    WTT

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  2. WTT - thanks for your comment! Since it sounds like your story is long, please email it to me at nanbarber at gmail dot com and I will post it on the front page! - Inky

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  3. Hello. Finally settled in to a new Filo that gets the job done for me. Called Filofax customer service with this question: Are there REALLY two pen loops inside the Denim model? Answer: Yes. My concern? No mention of TWO pen loops on a few international Filo sites. She said, Hold on - I'll fetch one and check. She came back and said she had a red Denim model in hand and, yes, there are two loops. Here's what makes me happy: It's red, there are two loops, and it was on sale for, I think, $18 bucks, and arrived complete with 2008 and 2009 calendar and all the standard inserts. It's perfect. I've been switching back and forth between my old Hampstead, a lovely Stratford, a pink Rio, and an ancient burgundy Kensington - all gorgeous, but, but...the Hampstead is too clunky, and the others force me to choose between pen or pencil. The red Denim does it all for me; I have it stuffed to the max and still it snaps shut easily. It stays flat on the table when opened. I can carry my flashdrive in the zip pocket. And instead of junking up my calendar space with a myriad of things to do and sticky notes, I simply keep a running list on the notepad in the back of the book, where there's a slot for a cardboard-backed notepad. Perfect. Now, when I look back over this year many years hence, I won't see cluttered entries for "take out the trash" and scribbled grocery lists and such. Those reminders will be tossed, thanks to the notepad list. Brain dump solved (nuisance items and day-to-day incidentals). So glad I found order, ease of writing, and efficiency in such a pretty red Denim Filo for under $20. And so glad I'm not the only Filo nut in the world. By the way, for some weird reason, even though I have stuffed this personal Denim to the maximum (with several booklets, thumb-drives, extra keys, and so on) (and an additional set of 6 tabs for 6 separate projects), it's not clunky. How did that happen? Amazing.

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  4. It's been a productive week and who knows, maybe the priority ranking tip I rediscovered in the "Advanced Day Planner User's Guide" helped. But today I've lost the will to work-- it's a good thing it's Friday!

    Anonymous, it is amazing how forgiving the Filofax can be. Mine is stuffed full of pages, but still manages to snap closed. I like your idea of keeping your flash drive in the zip pouch. I've been keeping mine on a keychain, but the pouch makes more sense.

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  5. Does anyone here have a Circa notebook? Over at DIY Planner someone asked about Circas vs Filofax, and I think the Circas are heavier and I don't like the hole punch. Overall it's just too fussy.

    I know Inky asked about Franklin Covey, but it reminded me of the Circa-Filofax choice. I prefer Filofax.

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  6. I used Franklin Covey briefly a few years ago, and found I spent too much time fussing with it: "sharpening the saw," (which is a good idea in theory but just caused me to waste too much time getting sidetracked), writing things in multiple places, making lists on pages that were in places I wouldn't normally look. The system was not intuitive for me, so I dropped it. I like Filofax because there is no program, no particular way of doing things, nobody telling you how it should be done. I can just do what feels right!

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  7. gg - Don't worry! "Free for All Friday" really means free for all! This is the perfect place to talk about Circa. I may do a Circa post soon now that you've reminded me of it!

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  8. Whew - I am just SO glad you are back and blogging away! I get SOOOO much out of your hacks and other ideas - there's only so much I can keep track of - it seems like everyone has ordered their new planner pages already - or new binders - and I am just happy with my black alligator embossed Topaz, that i can't bear to think of changing venues any more.
    Today a friend called me and begged me to chat about my FAVORITE topic! How could I resist! So the last 3 months of my Julie Morgenstern pages from FC may FINALLY get used because she needs a new system since she is not being productive with her "funnel" type system, now. Telling her about my longstanding love affair with planners, productivity and challenging myself to be more organize today than i was yesterday just made me sooo happy and i am sure you can understand. So once again, Inky, really glad you are back. I enjoy everyone else's comments but there's a reason YOU are the writer of this blog - there's something about how you convey your ideas that makes it really enjoyable to me. THANK YOU!!!

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  9. Just the other day, a friend of mine had gotten a Franklin Covey catalog in the mail. Of course I had to peruse it. I did find some things I liked and some things that got me thinking of how I might be more productive - not with my Filo per se, but with other notebooks for meetings at work, lists, etc. Of course, the more materials I buy, the more I have to use, which can become confusing for me. While I like the idea of different notebooks for different things, I need to keep things as simple as possible in order for them to work well - in order for me to use them, really. Since I started using Filofax about 18 months ago, I haven't looked back, which is funny since I refused to use a binder-type planner for the longest time - I only wanted to use spiral bound. But now that I am familiar with and used to the binder, which allows me to make it what I need it to be (rather than bending to a sprial's limits), I'd never go back.

    I've never used the Circa system myself, but this same friend of mine used it for a while. I don't like the "rings" on it. I didn't even get to the functionality of the system because I couldn't get beyond the rings. It's the little things that get me. =)

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  10. @anonymous - Congratulations on your red Denim. Sounds like it's working great for you, and you're working great with it!

    @laurie - I've used Franklin Covey in the past. I was never able to able to keep up with the Sharpen the Saw stuff either! I'll write more about those topics (with pics - I still have some of that stuff around) soon!

    @chrystine - Aw, thanks for the compliment. Most of the time, when I'm not posting, it's because I don't think I have anything interesting to write about...I see now how many people are interested in these topics! Your black alligator sounds so beautiful!

    @kanalt - I'm with you on the simplicity thing! As I said, I've tried Circa in the past and also found the rings uncomfortable, although I love the idea of its flexibility and compatibility.

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  11. I can't call myself a Franklin Covey refugee since I still have one. Actually, I have two -- one classic and one compact. I have two Filofaxes as well, both personal size. Then there's my Time/Design and my Day-Timer. It should be fairly obvious that I have a problem with planners. The thing is, they're all good in certain respects so that I've never been able to completely commit to just one. I'll use one for a while and then decide another is the "better" choice, so I'll start using that one -- until I change my mind again. Thankfully I'm not like this in all areas of life. I guess I just like planners.

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  12. I like planners, too. That's one reason I'm a frequent reader of this blog :-)

    And I think its perfectly alright to have several organisers and change to something else whenever you feel you need to or want to.

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  13. It seems that Anonymous has a problem when it comes to make a choice about which planner to use. I have the some problem. Sometimes I like using Outlook and Palm, other times I think textfiles are what I need. Or a paper binder like Philofax or Succes. Difficult to choose! At the moment I use Outlook. Works fine because my collegaes use that too so we can coöperate now. Out and about I have the Palm which is synchronized with Outlook. But everytime I read this blog (several times a week) I think about using a paper binder...

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  14. Hi Anonymous - As you can see by the next post, I've kept some of my old planners in case I want to go back to them someday. I think we have different needs at different times of our lives. For example, at one point I had several part-time jobs and needed to have everything with me everywhere I went. A big Franklin Covey system made that possible. It would probably be overkill for me now.

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