Usually it’s enough to see a bill and know you have to pay it; but what if the actions aren’t so clear? When using a tickler file, you want to be able to quickly, for instance at the beginning of the day, open it up, action what’s in there and then get on with your day. What labeling each item will do is make this process simpler because each item will instantly tell you what you must do with it; instead of umming and ahhing about what you need to do with it. The two ways to do this would be either creating new folders for each action – to pay, to read, send etc – or labeling everything that goes in each day. I think labeling works best because you can instantly integrate that into your existing tickler file and add new actions on the fly. Karen Roehl at AddResources.org has some examples of what we’re talking about: I would even consider a color coding system if you have a few common actions you want to keep in order for each day. How to Create a Customized Tickler File System – [AddResources]
