Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: StephenPSmith.com

Here is a description of the tools I use for Getting Things Done:

48 Folders for a Tickler File: Numbered 1-31 for the current month, and 1-5 for the first week of the next month, and then January thru December. In the same file are all of my Reference folders for every topic imaginable.
Here is my GTD Tickler File methodology:

At my Home Office, where I do have things that are date-specific but will not physically fit into my calendar (which I refuse to stuff with notes and errata). this is a full-on 48 folder system (12 months + 31 days this month + 5 days next month). My wife generally gets the mail, takes what she needs, and puts the rest in the In-box. When I get home from work (later than she does), I zip through the In-box: Tickle the bills for the date of the next Weekly Review, toss the junk, Do what may need to get addressed immediately, and Defer the rest to an appropriate time (usually WR day again).
Then, each morning, while the coffee is brewing, I check the contents of “today’s” folder, sync with my paper calendar, and get on with my routine.

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Three-Ring Binder for a Tickler File: I keep this at work for tracking future events, where I have much less to Tickle (and a CRM that I must use), I just have a 3-ring binder with tabs labeled for each month and 1-31 in the appropriate month’s section. There is one sheet of blank, 3-hole punched paper for each day, and I just write down (or punch and insert) whatever might need to be tickled. Most if my work activities go into the CRM and I get an automatic reminder when they are due.

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Three-Ring Binder for Daily Activities: In my capacity as a Sales Consultant I track my customers, appointments, and current sales activity.

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Zipper Case: I picked up a nice leather planner that zips closed for $10 at Target. I got tired of printing my Outlook pages and punching them for the planner, so I went out and bought a pre-printed planner that fits inside the planner cover. I pulled the rivets that held the ring-binder in the cover and removed the rings. It is now a mini-briefcase that I use to carry my essentials. I keep a Pilot .5 G2 in the pen loop, and a PaperMate .5 Mega Lead mechanical pencil loose inside. I tuck a few blank 3×5 cards into the front pocket, along with some business cards. In addition to a pad of 3×3 Post-Its I keep my calendar and a small notebook in the case.

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Yearly Calendar: A 5.5″ x 8.5″ calendar with a leather cover and stitched spine. I took a razor and cut out the pages from the front that I did not need. Then I glued in a couple of pages that had personal reference information, and a divider tab that I cut down from a manila folder. Because I had removed about 10 sheets there was room for me to clip a handful of 3×5 cards to the tab without making the cover bulge out.I only write appointments, my work schedule, and time-specific Next Actions in the calendar. These are all color-coded: green ink for appointments, black ink for the schedule, and red ink for Next Actions. On the top margin of the right-hand page I write an inspirational quote from Jeff Gitomer’s Red Book of Selling.At the back of the book, I cut out the Area Code pages and glued in some more of my own material, including the Bootstrapper’s Manifesto for more inspiration. After this were about 30 pages for Notes, so I added a blank sheet for an Index and a self-adhesive tab to mark the Notes section. This is where I put some more Sales Techniques, a list of the 7 Habits, and the GTD workflow process, GTD Natural Planning and so on. As I come across other information that I ‘d like to keep handy, I will write it in.In order to add some more storage space, I made my own accordion pocket and glued it to the inside of the back cover. In here I keep (more) blank 3×5 cards, a short stack of 3×3 Post-its, a spare PocketMod, and my business cards.

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Capture Notebook: I picked up a 3-pack of 3×5 notebooks (much cheaper than Moleskines) that I use for capturing information. I added 4 self-adhesive tabs to break the book into sections:

• Section 1 is for Next Actions.
• Section 2 is for books that I may want to purchase.
• Section 3 is for websites to review, software to check out, or any other computer-related information.
• Section 4 is for copying down interesting quotes, pictures, or other media that I find interesting.
• Section 5 is for Someday/Maybe stuff, and Project notes or Brainstorming ideas.

There is a pocket at the back (like a Moleskine), where I keep blank 3×5 cards, filled out Project cards, and some of my business cards.

And this is what it looks like, all packed up and ready to go:

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6pd7qt. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen