07 January 2007

Tab Tweaking

I know, I know, most of us who frequent this blog are aware of the need to do less tweaking and more doing. But I often feel like speaking out in praise of tweaking.

By tweaking I don't mean buying a new Treo, or switching to an all-Filofax system when you have Franklin Covey pages that already do the same thing. (Not that I'm not pretty much guilty on both counts.) I'm talking about smaller, internal tweaking.

I say, don't hesitate to tweak your tabs. Tabs are one of those things that you need to experience in order to make a decision about. In other words, if your Filofax isn't working for you, it may be time to rename your tabs and work with the new configuration for a while.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, I thought that my be-all, end-all tab set was:
Actions,
Projects,
Routines,
Lists,
Notes,
Agendas (with the address pages behind the Agendas tab, and no A-Z tabs)

A couple weeks before that, I was using A-Z tabs and no other tabs, but using a second pop-in ruler to point to my action lists.

Now, I've changed my configuration to:
Goals
Plans
Agendas
Ideas (someday/maybe, etc.)
Lists
Addresses (again, just address pages here, with no A-Z tabs)

What I want to put behind each of these tabs doesn't necessarily follow convention. More on that in my next post.

4 comments:

  1. I'll share my tab setup:
    Projects--includes lists of projects, list of actions to do each project, and a Filofax Vertical Year Planner so I can map out the major writing projects for the year
    To Dos--organized by context (@Errands, @Studio, @Home, etc.)
    Ideas--place for mad scribbling, doodling, thinking
    Lists--lists of movies to watch, books to read, people to annoy
    Someday/Maybe--not using this much. Would probably help if I stuck notepaper in this section.
    Reference--also not being used much, but I keep Expenses forms in there for when I'm travelling. Right now it also contains on a stickynote the address of a Filofax store in London I want to visit.
    Then I use the A-Z tabs for addresses of people whose contact info I always want with me. If I buy a smartphone this year I'll probably take this section out and just keep all addresses/such on said gadget.

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  2. Nan, how long did your items arrive from The Daily Planner? I decided to go for the Teal Personal Finsbury (it happened to be the last one left or so it says on their website) and decide to return the Black Pocket Finsbury when it arrives tomorrow. I haven't received a confirmation saying that it has been shipped out or anything so I was just wondering how long it took for you. Their service is kind of horrible considering that I have tried to email them and called them numerous of times only to get to their answer machine. I am, however, esctatic to received my Personal Finsbury in Teal since it is a discontinued color in that size.

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  3. Thanks, Jeff. Nice straightforward setup. (Keeping paper in a section helps, especially colored paper for an ideas section.)

    Anonymous -- I think my order took about a week. I'm sorry they weren't responsive to your calls and emails. Actually, I had that problem not with The Daily Planner but with Filofax USA.

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  4. re The Daily Planner: I ordered some notepad Filofax refills from them, they sent me an email confirmation the next day, and today (less than a week) my refills arrived. They included a very nice catalog of Filofax, Excompta, etc. I have no complaints with The Daily Planner and will order from them again.

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