Tickler file question

[Paul@Pittsburgh]

It occurred to me in setting up my system that I will have a tickler file both at home and work. Is this a good idea, or is it better if it can be avoided? It kind of seemed like it was a bit like running two calendards to some extent.

While buying my files today, something caught my eye. Plastic wallets (for use with 3 ring binders) that were labelled 1-31 and another set that were labelled by month.

I wondered if instead of having two ticklers, I could have one portable tickler system using this method.

I'm not sure how large it might grow and whether I would really want to carry it around when traveling or not - but presumably thats not an option for most tickler systems anyway.

The danger I can see with two systems, is that if my plans change suddenly and I am forced to not go home or go to the office for say several days longer than I had anticipated, I will not have reviewed my tickler file that far in advance and I won't know whats coming up. Sure, it may not happen very often and maybe I am worrying about nothing or over-complicating this, but it seems to be a barrier to trusting the system for me right now.

Any comments - has anyone else tried a portable folder based system as a tickler?

Thanks

Paul

 

[Jason Womack]

Re: Tickler file question

It occurred to me in setting up my system that I will have a tickler file both at home and work.

I have a tickler file at home; I use it to manage (1) my personal, (2) my professional, (3) "our" personal, and (4) any reminders Jodi wants to see in the future.

Jodi's tickler file, at work, is where she puts (1) professional and (2) personal reminders of things to see in the office (calls to make during business hours, errands to run during the week, etc.)

My suggestion, make one, and leave it in the place you know you can "check it" daily. Mix in personal/professional. You want to make this an easy thing to keep up...

 

[ko]

My tickler file is at work, and contains both personal and professional stuff. Right now I haven't established the discipline to check it daily at home, so it's all at work.

 

[BrianK]

I have and maintain 2: one at home, and one at work. This works for me because everything I've put in a tickler easily fits into one of those two contexts. My work tickler has only work-related things in it, while my home tickler has pretty much everything else. I do have the luxury of being home almost every night, with relatively little unexpected travel. When I'm faced with expected travel, I clear out the tickler files for all of the days I plan to be gone.

 

[Ambar]

I made a portable tickler file by stuffing a set of monthly and of 1-31 numbered accordion folders into a Levenger travelling inbox. (If I had to do it over again, I would probably just set up a fistful of numbered / month-labeled plain manila folders into the same travelling inbox.) I'm still struggling with making a consistent habit of checking it -- partly because I "know" the things I have in there right now are fairly unimportant -- but as portability goes, I'm sold. (I work in 1 location 3 days a week, go to school in a different place 2 other days a week, and am away from home two nights a week -- if I didn't have a portable tickler file, I wouldn't have a tickler file at all. In fact, that was why I took so long to get around to creating one.)

Ambar
http://ambarconsulting.com/