I know when I was working these last few days before the holiday break were either mad crazy busy with lots of last minute work coming in to be signed off, reports to be peer reviewed to get them 'out the door' before the end of the year......... or deadly quiet, especially between Christmas and New Year, if it was the later I used to make good use of the time to up date my Filofax and get it all prepared for the start of the New Year.
What routines do you go through with your Filofax to prepare it for the New Year?
But as always as it is a Friday you are of course free to discuss anything Filofax or Ring Bound Organisers related....
Not everyone is winding down! We run a group of holiday cottages (on the side of the famous Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire) and the next two weeks are our busiest of the entire year! It's 5am and I'm on with installing new beds and touching up paintwork to be ready!
ReplyDeleteI think it's the most important time in the Filofax year! I always find time to write a review of the year - all the main things that have happened, goals achieved and how I'm feeling at the end of the year . It's the best time to review my set-up, cull old pages, update address records from Christmas cards received and set new resolutions and goals for the year ahead. It's always a good feeling to start the New Year ready and running!
Today is my last 'official' working day. History teaches me that by 27th December I'll have cabin fever, so I'll probably appear at my desk for Thursday and Friday next week, but *not* to do regular work - and that's where my personal planning comes in. I shall 'weed' the Filofax, do a full review of all my lists and diary, and most importantly, finally set and commit to my goals for next year, do whatever planning hasn't already been done, and get the plans, schedules and diary dates in my diary for 2013.
ReplyDeleteThe 'mirror image' of this process is the half year review, which I normally do the last week in May. This is a hangover from the days when I had small kids, and we *always* went on holiday with my parents during the spring half term week. My parents were excellent and enthusiastic babysitters, so I often spent several days sitting by the pool, reviewing progress and making adjustments to my TMI schedules.
Really missing my old TMI setup right now (nostalgia is a powerful thing), but heigh ho, life goes on!
Have a great Christmas/Solstice/Mayan Apocalypse, everyone.......
Hi David - I still read my Time Manager (TMi) handbook manual every year around this time. I find it really motivational. it helps me to focus on which of my 'key areas' I need to concentrate on and to set personal goals for the new year ahead. Highly recommended reading for anyone keen on being more time efficient, if you can get a copy.
DeleteGood idea Tim - it's this time of year that I realise how much I miss the discipline which running the system imposed on me. Sure, GTD comes with a slightly different, and some would argue more contemporary, set of disciplines, but the TMI years were good years and I still harbour a suspicion that the disciplines would largely work in these more modern, tech-savvy (or obsessed?) times.
DeleteI think the PDF is available if anyone wants to read it - great idea for those 'cabin fever' days in between Christmas and the New Year.....
Where can we find the PDF David?
DeleteIt's in a Dropbox shared folder along with a pile of other TMI publications, but I can't send you an invite as I didn't create the folder and I forget who did! However, I can move it to a new folder and send you an invite if you send me your email address.
DeleteThere are some 'housekeeping rules' re shared Dropbox folders, the principal one of which is that you must *not* delete files from the folder (or they will be deleted on the hard drives of everyone in the group share), or cut and paste to another folder (same effect). Use copy and paste as soon as you get sight of the file, in case someone else transgresses.....
Let me know if you want a share invite
Please may I have an invite?
DeletePlease read my previous.
DeletePlease be careful with copyright guys! "Time Manager - the Guide to Personal Effectiveness" is still very much in current publication and available at http://shop.timemanager.com/shop/uk/time-manager-the-810p.html. It is £25 plus VAT if bought as a standalone item. It's included with Time Manager sets.
DeleteThanks Tim.....can you remember who it was who originally put it on Dropbox? I've got a hard copy myself, but it wasn't me.....
DeleteI don't do Dropbox, so it wasn't me either! I've got both the book and the very old version when it was in three booklets format.
DeleteTo be fair to people who spend hundred of hours writing books and articles for a living, I'm (probably like you!) one of those old-fashioned people who don't believe that an individual's work is free to be scanned and re-circulated on the web without permission or payment!
I've just remembered that books are VAT free, by the way.
Hi David! In the US there's TimeDesign - is this the same? Wouldn't the TMI refills fit in a Filofax? Reading your post (and Tim's) has made me nostalgic, too - but the refills are so expensive... Anyway, if it's the same, there's a quick start guide that I have as a PDF that folks may enjoy. But it sounds like the book you mention is more substantial.
DeleteHi Claudia! Over here we had (in the 80s) Time Manager and Time/System. I know the latter was from the US, I don't know TimeDesign. The TMI manual is designed as a start-up guide for the TMI system, which is very structured in terms of the disciplines it imposes, and it's that aspect of things which has always appealed t me, as I think the set-up you use matters far less than the fact that you use it in a disciplined way. In the 21st century there seems to be a belief that technology will solve the problem, whereas in fact technology just enables the chaos to spread more quickly if a proper discipline of time management isn't in place. One day soon that will come back into fashion and I'll make a lot of money running courses on how to do it!
DeleteIf there is dropbox to which I can be (ethically) invited I would love to accept the invite. Email me at studioconway at gmail dot com. I use Dropbox shared folders a lot so I can be trusted not to delete :) If the PDF was sold as an e-product there would be VAT on it ( never understand that logic!) and if someone bought it I cannot see that it is a breach iof copyright to share it anymore than it is a breach of copyright to lend a friend a paperback or leave a magazine in a hairdressers, unless it was a condition in the contract of purchase that it should not be so shared. If the PDF is a scanned copy of the hard version then it might well be a breach of copyright in that it repoduces the work without permission.
DeleteThe PDF is a scanned copy of the printed original, so I guess that places it in the 'unethical' dept.
DeleteAs you quite rightly say, however, there would be nothing to stop me from lending you my copy of the original.....
Indeed!
DeleteHi Claudia - "Time Design" is not the same as Time Manager. Time Manager is still available in the States. See http://shop.timemanager.com/shop/us/frontpage.html
DeleteTime Manager Original is the equivilent of Filofax Personal with the same holes. However, Time Manager paper is wider (and a better size!) being 18cm x 11cm. So it will stick out of a Filofax Personal binder.
Time Manager A5 is the same size as Filofax A5 but they have a different hole configuration. Ho hum!
Time Manager binders are expensive but WAY superior to the budget Far East manufactured stuff that Filofax procurs.
Got to agree with you there Tim....my 20-year-old TMI black leather binder still looks as-new.....
DeleteMy 27 year old Filofax Winchester it looking quite good for its age too!
DeleteToo bad Filofax doesn't make them like the Winchester quality anymore! I can't imagine what a leather Filofax binder bought today would look like after 27 years of use!!!
DeleteWhile cleaning out the basement here in NY, we found TWO Time Manager binders along with all the inserts that my boyfriend received from attending a training session on time management sponsored by his employer in London in the early 90's. Wow these two binders have been sitting on our kitchen table for a month and I haven't looked at until this am. John told me I might find some of the inserts useful, but I can see they would stick out. Hmmmm
Delete@Laurie, the personal vintage Tejus Filofax I rec'd last Christmas really illustrates just like the Winchester the quality of the leather used by Filofax in the early days....I don't think I could buy a newer FILO - just no comparison.
Well said Steve, after all Filofax is why we are all here. My incredibly bounced about Baroque is showing wonderful style and resilience. Credit where credit is due!
DeleteGonna be spending the days between christmas and newyears preparing for my (yet again) return to the Filofax.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently printing calenderpages for my A5 Finchley off the Philofaxy website so everything will be ready for my "move".
Thinking of starting "Journal School" as well in 2013 so looking forward to maybe using my FF for this as well though I probably should be using a really nice handmade leather journal instead.
I'm gonna take this opportunity to wish everyone in here a very merry christmas and a happy new year with (hopefully) lots of fun FF-stories to be shared in the coming year...
Hi, is "journal school" an online thing or something you're doing yourself? I've noticed a few Filofaxers mention journalling but not sure where to start with it.
DeleteI'd like to hear more about your journal school, if you don't mind sharing?
DeleteGuys,
DeleteJournal School was a series of blog posts by Ray Blake, which can be found here...
http://mylifeallinoneplace.blogspot.com/
Thanks Gerard.
DeleteI set my new compact regency up with a new set up, new diaries and tabs and new washit tape and posh Cavellini stickers and everything a good while ago and have been becoming more and more eager for New Year to come so I can move it into it (Note to self: Blog post required!). But then I got my beautiful graffiti not-filofax binder in TK Maxx last week and that requires a new set up too now so I cam swap and change between restrained and elegant and wild and colourful as moods require.
ReplyDeleteI will move the actual diary and notes over but once the shopping moratorium is over (imposed in our house for self-shopping between exchange of wish lists and Christmas Day to avoid suprise spoiling!)I shall be online looking for bright and decorative sticky notes and divider cards.
I also have a new Amazonia A5 from TK Maxx to set up and as the builders ocm eto do the last of the house rennovations in januiary we may actualy have cash to leave the hosue this year so I am thinking I need a travel planing filo and am trying to choose between the Cavellini Bon Voyage stickers or the Destinations ones. (Both?!) I intend to make some map dividers from am old atlas over teh holidays.
My ritual is that New Years day morning I have a long and quiet journalling session thinking about the year ahead and setting goals. These I keep in my A5 Osterley so there will be some reviewing and archiving and putting on for new pages behind month tabs going on while the Viennese Concert plays on TV. It is a time I very much look forward to.
Sigh. One New Year resolution is to achieve a comment without typos. Sorry.
DeleteI discovered those Cavellini stickers too, a bit expensive but lovely designs.
DeleteI don't think I have ever been so organised for Christmas - for some reason my brain is convinced it is this weekend on not Tuesday! Anyway after a very angst filled few months I am looking forward to a break from routine - we have some nice social things to do this weekend - but I have plans for next week! I have to finalise my 2013 filofax setup (binder and inserts), and I want to do some goal setting and planning. I want to plan in much more detail this year. I also have some de-cluttering to do - I want to set up my old study upstairs in a spare room as a sewing/craft room. I also want to streamline my desk setup in the dining room (where I now work). I just need to make sure I do all this and not sit about watching Christmas TV!
ReplyDeleteSounds fantastic - good luck! I would be reorganising my office if it wasn't for the fact that we're moving on 1st Feb so I'll have a whole new office to organise! I'll definitely be doing the goal-setting and planning though. I've just reviewed by 2012 goals and it's a pretty salutary process. Next year will be better - and at the expense of television, as you quite rightly say. Sky is going as part of the moving process, so at least we won't have *that* to distract!
DeleteWith the thought that I may actually be ungenerous at this time of year, especially in light of the new Filofax/Philofaxy dialogues and accords, in 2013 I hope that this year Santa brings Filofax Research and Development, briefs to:
ReplyDeleteallow their new inserts to start on 1 January and end on 31 December without the face page of the diary section reading 'Clothing Size Equivalents'. I know, very difficult to print the start of the year on the right side of the holes, but maybe they can get it ready for 2015.
develop a lightweight aluminium type metal ruler hole punch to carry in the filofax. Or perhaps they could just glue metal holepunch elements into the plastic one that would punch holes without torn edges after the first 8-10 pages. Considering the dedicated on the road filer must purchase a new plastic punch 3 or 4 times a year I'm sure the price would be carried by the long suffering supporters of these punches, after all the economy is on the mend, so they say, and a release by 2016 could mean they'll rush off the shelves. (perhaps with a little reverse engineering they could also work out how to model a new punch on the apparently rare 'Rapesco' hole punches. (BTW I have an A5 version purchased in The Netherlands that they can inspect if they wish)
Provide ruled and punched pads that flip to the left, rather than up, so that said pad can fit into the vertical back slot in my Finchley. Not much engineering needed there, just some lateral thinking - could that be a 2014 achievement?
And even though some of us are 'paper fanatics' (yes, LOL!)we must embrace technology on occasion and a 'super thin' Filofax branded USB key drive that sits discretely in a dedicated slot in one's Filofax would be such a delight for the extraordinary occasions one must stoop to computers for information retrieval.
Merry Christmas everyone.
*Really* like the USB holder idea - if only all USB keys were the same size.......
Deletememory cards are ......
Deleteactually I use one of these,
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10611
inside a plastic envelope, inside the zipped section of my Finchley. Avoids 'lumps', but a designed official Filofax version with a dedicated holder (card size) would be lovely
The little zip pocket in my Malden is perfect for the USB pocket idea. I've kept my writing backup USB in my "writing journal" filofax for some time now. :)
DeleteI always like to spend New Year alone - reflecting on the year that has ended and pondering the new year to come. I throw away or archive anything to do with the year just ended and start my new ones. I think of goals and hopes and wishes and write them all down. I usually spend a lovely quiet New Year with myself and my hopes and dreams, quietly welcoming the new year with all it's new possibilities. The moment of saying goodbye to the old year and opening crisp new planners and organisers is very special to me.
ReplyDeleteThe years I do 'proper' new year with champagne and fireworks and big parties I never really enjoy the same as I do the ones on my own.
Hi Janet
DeleteHurrah for those of us who prefer our own company! It's very unfashionable these days, and we introverts are regarded with a deal of suspicion by society generally.
You might be interested to read 'Quiet' by Susan Cain.....or 'Spirit of Silence' by John Lane, one of my all-time favourite authors who sadly died this year.
I quite agree Janet. I can't think of anything worse than having to see in New Year in a party involving drunk hordes! Although in a way New Year is an artificial concept I love the sense of peace and clarity in my head taht it helps me create just by marking the occasion with thought.
DeleteAnd new paper...!
You are not alone in this - my gregarious husband usually drags me out to an event, but I'd be just as happy at home ...
DeleteI'm beginning to wonder if we're all really introverts just 'playing along' to society's perceived norms.....
DeleteAnother interovert here too. I reviewed Susan Cain's book on my blog, it was one of the best reesds of this year for me. http://www.fennellbooks.co.uk/journal/2012/5/12/quiet-by-susan-cain.html
DeleteHi Nellie
DeleteGreat review, thank you. I do recommend 'Spirit of Silence' by John Lane, and also Sara Maitland's 'A Book of Silence'.....
Many we should start an Introverts Circle, but that would be a bit of an oxymoron, wouldn't it :)
So glad I am not alone in liking my own company :)
DeleteI too would prefer to spend New Year's Day at home, playing with my planner. But it seems we always have one family function or another to attend. At least this year, we don't have plans for New Year's Eve, which is the first in many years. I'm looking forward to staying home and relaxing on the couch.
DeleteI have Wuiet on my to-read list, and like many things, it keeps being pushed off. Someday I'll get to it!
I plan to spend the time between Christmas and new year (apart from the 1 half day I have to work) on doing some planning/writing for starting a blog. I bought my FF at the end of November as my diary for next year and discovered a whole new world online (Philofaxy). I probably wont customise it as much as some but I do like how it makes me think, how it clears my head and how every night before I go to bed I write down what I need to do the next day and it makes me much less anxious just taking that step.
ReplyDeleteI have plans to do some inspiring and encouraging filofax art to see me through 2013. I want to print out some beautiful quotes and images to disperse through my filo to keep my mind focussed.
ReplyDeleteI have been a happy pocket user for about 5 years, but now I have a child in school, one in nursery, and a baby at home, a new blog, voluntary work, and working from home restarting in Easter, I have a lot more to keep track of. I have switched to a personal size with a week to view diary - using an old blue Domino - and it's working well. I might just need a bigger handbag to accomodate it! I've used this mnonth as a sort of 'test' month for my new setup, so I am hoping to move into a new binder and finalise my setup before we hit January!
I'm waiting for Daytimer UK to deliver my new binder. It's taken 2 and a half weeks so far and several emails, but still no sign of it... :0(
Hi guys! I am starting my new resolution early, to archive all of my diary pages once they are sufficiently old (3 months or older, but if I am saving paper space in my filo, 1 month). I think storing these pages (rather than having them randomly scattered everywhere) will help me in my current desire to use a bound planner instead!
ReplyDeleteI would like to know:
When you guys archive your filofax pages, whether yearly or more frequently, do you archive just your diary pages, or everything, including defunct to-do lists and post-it notes etc?
Thanks!!
I don't archive anything......except in the recycling.
DeleteGoodness, I don't have enough space for the stuff that's current, let alone the stuff that isn't :)
Anyone other than you and I interested in the potential SW 2013 meet-up yet?
DeleteI'm interested in this as i'm starting to archive for the first time this year, think i'll archive all the to-do lists and all the bits of papers I punch for between my diary pages :-)
Deletei archive eveything because it gives a fuller picture of life to look back on. I just treasury tags through the holes.
DeleteThanks everyone!
Delete@David- Yes, a few people! Still in very early stages of planning now though!!
This will be my first year using Filofax or similar from the beginning of the year, i'm planning on sticking with my set up for the whole year, no swapping and changing between sizes.
ReplyDeleteAs I finally managed to get hold of a new Holborn in personal size without faulty rings (thanks to CO checking it for me before sending it out) that arrived today, i'll be spending the next few days on my set up.
I'm going to be more busy this year with certain groups that I attend and with volunteering so I needed to upgrade from slimline.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy year-end set up of my Filofaxes is predictable by now.... step 1. Go crazy and buy a lad of new Filos. Step 2. Reminisce about the year that has just passed as I clear out the Filofax I had been using & selectively archive some of its contents. Step 3. Consume liberal amounts of coffee and/or tea while trolling the web for Flofax photos, blogs, inspiration! Step 4. Decide to purchase more gifts for myself, in the form of inserts, sticky notes, colorful paper, gorgeous pens, etc. Year after year, THIS is what I most look forward to at the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI always do a look back and a look forward during the week between Christmas and New Year's. I like to do it then so I'm ready on January 1st to start the new year knowing where I'm going and how I'm going to get there (as much as we can know that!). Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have the current year in my Filofax plus the month of January 2013. I am probably like many Filofaxers who completely remove the diary section at the end of the year and insert the next year. I archive previous years in and old bulging Filofax slip case. Need to buy a storage case or a box to hold extra sheets and my reserve collection of binders Incidentally did anybody notice the Mayan “End of the world” I must have blinked and missed it.
ReplyDeleteI had the Apocalypse marked in my Filofax. I guess I can ignore it now.
DeleteFor the most part, my filo is all set to go for 2013. I actually get it it all set up in July or August once I've gotten the refills. However, I will spend some time archiving old pages and moving the new ones in. My big 2013 project has to do with my blog and sorting through the huge list of Philofaxy-related blog links. It's one of those projects that I'm looking forward to, but is also quite big that I'm not sure I want to start, lol. Though I felt the same way about sorting through my photos and once I started, I felt much better for it. Hopefully my hard work will pay off in the end!
ReplyDelete