Saturday, July 6, 2013

Taking notes at work

I'm the type of person who needs to take notes in order to follow a discussion, remember something, plan for follow-up actions, have an overview of a topic, and so on.  It's the reason why i use a Filofax.  I need pen and paper in my life, and that holds true at work too.
At my current job, i might take notes of ideas i have when sitting alone at my desk, or take notes during a meeting, or about a specific project i'm working on, and so on.  I wasted some time in the past trying out different systems before finding one that works for me, so i thought i would share my current tips:
  • i use one A4 notebook only.  I use it for all my notes.  The only exception is that i have to take notes during phone calls to write up transcripts afterwards, so i use a separate notebooks for those.
  • i leave around 5 empty pages at the beginning, then i have a page that i dedicate to an 'ideas' page (=random ideas i want to explore later), and then everything is in chronological order.
  • i number the right-hand pages in the upper-right hand corner.
  • i keep an index inside the front cover (eg: "p. 5: mtg w/ LST 06.16 on expansion").
  • i use the margins to point out important info (with a *), to dos (with a []), to delegate (with a °).
  • i use the lower right hand corner for follow-up questions, actions, and people to contact.
  • i always write in black or blue, and annotate in green or red. 
  • i highlight important to dos or infos in yellow, and finished actions/to dos/projects in green (then when i flip through the book i can easily what's still current and what's finished).
  • i date every entry, and i also give it a title.  If it's a meeting, i put the names of the attendees, and if it's on a client's premises or outside our offices in general, i'll also write down where we are (i've noticed that it's helped in the past to remember specifics).
  • when a book is finished, i put the period it's covered on the front and file it.

Here is my system, made up of advice given by my professors at school, by different bosses over the years, and gathered while reading different articles and books.

[for my fellow stationery geeks out there: my A4 notebook is a spiral Clairefontaine 90g/m², of course.  I use standard bics as pens though...]

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Tip of the day (?)

Sometimes at work i'm bored and i start to fall asleep.  Well, that happens a lot at my current job. In these instances all i want is to splash my face with cold water.  Not super professional, is it?  So what i do is that i wet a piece of tissue paper and gently dab it on my face.  Feels as refreshing, but a tad less obnoxious.

That was my tip of the day.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Paper Notebooks vs Smartphones?


I'm sure you've seen this video already, but i find it very funny and thought a lot of us could relate to it :)

and guys, it's Friday! Have a good weekend everyone!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Springy Sunday


It feels like spring, doesn't it? The snow is melting and we've seen the sun... do I dare hoping?

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Did you miss me?

'cause i missed you!!

I haven't written in a long time (or what feels like a lot time) and there's lots i didn't tell you!

First of all, I am now all moved in my first Personal Filofax!! I bought it on Philofaxy AdSpot from SewSaffy at the end of 2012. Let me tell you guys, if you see something she sells that you might like, don't hesitate to buy from her. She was super nice about everything, quick to answer, sent me a bunch of very accurate pictures, sent the binder very quickly (with extra goodies!!!!), but was also just nice and took the time to explain me a lot about sewing and to recommend some books i might like, and to chat with me. So when her binder got here, i really wanted to like it, only because she had been so nice!
By the way, it's a Personal Finsbury, in GREEN! me so happy :)
You might remember how reserved i was about using a personal. I was afraid the "weird" page size would feel all wrong to me. Well, far from it! I got used to this new size very quickly, i love the fact that my bags are MUCH lighter now, and i just got into the habit of taking the page out of the binder when i need to write a lot. I love love love it, and feel perfectly comfortable in that size!
I just moved in with the same set-up i had in my A5, and starting from there, I'm still adapting and changing things. I can't say if the following set-up is gonna be my set-up for 2013, because I think the fun in a Filofax is that you can change it up whenever you need, right? But so far, here's what i have:

  • first up, my wallet section : cards in the card slots, IDs in the bigger pocket, and, on the ring, a zip pocket for my money and behind it, more card slots
  • first section is the diary: i started with cheap inserts from Hema (you can sort of see them here), and when i got used to the format, i designed my pages. I'll show them in a later post!
  • next i have a Notes section : list of meal ideas, menu plans, a list of things i want to buy but want to think about before, list of things to knit, and so on...
  • then i have my Projects : i took the current projects from the A5 and copied the interesting pages to Personal paper, right now it's mainly house stuff, summer vacation plans, and job searching (again, i know....)
  • finally, my Information: log ins, health info, some important addresses and phone numbers, log ins for work and so on.

The binder is not too full, which is great, but i still feel there's info in there that i don't really need, so it's still a work in progress!
So now you know what i'm using this year :)