Is a tickler file really needed? Do you use one?

[shane_k]

hey everyone.

So I setup my tickler file about 1 year ago.

However, I don't use it consistenly at all. i go in spurts, where I will use it for 1 month, then stop for 3, then use it for 2 weeks, then stop, etc.

I don't like to put things in there any longer, because I know I will probably just forget about them. So I know I don't trust it.

Do you guys use a tickler file? Do you think we should have one, or should I just get rid of it?

What I was thinking of doing was if I say a flyer advertising a sale on TV's, and it was going to happen on a specific saturday, I would just put a notice of that in the "all day section" of the calendar on my iphone. Would that work?

But then where do I put the actual physical flyer?

What do you do to make sure your tickler system is running smoothly?

[mickmel]

I don't check mine daily, but it's still a great place to store date-related papers (such as the flyer you mentioned). I also put birthday/wedding invites in there, hotel confirmations, concert tickets, etc. It's not so much to remind me of what I need to do, and therefore I don't check it consistently, but I never misplace those kinds of items anymore.

[Oogiem]

I don't like to put things in there any longer, because I know I will probably just forget about them. So I know I don't trust it.

Do you guys use a tickler file? Do you think we should have one, or should I just get rid of it?

What I was thinking of doing was if I say a flyer advertising a sale on TV's, and it was going to happen on a specific saturday, I would just put a notice of that in the "all day section" of the calendar on my iphone. Would that work?

But then where do I put the actual physical flyer?

What do you do to make sure your tickler system is running smoothly?

I do use a tickler file and I also had some issues with trusting it initially. My tactic was to add a note that came up on my morning checklist to check tickler file until it was a habit. After reading the power of habits book I realized that I was adding a step to an established routine so it wasn't that hard to do.

If you have a lot of stuff in your tickler file if it was working then stick with a full fledged version with a folder for each day and one for each month. If you don't have as much then you might go with just a monthly version and if you really have almost no paper stuff then perhaps just a single Tickler Folder is enough and you sort through it when you need a paper.

The phone reminder to at least check the tickler file is probably a good one until the habit is established.

[cojo]

Honestly? No. I've tried tickler files (both paper and virtual) and what ends up happening is I rarely put things in them, then forget to check. What I do now is put date-specific events on the calendar and, if necessary, make a note about where the supporting materials are on the calendar reminder. I have so few paper items, if I have something paper like tickets or a wedding invite, I put them under a magnet on the fridge. Otherwise, I scan it and it goes into a digital file.

So it's sort of a simulated tickler, but I don't have an official tickler - just another thing to check.

[Candid]

I use followupthen.com as my tickler file. It is a pretty basic and easy to use service. You send things to the site with a date like mon@followupthen.com or nov5@followupthen.com. On that date you get sent an email back with whatever you sent to the website.

Since about 90% of my tickler stuff comes from email this is a great way for me to have things that have been sent to me appear in my email box on the day I need to act on them.

[ctklai]

Hi shane_k,

I'm going to use the TV flyer case you brought up in your original post as an example of how effective the tickler file can be.

Your situation:

- a sale I might want to check out on Saturday September 15th, 2012.
- a physical piece of flyer
- I'm not sure if I want to go and buy a new TV, but I would like to know on Saturday that there is a sale.

Your challenge:

- where do I put the physical piece of flyer? I want to be reminded there will be a sale on Saturday.
- I'll just put it on my calendar since it's a day-specific information (perfectly GTD compliant as long as the edges on your calendar are clear between inaction and action items)
- but I might lose my piece of flyer!

Solution:
- have your piece of flyer be the reminder
- physical tickler file OR a digital tickler file

Strategy:

Physical tickler file:

- file the actual physical piece of flyer in the folder marked for September 15th, 2012 (or even September 13th to give yourself 2 days heads up)
- Principle: anything you take out of the tickler file MUST go in your INBOX to be processed that day
- you can use the tickler file as your not-to-decide system
- you must go to your tickler file everyday to see if you 'sent anything from the past'

"It’s OK to decide not to decide—as long as you have a decide-not-to-decide system."
- D.Allen

Digital tickler file:


- setup a digital tickler (either offline or cloud)

It is the same setup D.A. wrote about in his book. The advantage of having a digital tickler file is that I can insert items into specific dates later in the YEAR, not just the month (30 day limit)

- take digital pics of the flyer and store it in a digital tickler file
- use your tickler file everyday, and dump into inbox for processing
- for instance, you see here that I have 4 items to dump into my inbox for processing (I haven't decided if I want to take action with any of the 4 items yet, but it's off my mind since I trust it will appear in my inbox on that day) on September 10th

Ignore my inbox, I just did a huge digital core dump and I'm still working through it :P

Hope this helped,
Calvin

[treelike]

I've never really seen the point of a tickler file, but then I've never tried it so maybe I'm losing out. I just use my trusty electronic diary (well, maybe not so trusty as files can get corrupted....).

If it's something to be done on a certain month then I put a reminder in maybe first of the month and then I can start the ball rolling on a project.

If it's something on a certain day, like the TV sale example, then I'll maybe put a reminder in the day before so that it's in my mind on that day that I want to do it the next day. Arrgh! GTD sacrilege! But, seriously, I think its important to have a rough idea in your head of what events you have planned in the following days so that you can say "no" to people when they want you to do something else less interesting that day.

Also I might possibly put an alarm in the diary on the day of the sale, it actually beeps, in case it does go out of my mind. Quite a lot does these days.....

As for the flyer, what do you need it for? I would extract any info I need from it (time, location) write/type it into the diary and then bin it (the flyer, not the diary).

[jesig]

Honestly? No. I've tried tickler files (both paper and virtual) and what ends up happening is I rarely put things in them, then forget to check. What I do now is put date-specific events on the calendar and, if necessary, make a note about where the supporting materials are on the calendar reminder. I have so few paper items, if I have something paper like tickets or a wedding invite, I put them under a magnet on the fridge. Otherwise, I scan it and it goes into a digital file.

So it's sort of a simulated tickler, but I don't have an official tickler - just another thing to check.

This is a fantastic hack. I love it already.

To answer the OP--I think I'll get a lot of use out of something like followupthen. When I had a 9-5 desk job, I did have a 43-folder tickler file. But now that I'm a graduate student and freelance writer, I don't have room to store a full tickler file, and also, my commitments don't move fast enough to warrant it any longer.

But I'm very excited about followupthen, because a lot of my life is managed through my e-mail inbox, so the more I can get to filter through there, the better.

[cwoodgold]

I use a tickle file regularly and like it. I tried it years ago pre-GTD and it didn't work, but with GTD it works. For me, two keys to making it work are:

-- I use David Allen's rule for calendars, which is don't put something in there just because you don't have time to do it now. This keeps pulling things out of the tickle file much more pleasant. and

-- I made sure there was almost always at least one item in each folder, so I wouldn't be bored by having to look in empty folders. At first, I made up things to add for fun, such as a reminder to sing over a song I'm memorizing. Pretty soon, though, there were enough things in there that eventually I shifted some categories of things into a different system.

I put lots of little things in my tickle file, like reminders to water my plants, charge a cell phone or bring something with me. I generally don't file things in there: I pretty much only put my own handwritten reminders, not things I might possibly want to search for later.

I do lots of things on the computer, but I like to have my tickle file and some of my other systems on paper.

People with fewer things to put in might consider a one-folder-a-week or one-folder-a-month tickle file.

Jesig, if you don't have room for a big filebox, you might consider a little box of index cards, or just a pile of index cards with an elastic band around them, as a tickle file; but it sounds as if you're happy with an electronic solution anyway.

[cfoley]

I don't have a physical tickler file. Working between the home and office would make it difficult to tickle things when I was in the location away from the tickler file.

What I do have is a tickler list on the same list manager as my context lists. The hack I use it to set the start date of the tickler item to some date in the future. That way, it doesn't become visible until the day I want to be reminded.

The second important part is checking it. For this, my "Hard Landscape" screen on my tablet comes in handy. I've set it up so that it shows me all the calendar items for that day, all the actions that are due that day, a few of the upcoming actions and and actions that are overdue. (of course, this only ever happens because I forget to check them off. I'm always on time with my work. ) But this hard landscape screen also has a widget displaying tickler items.

It works really well. I have one screen where I can check my calendar, deadlines and ticklers at the start of the day. I can have my shower and breakfast without worrying about anything.