caught sight of your comment in the “recent comments” column — I’m happy to throw in a response!

I would say, yes, there is a great similarity between a tickler file and marking something on the calendar. The difference–and the value of the tickler FILE–is that with the tickler file, the exact thing you need to act on is kept at hand in the file.

For instance: a bill that needs to be paid on a specific date. A mark on the calender can remind you that the bill needs to be paid. But if the bill itself is in the tickler file for that date, you don’t have to hunt around for it after looking at the calendar.

Tickler items can be anything where there is a physical object associated with an action (as long as it fits in the file, that is) which is not needed elsewhere before the action is required. So for instance, if the bill in my example–let’s now say it is a detailed telephone bill–is also needed for the preparation of a report on how many minutes were spent on the phone to a particular number, yes, there’s a conflict of needs and the tickler file alone is not sufficient.

And of course, you can create physical proxies for other actions. Continuing my example, a photocopy of the bill could be placed in the tickler file, or in the project file for the report. I’m about to create an object to live nearly-permanently in my “November” folder: it will be a slip of paper with this written on it: “Shop for holiday gifts, don’t be late again!” Every year when November rolls around, I’ll have a reminder that I must get on the ball for my shopping!

Perhaps that’s an approach for your concern about a date that shifts: a proxy for the object is in the tickler, while the original lives somewhere else. Another response to your concern is to point out that if you know that what you are looking for is in the tickler file, there are only 43 folders (at most) to look through to find it.

Much like D.A. says about the weekly review of Next Action lists, the tickler file works best (only?!) if you stay current with it. You have to trust that anything you put in the file will be presented to you at exactly the right moment–for instance, because you check the tickler file every morning for the current day. You have to put things in the proper place in the tickler, and trust your system to bring those things to your attention when they’re needed–and no later.

I hope that helps!
Jacque

Wouldn’t marking on the calendar do the same thing?

http://img4.realsimple.com/images/0902/rolodex_300.jpg

I have one in work which is similar, but is enclosed and has a lid – can’t think for the life of me what its called though!