It's not my Filofax. It's my FIELD GUIDE.

That's my name for it, and I'm stickin' to it.  Without this thing, I feel lost - - it's goes everywhere I go, stores my most vivid ideas and shopping lists (which are sometimes combined), and serves as a little hot pink anchor of sanity in my sometimes crazy busy life.  I've had a planner since I was in the third grade, and I've been through Daytimers to Hipster PDA's to keeping a running to-do list in a composition book to PlannerPads to Coach agendas to - yeah.  You get the idea.  But a couple of summers ago, I saw an entry on Gala Darling's blog, and said, "Oooooooooo!  Pink!" - and ordered just that planner.  Used it for a while, and went back to PlannerPad - which I love, but which I have a strong tendency to overwhelm myself with.  When I realized I was gritting my teeth while planning one night, I decided to design my own system - one that works with how my brain likes to work.  I ordered a HUGE amount of white ruled notepaper from Filofax and started thinking.

Most things start with Hello Kitty for me.

It took a few weeks for me to finally reach Field Guide bliss.  When I couldn't drum up an arrangement that would land for me, I went back to the article that started the whole thing for inspiration.  Over the course of a retreat day, I dug in and set it up - - starting by listing out what I wanted it to help out with besides the obvious calendar and to-do's, and putting some thought into how I could set it up with the divider pages I had already printed out, because the images resonated with such strength when I made them that I knew I had to keep them.  (I unapologetically sometimes get woo-woo.  It is all about the woo-woo in my world.)  I wanted a visions and goals section, an ideas section for my endless brainstorming and other lists, and a calendar section with my monthly and daily stuff. 

In keeping it with how my brain goes, the manifesting/visions/goals stuff went right smack dab in the front behind the Dee Dee Ramone divider.  Why Dee Dee?  Because.  Because DAMNED WELL DEE DEE RAMONE!  Amen.

I loves me some Dee Dee Ramone.  In this section, there's a detailed write-up of what my life will look like about a year from now, a manifesting list just like the one in Gala's, some specific goals that I'm fleshing out and putting into action steps, and a gratitude section (another idea from Gala - - I should probably write that I am thankful for Gala's Filofax in my list).  I can't get into words why this all had to go in the Dee Dee Ramone section, but it did.  And it wasn't just that I had set up this divider as the front one - - had I decided to put it at the back, I would have made a new one.  

Next, all my lists.  I love lists.  I borrowed another idea from Gala and flagged my lists with colored tabs marked with little images or as simple a word as I could get to to describe what the list is about.  At the back end of it is a section for planning events at my studio - one page (or more) per event, with everything that's going on around getting it together.

Yes, that's CBGB on the divider - and that reason is one I can get words for.  In 2000, a very dear and now departed friend invited me to New York; he was in a band playing CMJ (they were at the Continental).  I had never been to CBGB, but had wanted to go since I was about eleven.  He took me on this ride around the city - taking a detour into Brooklyn, going hither and yon, always telling me to look out the window and keeping me totally absorbed in my surroundings.  It was *crafty*.  Finally, he stopped the car while asking me what weird thing was going on across the street out the driver's side window.  I finally looked forward and saw the awning.  And then I pitched a fucking fit like a six year old on the best Christmas morning EVER.  That awning represents the thrill of getting where I want to go while taking in everything along the way.  It holds *strong* magic for me.  

And last, but not least:

My calendars.  And I just like the picture - no other reason.  Monthly at the front, then daily - one day on  each page, with to-do's and notes at the top and appointments at the bottom.  I'm deciding between a day-per-page or a day-on-two-pages Filofax calendar at the moment, and will order a proper one when I've made up my mind - writing in the dates *does* get a little old.  

One more thing:  For my to-do lists, I use Wunderlist.  (Guess who's blog I found that idea on?)  I have them broken down into categories, and every couple of days I star items, which I then jot into my Field Guide.  When I'm finished with one set of starred items, I star another batch, and get going again.  I've been using this system for just a few weeks, and it's made a TREMENDOUS difference in keeping me on track and helping keep my head clear.  How do I remember to do that?

And that's it.  From Filofax to full-on Field Guide.  With this and my iPhone, I can pretty much rule the world - - or at least my little corner of it.