Guest post series - 'Filohax' No. 17 - Paul

Thanks very much again to Paul for this seventeenth instalment of his wonderful guest post series.
You can find all of the 'Filohax' posts here.     

You can only write on one insert at a time, so why try to carry them all? 

There are many benefits of using a Filofax (or any portable ring binder), but to understand what the key benefit is we need to break down how, and where, we use them.  

When we first begin using a Filofax, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that it can be 'one binder to rule them all' (when I bought my first Winchester in the late '80's, I simply kept a year's worth of day per page diary inserts and contact numbers in mine). However, these days our Filofax are more likely used to record a multiplicity of content - trackers for all kinds of things, journalling, commonplacing, health records, you name it, we record it.  

When I reconnected with using a Filofax again after many years, I was thinking that I could keep all of the pages of the various subjects in one 'every day carry'... how wrong I was!  

After constantly bulking out my vintage Winchester to the point of damaging it, I came to a realisation: most of us use our Filofax in two distinctly different environments: 

1. An office, where we will have access to not only our binder, but also our filed inserts. 

2. Out and about, or even in the office, but away from our files. 

This realisation hit me while watching YouTube videos about Commonplacing and keeping notebooks in general. Bear in mind that these were all hard bound notebooks, and it meant that the presenters were all advising the viewer to carry around 'an essential three notebooks ' - one for planning, one for journalling and one for commonplacing (or whatever subject is important to you). 

Being a Filofax user, it was obvious that I could have sections for each of these subjects (and many more) in just one binder. 

The key benefit of using an EDC (everyday carry)

This brings me to what I believe to be the key benefit of using an EDC Filofax.

It allows us to contribute new content to the equivalent of 200+ different subject notebooks (the average number of inserts that a 23mm ringed binder contains) - wherever we go. And this is all down to the rings - with bound notebooks we have to add new content to the actual notebook itself, whereas with ring binders, each insert page can be added to its final binder 'home', in sequential order whenever we return to base. 

This simple change of focus has allowed me to create content for x different content binders on a daily basis, where before I was limited to only creating content when I physically had access to the bound notebook itself. As a consequence I didn't really write much. 

Now, when an idea occurs or a fact comes up that needs recording, I simply open my EDC to the ONE CURRENT insert page for that subject that I'm working on. I suppose in the past people have used pocket notebooks as a capture page, but then have to 'double enter' this into its actual bound notebook or journal when back with their notebooks. 

Real world example - At the Hospital 

Recently I had a hospital visit that entailed long periods of sitting in waiting rooms. 

Luckily, being a Filofax user I made sure to take my EDC Grosvenor plus plenty of spare inserts as I knew I would be there for the duration. 

Us Filofax users probably take for granted how versatile these ring binders are. And to prove the point if I had been using subject bound notebooks I would have had to have taken nine! 

 

Here's a list of the different subject inserts I was able to update during my wait: 

1. Year planner (all I carry when away from home / office which radically reduces bulk) 

 

2. Journal  

3. Granddaughter diary (dated notes of our interactions) 

4. Son's diaries (dated notes of our interactions) 

5. Personal Health tracker     

 6. Film / TV tracker 

 

7. Film / TV reviews (I review anything I rate 5 in my 1-5 scale) 

8. Zibaldone (another name for a Commonplace book) 

 

9. Esoteric teachings Commonplace

 As you can see, too many subjects to carry hardbound notebooks for. 

 

In Summary

If you've got a bit of time to write on one of your subjects, why do you need every page you've ever written on that subject to hand? You don't, just one or two inserts - then back at base, you just click the completed insert out and add it to its subject binder. 

There's the benefit of using ring binders in the modern era, right there…