I had a coaching session today with Julie Ireland, a DavidCo Certified Coach and felt like what she said made so much sense that it merited sharing with the community.  Since I’ve hardly ever seen discussion about Action Support Folders or Tickler Lists and since I felt like my approach towards both needed some tweaking I asked Julie if we could spend some time on that area today.  I am glad I did.

First let’s clarify what I mean by a tickler file:  the tickler file to which I am referring is a distinct file folder (Mine says “Tickler” on it thanks to my trusty labeler) that contains items that are already processed but which are not yet complete and which have some need to be completed by a particular time.

Before my call today I was struggling with this a bit – I didn’t want to put something that I’d processed back into the inbox but since I was still working with it I didn’t want to put it away in a reference file either (by the way, in my setup I have active reference files – those that are involved in some current project as well as current bills and payment records and thigs like that and archive files for work that is completed and reference material that I wish to save but which is not part of any active project at the time).

Julie told me that she has a tickler file where she puts all things that have a hard deadline such as bills due by a certain date, invitations that are on paper – etc. and that she then enters the date for which each item is due on her calendar (she says that the discipline to check one’s calendar every morning first thing is very important and I couldn’t agree more).

In addition to entering the due date for each tickler item into her calendar she organizes the items in the tickler folder in chronological order with the items due first in front.  This prevents having to shuffle through a bunch of stuff to find the item that your calendar is telling you is due on that day.

This is pretty simple and straightforward just so long as you take the time to enter the due date or deadline for each tickler file item into your calendar and then stay on top of that calendar like nobody’s business.

I’m going to try this method and see how it works for me.  If other folks have a different method of dealing with these sorts of items I would love to hear about it in the comments.

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Much as people malign Microsoft, there are still plenty of people that couldn’t live without some of the software cooked up by the company.  Most especially Outlook – which in spite of its many usability issues is still by far the most popular email client and calendaring application on the planet.

Many GTD’ers have lamented the lack of good “how to” information with respect to using Outlook as the centerpiece or even just as one of the core components of a GTD system.  Well, Rob who blogs at  7 Breaths has come to the rescue (at least partially) with a very useful post about using Outlook and OneNote 2007 as part of a GTD system.

Rob has a number of other GTD related posts on his site beside this one – it is certainly well worth a look especially if you’re strugging to find a good way to implement GTD using Microsoft products.

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You’re going to want to be sure that GTDtimes is either in your RSS reader, linked via your iGoogle or NetVibes page, that you’ve subscribed by email. The point is we’ve got some content in the hopper that you’re going to want to read.

First, we’re going to announce the big winners in the GTDtimes/David Allen Company Executive Workflow Coaching Contest. Second, seeing as how they are so popular with our readers we’ll be giving away another great book and third and most exciting we’ll be posting a brand new hour long interview that I just conducted with David. (I assume by now that everyone knows that when say “David” it means THE DAVID aka Mr. David Allen).

I’m excited about this interview which is exclusive to GTDtimes. David was kind enough to spend a full hour letting my pepper him with questions. We spent a long time discussing software, especially his new concept of “the five I’s” and we delved into some other interesting stuff besides. I won’t say more know but check back in so you don’t miss this great information.

One last note, for those of you that won a copy of “The Myth of Multitasking” don’t forget you promised to share some of what you learned with GTD readers.  So far I haven’t heard a peep.  This is your little nagging reminder – be sure to put it in your “next actions list”.  Thanks.

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