Lord help us, we're spending the rest of March celebrating the seven desktop tools that are essential to managing paper in your office! I call these tools The Sorted Seven, and you can see an overview of the whole system here.
So, once a piece of paper has left the In/Out/To File sorter and you've decided not to release it to the Trinity of Trash, you have two more possible options for it: act on it or file it. Today we're going to explore one of several ways you can act on a piece of paper: by entering its information into your calendar.
Sometimes, all you need from a piece of paper is a date, time, place and event. Say there's a mandatory staff meeting next Wednesday at 4, a test on the 17th or a seminar in three weeks. That information may be vital, but it isn't doing you any good on a random piece of paper; it needs to be put into the context of the rest of your activities.
That would be your calendar. Now, one of the great questions in the field of business productivity and time management is: what type of calendar/planner system is the best? My answer to that: whatever type works for you.
My calendar, as shown blurrily above, is a Planner Pad. I like the size, the vertical arrangement of the schedule and the fact that I can set the week's priorities and then filter those priorities down into days and then into time slots. Also, I like to work on paper (and in pencil) so I can move things around, jot little notes, draw my little arrows, etc.
However, you might be better suited to a Day-Timer, a Franklin Planner, a Quo Vadis planner, if you like paper products. Or an electronic calendar might be more your thing: a program running on a handheld device like a Blackberry or iPhone, or software running on your desktop computer or on the Web.
Truly, the only things that matter when it comes to selecting what type of calendar system to use are that it works, that you like it and that you use it consistently. A calendar that isn't used is just a leather-bound paperweight. (Vinyl, in my case, but still.)
So when you come across a piece of paper with specific event information, your answer to the toss it/act on it/file it question is: Act on it! Enter the information into your calendar. If you need to, include a phone number or other short relevant info in the calendar entry. Then, you can move the paper to the Trinity of Trash, or file it for reference.
But what if the piece of paper in question has information that needs to go in your calendar, but also has info that you'll need when that calendar appointment comes around? Patience, dear readers. That answer is coming next week.
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