As part of my ongoing GTD Thirty Day Challenge, I wanted to talk about how you should set up a tickler file.
After listening to some of David Allen's conversations, I think he uses 43 folders for his tickler file. The 43 folders are 12 for each month and 31 for each day. If it is January, I'd have 31 folder into the January folder of my months. After each day, I'd take that day's folder and move it behind the next month, in this case February. If it's the 20th, the previous folder for days 1-19 would be behind the February folder now.
How does this work? Let's say I got a bill today that I was due on February 3. Since it's important that I remember, I would put it in the February 3rd folder. When February 3 arrives, I would look in my tickler file and it reminds me to pay the bill.
If you asked me, I think using 43 folders for my tickler file is not the best way to set up a tickler file. First, it's hard to remember to check the tickler each day. You'll be asking yourself, "how do I remind myself to check the tickler file?" Secondly, it's very bulky and not very portable. Third, when you move the folders for each day to the next month you have to take items in that months folder and put them in the right day.
For GTD, the tickler file set up is essential because you have to have a way to remind yourself of future actions. If you are a person who has tons of physical paper items then a foldered style tickler is the way you want to set it up. For me though, my work doesn't create many physical items and so I have a different method to setting up my tickler file to solve the above problems.
How To Set Up A Tickler File
First, I put a plastic folder in my briefcase called "Waiting For" that holds all of the stuff I might need to remember to check on a future date.
After that, I would create a folder in my email setup called "Yahoo Reminders". If you look at my folder setup in my other article called How To Set Up Your GTD email, you can see how I have this set up. I then filter all of my Yahoo reminders into this folder and they bypass my inbox.
The last component is Yahoo calendar. I put any item I need to remember and enter it as an all day event. I attach and email reminder to it that sends me a reminder 2 days ahead of the day I need to remember it. As a second reminder, a text is sent too.
Using the example above, the bill that's due on the third of February gets entered onto my calendar as an all day event like "pay this bill" and an email reminder gets sent to me 2 days before that date. Then I slip the bill in my "Waiting For" folder in my briefcase.
When February 1st rolls around, I get an email from Yahoo that tells me I have to pay the bill on the third. This email goes directly into my Yahoo! reminder folder. I also get a text message as a back up. I do both text and email because it's a good backup for when I don't have access to my Yahoo! Reminders folder from my Blackberry, I've got a text as well sitting right there. Each day, I review my reminders folder or my Blackberry for ticklered items.
This system is an extremely portable and streamlined tickler file. Everything reminds me on it's own and I don't have to move items around in my tickler file. Email reminders are awesome to remind you of things you have to do and you have no idea how much this helps your productivity until after you use them. If you use 43 folders, I'd still suggest using email reminders 100% to improve your GTD setup.
Once I learned how to set up a tickler file in this fashion, it improved my effectiveness at remember everything to a complete level.
After listening to some of David Allen's conversations, I think he uses 43 folders for his tickler file. The 43 folders are 12 for each month and 31 for each day. If it is January, I'd have 31 folder into the January folder of my months. After each day, I'd take that day's folder and move it behind the next month, in this case February. If it's the 20th, the previous folder for days 1-19 would be behind the February folder now.
How does this work? Let's say I got a bill today that I was due on February 3. Since it's important that I remember, I would put it in the February 3rd folder. When February 3 arrives, I would look in my tickler file and it reminds me to pay the bill.
If you asked me, I think using 43 folders for my tickler file is not the best way to set up a tickler file. First, it's hard to remember to check the tickler each day. You'll be asking yourself, "how do I remind myself to check the tickler file?" Secondly, it's very bulky and not very portable. Third, when you move the folders for each day to the next month you have to take items in that months folder and put them in the right day.
For GTD, the tickler file set up is essential because you have to have a way to remind yourself of future actions. If you are a person who has tons of physical paper items then a foldered style tickler is the way you want to set it up. For me though, my work doesn't create many physical items and so I have a different method to setting up my tickler file to solve the above problems.
How To Set Up A Tickler File
First, I put a plastic folder in my briefcase called "Waiting For" that holds all of the stuff I might need to remember to check on a future date.
After that, I would create a folder in my email setup called "Yahoo Reminders". If you look at my folder setup in my other article called How To Set Up Your GTD email, you can see how I have this set up. I then filter all of my Yahoo reminders into this folder and they bypass my inbox.
The last component is Yahoo calendar. I put any item I need to remember and enter it as an all day event. I attach and email reminder to it that sends me a reminder 2 days ahead of the day I need to remember it. As a second reminder, a text is sent too.
Using the example above, the bill that's due on the third of February gets entered onto my calendar as an all day event like "pay this bill" and an email reminder gets sent to me 2 days before that date. Then I slip the bill in my "Waiting For" folder in my briefcase.
When February 1st rolls around, I get an email from Yahoo that tells me I have to pay the bill on the third. This email goes directly into my Yahoo! reminder folder. I also get a text message as a back up. I do both text and email because it's a good backup for when I don't have access to my Yahoo! Reminders folder from my Blackberry, I've got a text as well sitting right there. Each day, I review my reminders folder or my Blackberry for ticklered items.
This system is an extremely portable and streamlined tickler file. Everything reminds me on it's own and I don't have to move items around in my tickler file. Email reminders are awesome to remind you of things you have to do and you have no idea how much this helps your productivity until after you use them. If you use 43 folders, I'd still suggest using email reminders 100% to improve your GTD setup.
Once I learned how to set up a tickler file in this fashion, it improved my effectiveness at remember everything to a complete level.
About the Author:
Dojo Kuhn has been practicing GTD since 2005. To help you set up their Getting Things Done system, he wrote a unique GTD Thirty Day Challenge that you can use to help you set up your system. You can also find a walkthrough of how to set up a tickler file that shows you how he uses a tickler file.
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