Thursday 15 November 2012

Personal Organisation Binder Setup - And Failure...

OK - this is the reason for the flurry of posts this morning, I needed the others to be posted before this one, but as I had unforeseen problems with my set up I needed to get this one out there - if only to relieve the pressure build up in my head...

As the only place I really go to is work, I don't feel the need to carry my personal stuff everywhere with me. All I need is my wallet, a notepad (or Filo/wallet combination), which means that for my personal organisation I can stuff a filo as full as I need without giving a thought to the extra weight.

I thought long and hard about what I needed to (or should) put in here, and here is my list...

                 -       101 in 1001 list and planning, with maybe a month per page or month on two pages
                         diary to plan the timing of everything

                 -       exercise programmes (each of the workout programmes we have has a calendar of
                         which session to do when, so having that written out and in one place would be nice)

                 -       timetable, to try to plan my personal time better

                 -       to do lists

                 -       wishlists

                 -       business cards

                 -       one line journal so that I can write in it each day and then move to my happiness binder
                         once a week/month

                 -       various logs.... food, water consumption, exercise

                 -       finance pages (for the first time ever... you'd never guess I was actually an accountant..)

And here is the final(ish) result... is what I'd planned to be able to say, but I started the set up and everything went wrong :o(

I had already put some inserts into the Holborn, in the full knowledge that they may be moving out, but I could live with that - I have 2 year planners (1 horizontal, 1 vertical), month on 2 page tabbed inserts, the standard 6 dividers, and my original 101 list in it's full form (6 sheets of paper).

I wrote up my 101 in 1001 to have a fresh list that shows only the items that are currently outstanding (3 sheets of To Do lists). I wrote out the timetables for the Beachbody exercise programmes P90X Classic ( 3 pages), Brazil Butt Lift - Slim & Shape (2 pages) and Classic (2 pages), 10 Minute Trainer (4 pages), and Rockin' Body (3 pages).

Can you see where this is going yet?

I then threw on some finance sheets and wrote in my expenses since November 5th which I have been scribbling into my blog notebook until I got round to moving them.

Time to attack the various logs... this was when it all really came unstuck. I fairly successfully recorded my food and water for a few months earlier in the year using my A5 Dodopad calendar pages, but I stopped as I kept forgetting, then decided that I wasn't actually using the information anyway. I know I don't drink enough fluids (of any kind), but logging it wasn't making me drink more - although writing down everything I was eating did stop me eating junk - I'm not sure if this was actually because I was writing it down, or just because I had decided that I was going to stop.

I started to write down my food log to start getting into the habit from today, but it just looked really pants if I'm honest, which got me thinking again - what is the actual point of logging this stuff if it is just  something that I write down on the day and never revisit to see what impact it has had... probably no point whatsoever right?

So now it's time to revisit my planned sections again...

                  -       101 in 1001 list and planning, yes I will use this (9 pages) - undecided about the diary
                          requirement as yet

                 -       exercise programmes, yes (14 pages), this is ideal as I have included the length of time
                         for each workout and if I don't want to stick with one programme I can easily pull
                         substitute sessions in

                 -       timetable, this would be useful as I really need to force myself to plan my personal time,
                         but it is only 1 page

                 -       to do lists, yes (10 pages...?)

                 -       wishlists, yes (5 pages max.)

                 -       business cards, why would I need this? The only business cards I have are one for my
                         hairdresser that lives in my wallet (the card, not the hairdresser), and the ones from
                         Artbox and Modes 4 U which are cute, but I'd rather keep them in my happiness binder

                 -       one line journal so that I can write in it each day and then move to my happiness binder
                         once a week/month, like I'm going to actually do this... I started it at the beginning of
                         the year and managed about 7 days.

                 -       various logs.... food, water consumption, exercise - NO!!!

                 -       finance pages, yes, at least until the end of my 3 months of my Fabulously Frugal No
                         Shopping challenge.

So in total I actually only have about 50 pages and a few dividers that I need in here... that's never going to fill up my beautiful Holborn zip. So what are my options...?

I could move to a pocket size, but then there really is no point in keeping it at home...

I could add my blog plans in, but then I would feel bad for my Star Wars Moleskine, and I would only need a few pages as I don't plan that much in advance - I just get an urge to blog and there it is really.

Or I could just take up all the rest of the space with frivolous stuff (stickers etc), but I'd end up with a binder that has too much clutter in it for me and then I'd have to change it all again...

Any ideas gratefully received - it could just be that I need a good kick up the @rse today :o)

LJx            

5 comments:

  1. Put the Star Wars moleskine INTO the Holborn zip?

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    Replies
    1. Damn - I tried that as soon as I read your comment, but unfortunately it's too tall :o)

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    2. Ooh - but it does fit rather nicely in the front pocket of an A5 without getting in the way of the rings...

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  2. And if you add a blogpost track? You know, write down which posts have you done so far, when... so you have an idea of what have you talked about already, and maybe even have an easier way to locate them, where you to refer to an earlier post.

    If you drive, you could also make a Fuel track segment, where you write when you fill the tank. I have this one on an excel sheet, though lately I just write them up on my planner or this notebook I sometimes carry around. It can be rather usefull if you note down things like millage since the last time you tanked, gallons tanked, price, maybe even where you went to fill the tank. Thus, if you feel that your car is going through the gas quicker than it used to, you have your data to check that up.

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    Replies
    1. Now that´s an idea - I was thinking of getting a binder to print and store all my posts and have a list of everything that has been posted :o)

      Thankfully I managed to escape driving - living in Switzerland I don´t need to as the public transport is so good (I did for a while but totally hated it).

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