The solution to the small Filofax calendar pages??

A recurring issue we Filofax users have is the page size/ book size ratio. In order to have calendar/ diary pages large enough to write everything we need, the resulting book can be big and sometimes unwieldy. So we try to strike a balance between a small enough book/ big enough page. But often the daily spaces in the weekly planners are still just too small to write everything we need to each day.

But today I read an interesting article that could possibly be the solution. I subscribe to Travisthetrout's blog (http://travisthetrout.wordpress.com/) and yesterday's post has a list of interesting links from this week. One of those articles is "Calendar Or To-Do List? Two Task Management Tools Compared."

Now listen. I've been reading a lot lately about to-do lists. Let me say, some people write about lists like they invented the list. I mean, come on. List-writing is probably the earliest form of human organization in the world. People were using sticks to write inventory lists in cuneiform on mud tablets thousands of years ago. So don't pretend you're being revolutionary about a list.

But this article really is, wow. Especially toward the end of the article, something clicked. Basic premise is, don't schedule your tasks. Huh? Leave white space on your calendar. Um... what?

"Calendar or To Do List?" is about keeping white space on your calendar to effectively gauge your availability for completing your tasks. You write your tasks someplace else OTHER than your calendar. I've been doing the opposite: artificially scheduling tasks in order to have them in front of me at all times.

Andre Kibbe, author of the above-mentioned article, says that's all well and good for those tasks that actually have to be accomplished at that time on that particular day. But for general tasks not tied to a time or day, keep them OFF your calendar, for crying out loud!

I have to admit while I was reading this article and got to the heading When to Use Calendars, I had to roll my eyes. Oh man. Doesn't everybody know when to use a calendar? Actually, no. I didn't.

His message really started to hit home when he mentioned all those little tasks that tend to fill up my day "will be greater in number than what can be crammed into a typical calendar blank." No WONDER my daily spaces are so packed, yet I still feel scattered!

I won't re-write the article here, but go read it if you have time because it could be very useful for those of us struggling with Filofax's small daily spaces.

There's also a link to another article of his about context lists, which is particularly useful for Filofaxers too because we can have as many context lists as we want in our Lists section (or wherever you like to put your lists).

So, thank you to Travisthetrout for pointing it out, and especially to Andre Kibbe for writing this article that really got me thinking in the opposite direction!

Could this be the answer to the age-old Filofax dilemma? Is this the solution to the too-small daily spaces? What do you think?