This great tip comes from Karen Turner of Turner Efficiency in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Draw a line down your page so you can immediately distinguish notes from tasks/to-do’s/follow-up actions.
When has a meeting or a class ended without you having to do some follow-up? Not often, I bet. That’s why a line is so effective.
Use the outside 1/3 of the page for all the “after” actions so they’re easy to see, especially when you fan your notebook’s edge.
Use the inside 2/3 of the page for notes.
Finally, for fast filing, rip out the page and put the 2/3 notes part in the file and the 1/3 actions part on your desk for follow-up.
Granted, this won’t win you any tidiness awards, but it will ensure that your files are compliant and, at the very least, save you from searching through notebooks.
