I was kicking around a few ideas for some new inserts recently and came up with this new design for a single page which you can fill in to give yourself an overview of the month ahead.
You can also use it at a glance to spot what days you might be free on or to note down peoples holidays etc.
Naturally you can customise it anyway you want in the usual fashion.
So this is the front of the page.
And this is the reverse, which you could modify and add a lot more bits of information to it if you so desired. I decided to keep it simple though.
We are going to run another conference round-table voice/video chat using Skype.
When? - Sunday 4 March at the following times:
London 10:00 am,
Paris 11:00 am,
Brisbane 8:00 pm time.
Additionally we will be on line later in the day at the following times:
Los Angeles 8:00 am,
Denver 9:00 am
Dallas 10:00 am,
New York 11:00am,
London 4:00 pm
Paris 5:00 pm etc.
The timing of these two sessions have been chosen to hopefully allow as many people to join in compared to previous round-tables.
Do not worry if you aren't available at the start of one of our sessions each one lasts 2-3 hours so pop up when you are available and say hello.
Where? - an on-line chat using Skype. with voice and video (if you wish)
What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Skype account. Using headphones or earphone reduces 'echo' on the call. Video is optional, but a few of us will be on video as well.
Who - All of you... connect up with Philofaxy and we will attempt to get as many of us linked in to the audio conference as possible. Come and listen if you don't want to chat. What do we talk about? Filofax stuff... but anything else as well. It's like long lost friends meeting up for coffee and a catch up.. but don't worry if you have never joined in before... you are an old friend too!
If you have any questions you want to ask then please let us know in the group or before we start.
How -
Connect to Philofaxy by firstly searching for Philofaxy in Skype, I will then add you as a contact.
Then 'Send Contact Request', I will then add you in to the chat room.
Then if you request it, I can add you to the audio conference as well. But if you just want to chat via keyboard that's fine. That way it's slightly less hectic for me!
Come and join in the fun, even if you only pop in to say hello... but don't be afraid to join in the discussion.
As with previous round-tables there will also be a parallel text chat room going at the same time as the voice conference, so you can listen to the voice chat and type if you wish, just mute your microphone in Skype
If you need any assistance setting up Skype, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Skype is free for computer to computer calls....
You might be surprised to hear that people are not aware of the Philofaxy diary inserts produced in conjunction with Ray Blake and his blog My Life All in One Place!
Yes one of the most frequent questions I see on Facebook often is similar to this:
I've just bought an XYZ where can I get inserts for it....
And they are in the Philofaxy group on Facebook!
I often post cryptic replies recommending Philofaxy as being an excellent resource with a 😀 but they often don't make the connection between me and the site!
You will find them here free to download and print yourself:
So here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.
We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.
We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title...
Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.
I don't use an electronic calendar of any kind: all my planning is on paper. But I know I'm in the minority these days.
Many people have to use an electronic calendar system at work, and some also need one to coordinate family schedules.
Other people like to decorate their planners and keep their appointments electronically, then add them to their planner the week of along with their stickers etc.
Am I the only one who uses only paper for planning?
And as always on Fridays, feel free to discuss and/ or ask anything ring binder related!
'Planner Peace' or 'Organiser Peace' in our case is often banded around on-line and I've been asked the question numerous times.
"Have you achieved Planner Peace?"
If you say yes, then of course there are lots of follow up questions! Like how did you achieve 'Planner Peace'?
For me it was partly about finding a diary insert that worked for my own needs. The one you see below is the one I've been using since 2012. I used it for a few months in 2011 as well.
That isn't the full story though, you need to consider how you use the diary insert in conjunction with the organiser that holds the pages and where and when you are using it.
The organiser I use most is my Custom A5 Van der Spek, it is certainly not the most expensive one that I own. It only has 25mm rings and it is quite soft and supple, which means it slots in to my bag perfectly. I do occasionally swap in to other A5's, but this is the one I come back to.
The internal layout has pockets for other bits of paper and documents that I like to keep together. And having two pen loops means I have a pen and pencil always at the ready.
My other 'secret' was to have split my pages in to those I need to access on a daily basis, such as my planner pages and a few notes pages. And the infrequent sections which live in another A5 which stays close to hand on my desk, but I don't carry all these extra pages around with me.
So have I really achieved 'Planner Peace' ? I guess I have, if it is working for me and the fact I'm still using the same inserts etc.
Can my set up be improved? I guess so, but changes will evolve rather than big changes.
I've created a poll in the side bar, which you will need to use a desktop/laptop to see, to see how often people visit Philofaxy.
I'm not too concerned if people aren't visiting every day, which would be nice of course. But the outcome of the poll will help me plan posts in terms of how often we might need to repeat important information, so people don't miss things.
Details of each days posts on Philofaxy as you might know go out automatically or manually to a variety of places:
RSS feed.
By Email to subscribers (see the box in the side bar to subscribe).
Twitter (@philofaxy and @philofaxynews ).
Flipboard (Filofax Focus see the side bar also).
Facebook groups, this varies depending on the topic.
However, I realise that there is a lot of pressure on peoples time every day of the week these days.
Thank you for taking part in the poll it will close early in March.
As usual we have had a reasonably good response to the announcements. This post is just a gentle reminder to those who might have missed the original posts or have forgotten to contact me to ask for their name to be added to the list of attendees.
Numbers are less critical at the London venue, but we do need a precise number for the Bath meet up by the end of February so a table can be booked etc.
I will be sending out an email to all of those people that have responded in the next day or two with some additional details etc.
So please get in touch a.s.a.p. if you would like to attend either of the meet ups, I will have some goodies to bring along and give away....
We have been steadily producing podcasts this last couple of years.
We are taking a slight pause in our busy schedules at the moment to come up with some new topics.
With more than sixty episodes to listen to there are plenty of topics that I hope you will enjoy.
As always we are interested to hear what you would like to hear us discuss. Even if you would like us to revisit a topic and may be cover it from a slightly different angle we would be more than happy to do that.
None of our recordings are scripted as such, we have a rough idea of some of the things we want to include but generally they are done straight 'off the cuff', it is a very relaxed style and I hope you enjoy listening to each episode.
If you haven't discovered the Podcast yet, you can listen on line to each one using a variety of methods:
I am in the process of setting up a new podcast feed so that iTunes holds more podcasts in the feed than it currently does. This will take a few weeks to set up but hopefully it will give a better service once set up.
So what topics would you like us to discuss in the coming weeks? Please leave a comment down below or email steve at philofaxy dot com.
So here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.
We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.
We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title...
Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list.
I admit that I'm not a great fan of winter and was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder some years ago. Thankfully I'm able to keep most of the symptoms at bay through using a light lamp, getting outside and exercise etc. However, one main symptom that can affect my planning is lack of energy. Due to this, I've learnt that winter isn't a suitable time of year for me to start big projects or take on too much. Some times it's frustrating as I want to get on with things, but I know that it can be too easy for me to feel overwhelmed when I'm tired. Therefore, each autumn I look at my projects list and consider any tweaks that I need to make, e.g. postponing until the spring, or breaking something down further to make it easier to manage.
Do you do something similar in the winter, or for other health reasons?
Of course, since it's Friday, all ring-bound planner conversation is welcome!
Microsoft Outlook has been around since the late 1990's, I think the earliest version I ever used was Outlook 97 which came with Office 97.
Outlook is intended to do the following:
Email
Calendars
Tasks
Contacts
Notes
How well it does all of these functions is a matter of opinion! I'm sure we have all had to deal with Outlook in our work life at some point. The last time I seriously used it was nearly 8 years ago and then it was the Windows version! I have the latest version on my Mac, but I've honestly not tried to use it.
In the past I've used it to create simple diary inserts! This was before Ray and I got together to do our magic.
Looking at the list above it does seem to copy a lot of the functions you might be using your organiser for? I'm not going to try and convert you all in to abandoning your paper organisers.... hell no!!
However, I'm sure some people are almost forced in to using Outlook or a similar set up at work, but you still want to use your paper organiser/planner. Can you blend the two together?
I watched this recent video by Joshua LaPorte, I know a lot of you follow his videos and they are excellent at exploring how we use our organisers.
If you haven't watched his latest video, please take time to do so.
After watching this and thinking about how Josh is now blending Outlook with his Van der Spek organiser, it created this image in my head of Outlook being a fast moving Motorway / Freeway / Autoroute / Autobahn (use the appropriate phrase for your country!). With his organiser being the service stations along the route where he stops to collect his thoughts together at regular intervals.
The advantage of this way of using the two systems of course means his colleagues are kept in contact with his schedule and his other tasks and notes can come in and out electronically.
However, Josh sets aside times in his busy schedule to gather together his thoughts, tasks, appointments and brings them together in his paper organiser to keep himself focused. Some of us refer to these times as 'Planner planning', it is something we have mentioned on the podcast several times.
Planner Planning is something I do either late on a Sunday evening after I have finished my regular scheduled conference call on a Sunday evening or after I've had my breakfast on a Monday morning.
It is then I gather together any outstanding tasks and transfer them forward in to the current week. I also scan through the paper diary and the electronic calendar to make sure they are roughly in sync with each other.
It is normally new events on the electronic calendar that I need to make a note of on my paper diary insert and trip planner.
Then during the week I add things to my pages as they crop up or as I think of things that need doing.
I don't find this way of working too stressful or inconvenient, I feel in control and I'm less likely to overlook something or miss an appointment that way.
I received an email from Gordon, who recently discovered Philofaxy.
He shared some photographs of his Filofax organiser that he recalls buying in 1987, but it doesn't have a name shown on it. He was asking if we could identify the model name at all.
I had a quick look at the 1987 catalogue and I think it's the vinyl version of the Filofax Buckingham bottom right in the scan below.
Here is Gordon's organiser.
Things to note about the design which might help with identifying the exact model:
It has metal corners which Gordon suggests have protected the cover during it's 30+ years!
The closure is a magnetic button not the usual popper.
The ring mechanism is painted or powder coated.
So do you recognise this Filofax model at all, please drop your thoughts in to the comments below.
The Wellington, seems to be the best fit from the description in the 1987 catalogue:
Thank you to Gordon for sharing the photos with us.
