24 May 2024

Free For All Friday No 811 by Laurie

Before I get to today's topic, I have a question for you:

I know my posts tend to be wordy. Do you like to read longer content like this, or would you prefer I keep it shorter, maybe with bullet points? Please post feedback in the comments! Now on to our topic for today!

Lately I've been seeing a lot online about "mental load." Your mental load consists of all those little details you have to remember: when the recycling or garbage bins need to be put out, when your kid needs to go to the dentist or doctor, when your pet needs to go to the vet, household tasks, maintenance and repairs, the never-ending laundry, cleaning, and meal planning-prep-cleanup. Not to mention your workplace/ education and social mental load as well. The list goes on endlessly, which is the nature of the mental load. It keeps coming, and it never ends.

In truth we all have a mental load, and its "weight" or volume changes throughout our lives depending on our circumstances. Times when our mental load noticeably increases include becoming a parent, carer, or homeowner; starting a new job or education/degree programme; acquiring pets or other domestic animals, moving house, planning a wedding or other event, travel, etc. Some of these circumstances are shorter in duration than others. But they all result in us having more things to think about, more moving parts that have to mesh in order for things to work properly.

I rely on my Filofax heavily to help assuage my mental load. I've been using a planner since high school, but my Filofax usage really took off when my mental load started to increase: moving internationally (multiple times), becoming a parent of one and then two children, those kids starting school, adding work into all that, household upkeep, etc.

Two important ways to lessen mental load are to reduce the number of decisions you have to make, and reduce the amount of things you have to remember.

Here are some examples of how I use my Filofax to reduce my mental load:

I write as much as I can into my weekly schedule pages, and not on various pages throughout my Filofax. That way, I see things when I need to take action on them, and I only have one place to look for them. (I don't have a bunch of other pages where I have to look for this info.)

I write all scheduled events and timely reminders directly into my calendar pages (weekly for the current year, monthly for future years to be transferred to weekly pages when they become the current year). 

Here are some of the things I write into my calendar pages:

I schedule/ capture things as far into the future as I can so I don't have to try to remember. For example, in my Filofax I have far-future pages where I note when our passports and driver's licenses expire. When the year approaches, I move those deadlines and renewal reminders into my current-year schedule pages, so when the time comes I have the information in front of me and know what actions I need to take.

I note subscription renewals, including when to cancel any subscriptions I don't want to continue before I get charged again. I put these directly on my calendar pages, not in a list in the back, so that when the time comes I see the action on my calendar page.

Other uses include meal planning, cleaning schedules, birthdays/ anniversaries, and scheduling recurring events. I put these things directly into my weekly schedule pages, to reduce the number of places I need to look for this information, and to work them into my schedule. I also write in related tasks. For example if there is a birthday or going-away, I write in my to-do list in the week before to buy a gift. That way I don't have to try to remember, and I don't get surprised and have to rush to buy something last minute.

I find it very helpful to think about things ahead of time and make decisions when I'm not time-pressured. For example, meal planning ahead so I can plan my grocery shopping and know what meals to make which days. I find it very stressful to open the cabinet/ fridge at 5pm wondering what I'm going to make for supper!

In addition to my calendar pages, I have notes pages where I can quickly capture ideas and things I need to remember. I have tabbed sections for projects, and write related notes directly there. I also have a Notes section with blank paper so I can capture anything there and move it someplace else later if I need to. Having a designated spot to to offload thoughts is very helpful, so I don't have to try to hold them in my memory until I can do something about them. I also don't have to wonder where I wrote it or search for random notes. 

A summary is, I write information where I need to use it, so I don't have to look for it later or forget where I wrote it. 

How do you use your Filofax to help reduce your mental load?

And as always on Fridays, feel free to ask and/ or discuss anything ring binder organiser related!

12 comments:

  1. I like reading your articles, as they are.
    I might not comment often, as the subjects quite often don't match how I use my Filofax. But I like learning how other people use theirs.

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  2. To answer your first question: I actually prefer a shorter text over a long one.
    But today, the topic caught me, so I read everything. :-)
    As a mother of two with a job and a self employment plus a large house with an even lager garden with to dogs on top (plus a husband who is a third child in some ways) I can totally relate to the mental load problem.
    I'm using a layout with the week on the left page and notes on the right page. The calendar is sitting right on the kitchen counter with the actual week showing so I can take a look at it without looking for my planner, then looking for the right week.
    That's what's working best for me for the last three years.

    Katharina

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  3. Long or short, I read it because it's interesting me. However I find I might not fully reach the end. If I get what you're saying it usually happens by halfway, I think people put the essence of the idea in the first half and the rest is method, which I might work out my own version based on the idea anyway. If that makes sense. Anyway, I don't have patience enough to always read a full post, sorry, but I wouldn't want you to change your style. It's perfect as it is.

    As to mental load. I used to use an a5 notebook bullet journal and it didn't work, I used to just remember everything despite offloading into the bullet journal. The filofax diary I now use means I put meetings and events in there and unlike a bullet journal, it then leaves my head.

    My partner asks me what meetings I have the next day and I can't answer (we both mostly WFH and need to know so we don't disturb each other). It's in my filofax which gets checked often. I only remember the details for the day I'm in. It is a good feeling and I don't miss things, well except birthdays. I think birthdays are a special case and I don't think there's a single organisation system that will stop me forgetting birthdays.

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  4. Hands Off My Data24 May, 2024 07:13

    Bolded subheadings (one to seven words decribing what the next paragraph or two will cover) can make a long descriptive text more appealing online, if you fear a piece of writing is getting unwieldly. Images, even just basic CC0 stock images, can also lighten things up.

    With planners, reading other people's ideas and mulling over new systems is a part of the hobby in itself, so time spent on it, and the exchange of ideas and methods within the community, can be very enjoyable.

    I like longer posts where people can fully explore their ideas and provide details or examples, because I've frequently developed ideas of my own from bouncing off what's written, where the writer goes into depth and explores circumstances or alternative use-cases.

    The current trend for brevity, at all costs, tends to lead to complex ideas being boiled down, even mischaracterised, into a few small bullet-point worthy "zingers." Twitter is the epitome of that trend, and many a needless drama has raged there due, in part, to the lack of both context and subtlety that the original short format imposed.

    Wider consequences aside, it's not a net gain, on a personal level, to condition oneself to require a "tl;dr" version of everything. Our minds retain cognitive plasticity and develop through use, and through strengthening critical thinking and concentration skills, not through seeking only the simplest of ideas, before moving onto the next shallow distraction.

    While wordiness for its own sake is best avoided, the form of communication should follow its intended function, and not fear length on principle: after all, most of us aren't King Leonidas, and this is not, in fact, Sparta. :)

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  5. Thank you for your feedback everyone! I will keep these in mind for future posts.

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  6. I prefer a long read over a short one. We have enough sources pandering to our nearly completely eroded attention span (now officially less than that of a goldfish), and personally I don't need another.

    Getting to you're silubject, I'm with yiu 100%. The more I can get into my Filofax the less I have to remember, and for me that's the point of the exercise. The more I can reduce things to routines, the more free my mind is, and I like it that way.

    The business I run has over 150 clients and (I think) anything up to 400 independent processes and workflows in progress at any given time, so relying on my brain isn't really an option! But my organiser gives me peace of mind.

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  7. Love a long read but with headlines and bullet points. Photos are eye candy and love seeing Filofax in use. Thank you for the blog! I'm also grateful for access to the catalogs.

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  8. I like the idea of using bold to highlight the main points, then expounded on in more detail.

    What I do find a bit ironic is the many videos about planners/time management systems/organisers, where it is very clear that no planning or organisation has gone in to making the video; presenter goes off to find something they want to show; rambles on for five minutes about how their week has been; spends 30 minutes making points that could have been wrapped up in five, given a bit of planning, storyboarding, or scripting what they really wanted to say...

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  9. From my own personal possibly selfish point of view, I would love your longer posts as a regular post in the week, with a thought provoking short post on FFAF. But either way your posts are always great as you have so much experience of planner use than me.

    I'm sometimes suffering with task overload. Having just returned from 10 days or so in UK, I keep seeing things that need doing. The flow of emails and messages doesn't stop just because I've been away. Some of them I can respond to and action whilst I'm away but a few have to wait until I get back.

    This week I seem to have been in constant catch up mode!

    My organiser has been essential in making sure nothing gets forgotten.

    Onwards.... Tick

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    Replies
    1. Aw thanks for that Steve, that's really nice.

      I wouldn't be able to do a long post regularly (right now, but maybe later in the year). But I will make it a point from now on to save my longer posts to be used whenever you like during the week, and keep the FFAF's short and punchy.

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  10. I like your longer posts. I find them informative, and I like hearing the details of how you use your Filofax. There are enough short articles on the internet.

    Without my Filofax, I would be lost. I use it to track my schedule, my tasks and projects, and ideas that I want to remember. I am able to organise it in a way that suits my brain and my ever-evolving lifestyle. My Filofax enables me to live a richer life.

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