FV and FVP Forum > Free-form FV
Another ebook about free-form notebooks, also FV-ready:
Todoolist, by Nick Cernis
http://todoodlist.com/
Nick's idea is to "doodle your lists."
Todoolist, by Nick Cernis
http://todoodlist.com/
Nick's idea is to "doodle your lists."
June 19, 2012 at 20:47 |
Bernie
Bernie
I love that system. It has a huge advantage. It is indeed simple and efficient for doing things. It has an inconvenient : it can become a huge mess and it is sometime difficult to work by projects so it his better to collect all information in a part of the list to do it faster even in a fast mind map.
Anyway it is the best way I found to follow my stuff and I use it everyday. I could not imagine some one would've made a thread of it. ;-)
Anyway it is the best way I found to follow my stuff and I use it everyday. I could not imagine some one would've made a thread of it. ;-)
June 20, 2012 at 7:54 |
Jupiter
Jupiter
Bernie,
Glad to see you found some useful ideas on the blog. I have not tried FV but am glad to hear it can be incorporated into some of the systems I use.
Jupiter, I am not sure you are referring to one of my systems, but yes, when you write everything in one place, it can get unruly toward the end of the notebook. One way to combat that issue is to use a legal pad or notebook with removable pages and try to file notes and prune completed pages. This keeps the pages you need to review down to the minimum.
Thanks
Gerry
Glad to see you found some useful ideas on the blog. I have not tried FV but am glad to hear it can be incorporated into some of the systems I use.
Jupiter, I am not sure you are referring to one of my systems, but yes, when you write everything in one place, it can get unruly toward the end of the notebook. One way to combat that issue is to use a legal pad or notebook with removable pages and try to file notes and prune completed pages. This keeps the pages you need to review down to the minimum.
Thanks
Gerry
June 20, 2012 at 16:05 |
Gerry
Gerry
Bernie, are you doing any kind of indexing/table of contents? I kind of love this idea and at 10 pages from the end of my current book, I'll be at a good point to try this out in a week or so.
June 20, 2012 at 16:12 |
Sarah
Sarah
I won't answer for Berny but for me I used to but it was too boring and complicated
I finally realized that the system is auto regulate by itself. Reading my stuff little by little make me choose the right item. But I am not foolish too.When there are some information which needs a real following (for example the list of my clients and search or the list of the building I sell) they go to excel immediatly even if they stay on the FV list.
I finally realized that the system is auto regulate by itself. Reading my stuff little by little make me choose the right item. But I am not foolish too.When there are some information which needs a real following (for example the list of my clients and search or the list of the building I sell) they go to excel immediatly even if they stay on the FV list.
June 20, 2012 at 16:49 |
Jupiter
Jupiter
Sarah: re indexing. Some people number the pages, maybe numbering only the odd pages as an effort-saver. What I've always done is date every entry, usually on a new page. My TOC then is ordered by the date and whatever items of interest I want to note.
For some notebooks I used at work, I revamped an old editing tool to track unique terms or words and used it as an index. I drew a 6-block grid on the back page or inside back cover, with the first block labeled ABCD, the next EFGH, and so on. The last block would usually be UVWXYZ while other blocks might be two or three letters, like RS; it would depend on how many unique words I was tracking.
So if I had a meeting about the ATOLL project, I'd write ATOLL in the ABCD block and then beside it I wrote the dates where info of interest would be recorded in the notebook. It then became a de facto index of the book that I could update as I went along. It was useful to track meeting notes, stray ideas, etc.
These days, I'm not tracking as many different projects, so I find FV to handle my needs just fine,
For some notebooks I used at work, I revamped an old editing tool to track unique terms or words and used it as an index. I drew a 6-block grid on the back page or inside back cover, with the first block labeled ABCD, the next EFGH, and so on. The last block would usually be UVWXYZ while other blocks might be two or three letters, like RS; it would depend on how many unique words I was tracking.
So if I had a meeting about the ATOLL project, I'd write ATOLL in the ABCD block and then beside it I wrote the dates where info of interest would be recorded in the notebook. It then became a de facto index of the book that I could update as I went along. It was useful to track meeting notes, stray ideas, etc.
These days, I'm not tracking as many different projects, so I find FV to handle my needs just fine,
June 21, 2012 at 15:46 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
RE: indexing, I am not usually fond of that sort of thing. I can see, of course, how it is useful, but I am likely to resist maintaining it, or to over-maintain it as a displacement activity, so it's best for me to skip it altogether.
I'm more likely to mark a really important/timely page with a Post-It flag. I like their plastic index tabs which stick out from the side of the page, with a spot for labeling with a pen, sturdy enough not to come off when you slip the book into a pouch or briefcase.
"Likely," I say because I really haven't worked from my notebook since I started this thread, due to having been on another little road trip. I have only made one free-form page so far, containing the packing list and to-do items to prepare for the trip. It was nice to keep that page in the notebook instead of floating around on my desk, and it was nice to have its actions incorporated into my FV flow without recopying them and without separating them visually from the other trip prep. items.
FV's line-by-line format is still my default habit, but I will experiment with more free-form pages. If I end up with many topical/project pages, maybe I'll be drawn to create that index.
I'm more likely to mark a really important/timely page with a Post-It flag. I like their plastic index tabs which stick out from the side of the page, with a spot for labeling with a pen, sturdy enough not to come off when you slip the book into a pouch or briefcase.
"Likely," I say because I really haven't worked from my notebook since I started this thread, due to having been on another little road trip. I have only made one free-form page so far, containing the packing list and to-do items to prepare for the trip. It was nice to keep that page in the notebook instead of floating around on my desk, and it was nice to have its actions incorporated into my FV flow without recopying them and without separating them visually from the other trip prep. items.
FV's line-by-line format is still my default habit, but I will experiment with more free-form pages. If I end up with many topical/project pages, maybe I'll be drawn to create that index.
June 23, 2012 at 1:07 |
Bernie
Bernie
I do something similar. I use a modified Cornell Note Taking Page. I have made good use of the Cornell Note Taking Method in college, if you're interested in creating useful study material for yourself, rather than merely taking notes, google the Cornell Note Taking Method and learn the 6 R's. But for purposes of this topic, consider the following Cornell Note Taking Page.
(http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/41571469.png)
I use much the same page only I put the "Recall" column (and accordingly, the "Most Important Point" square) on the right side rather than the left, and I have no "Name," or "Topic," etc at the top of the page. So I end up with 4 sections on my page:
a large "Raw Notes" section (on the top left)
a slender "Follow Up" section (on the top right)
a long "Overview" section (on the bottom left)
a square "Index" section (on the bottom right)
I use Raw Notes for all random notes associated with that project (names, phone #s, account #s, draft schedules, decisions, plans etc.) I use the Follow Up section to list milestone tasks associated with that project. I use the Overview section to write a simple statement of what Iwant to accomplish and why. And the Index square has a title for the project.
If you imagine several (say 10) of these project pages stacked on top of each other, you can see how you could simply thumb through them looking at the bottom right corner, and quickly find the one you wanted. Also, if you have several stacked on top of each other, you can see how fanning the pages out to expose only the Follow Up and Index sections on the right would give you an indexed list of milestone tasks across all projects. Finally, you could also fan the stack upward, exposing only the Overview and Index sections wolud give you an indexed "50,000 ft" view of all you are trying to accomplish - good for goal setting type thinking.
For general notes, I use the same pages with the same sections. All random notes run page to page through the Raw Notes sections. My FV list runs page to page through the Follow Up sections. I leave Overview and Index blank unless I decide to keep the page in an archive, in which case I put a title and archive letter for the page in the Index, and describe the page's contents in the Overview section. I then file the page in A-Z folders according to the archive letter I chose for it.
I use my stack of project pages (fanned to expose Follow Up and Index) to generate tasks to populate my FV list (contained in my general notes pages). I fan my project pages to expose the Overviews to do periodic "High Level Reviews"
For me, this allows me to take free form notes, keep my FV, index everything as I go, without needing to maintain an index seperate from my working pages.
(http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/41571469.png)
I use much the same page only I put the "Recall" column (and accordingly, the "Most Important Point" square) on the right side rather than the left, and I have no "Name," or "Topic," etc at the top of the page. So I end up with 4 sections on my page:
a large "Raw Notes" section (on the top left)
a slender "Follow Up" section (on the top right)
a long "Overview" section (on the bottom left)
a square "Index" section (on the bottom right)
I use Raw Notes for all random notes associated with that project (names, phone #s, account #s, draft schedules, decisions, plans etc.) I use the Follow Up section to list milestone tasks associated with that project. I use the Overview section to write a simple statement of what Iwant to accomplish and why. And the Index square has a title for the project.
If you imagine several (say 10) of these project pages stacked on top of each other, you can see how you could simply thumb through them looking at the bottom right corner, and quickly find the one you wanted. Also, if you have several stacked on top of each other, you can see how fanning the pages out to expose only the Follow Up and Index sections on the right would give you an indexed list of milestone tasks across all projects. Finally, you could also fan the stack upward, exposing only the Overview and Index sections wolud give you an indexed "50,000 ft" view of all you are trying to accomplish - good for goal setting type thinking.
For general notes, I use the same pages with the same sections. All random notes run page to page through the Raw Notes sections. My FV list runs page to page through the Follow Up sections. I leave Overview and Index blank unless I decide to keep the page in an archive, in which case I put a title and archive letter for the page in the Index, and describe the page's contents in the Overview section. I then file the page in A-Z folders according to the archive letter I chose for it.
I use my stack of project pages (fanned to expose Follow Up and Index) to generate tasks to populate my FV list (contained in my general notes pages). I fan my project pages to expose the Overviews to do periodic "High Level Reviews"
For me, this allows me to take free form notes, keep my FV, index everything as I go, without needing to maintain an index seperate from my working pages.
June 26, 2012 at 14:12 |
Miracle
Miracle
Pardon me for the crazy link. The URL in my previous post above will work if you remove the tailing ")" off the end of it. Try this one:
http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/41571469.png
http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/41571469.png
June 26, 2012 at 14:15 |
Miracle
Miracle
I've been using this method for a couple of days now and am still a little bit on the fence about it. I think I like it. My list size seems to be growing, but it may stabilize.
So far I haven't felt the need to do a table of contents or index for the new book.
I'll do a more complete review with scans of my pages sometime soon.
So far I haven't felt the need to do a table of contents or index for the new book.
I'll do a more complete review with scans of my pages sometime soon.
June 27, 2012 at 16:38 |
Sarah
Sarah
Well, I promised scans of my completely freeform book a while ago and you may have noticed that I didn't every post them. The reason that I didn't do them is because I found that it didn't work very well for me. Ultimately, I found the completely free-form book/list to be clunky and hard to navigate, so I've gone back to my previous iteration of the free-form book which consists of separate pages for my list and for notes, doodles, whatever else I'm putting in the book.
July 27, 2012 at 20:40 |
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah,
I am glad you tried the idea. Did you literally mix notes to-do etc on single pages? This can create confusion. I have found that the free form legal pad or notebook with removable pages works much better than a bound book. The reason being you can remove pages with notes you want to save or pages you no longer need. This makes the pages you need to deal with increase initially and then start to decrease. This decrease provides a nice feeling as you reduce the clutter. When I run out of pages to write on I take this as an opportunity to do a review and start a new hopefully pruned down list on a new notepad.
If anyone is interested the system is still available for free on my old blog. It is to the left under Ultra Simple Guide to Time Management. Good luck Gerry
http://simpletimemanagement.blogspot.com/
I am glad you tried the idea. Did you literally mix notes to-do etc on single pages? This can create confusion. I have found that the free form legal pad or notebook with removable pages works much better than a bound book. The reason being you can remove pages with notes you want to save or pages you no longer need. This makes the pages you need to deal with increase initially and then start to decrease. This decrease provides a nice feeling as you reduce the clutter. When I run out of pages to write on I take this as an opportunity to do a review and start a new hopefully pruned down list on a new notepad.
If anyone is interested the system is still available for free on my old blog. It is to the left under Ultra Simple Guide to Time Management. Good luck Gerry
http://simpletimemanagement.blogspot.com/
July 27, 2012 at 23:02 |
Gerry
Gerry
The free-form notebook idea, aka "write everything in one place," is to write absolutely all incoming items in your notebook, including sketches, ad-hoc shopping lists, phone numbers, scratch calculations ... using no other paper at all. There are several fans of it on this forum, and the member "Gerry" has written a couple of ebooks about it.
Gerry's free-form notebook ideas
http://simpletimemanagement.blogspot.com/
See "Simple Guide to Time Management" and "Ultra-simple Guide to Time Management"
Some on this forum have suggested interspersing free-form pages among FV (or AF) pages, and skipping over the free-form pages while applying the FV/AF algorithms, but what I've just realized is that the FV algorithm can be applied to all pages of any form, with no need for skipping.
Starting from the oldest active page, identify the oldest item and mark it in some way ("dot it") to be worked on. Build your chain by visually sweeping the rest of the page and all subsequent pages for action items, asking "what do I want to do before [that first marked item]?" Then work on your marked items (your "chain") from the newest page back to the oldest. Voila, pure FV in free form.
Several of Gerry's conventions will help: as you draw/note/sketch on your free-form pages, mark actions with a big "A" in a box. Leave plenty of visual space if you are sketching, mind-mapping, etc. so the page will be easy to sweep later. "Ruthlessly eliminate pages" by filing notes that are not actionable and completing or deferring those that are. Deferrals are filed for later in the usual ways: with their project, into a tickler/reminder system, onto a Someday list, etc.
Combining Gerry's free-form notebook with FV requires no compromises from either, since FV does not depend on page size, and his system has no policy for processing pages, except to "ruthlessly eliminate" them, which is exactly what FV will help you to do by always considering the oldest item first.
You may want to adopt the convention of sweeping each page visually counterclockwise from the top left corner, to be sure you do not miss anything on these free-form pages.
Also, to stay within strict FV, you would always write on the newest page (or start another new page), rather than writing new items on older topical/project pages. However, if you instantly know of an earlier project page on which a new item belongs, there is really no harm in writing it there directly. You could pretend you wrote the item on the newest page, then dotted it, and then chose to "action" it by copying it to the page where it most conveniently belongs. Since these are functionally equivalent, I am claiming it is still pure FV. Of course, you don't *have to* write new items on a prior project/topic page, even if one exists; you would only do that as a shortcut if recopying them would have been your next action anyway.
Much of this can be said for AF too (and I think I once posted about that), though the non-uniformly sized pages would constitute a rule change, and something would have to be done about dismissal. Perhaps the "ruthlessly eliminate" principle could be interpreted as marking for dismissal any page on which nothing stands out. Such marked pages would then get reviewed and filed/purged (ruthlessly!).