How to make a Franklin Covey Like Page Finder (and why)

A few days ago noodling about the Webfinds on Philofaxy I came across the useful item that is the Frankin Covey Pouch Page Finder. Its a plastic pouch inside which you can slip an insert. ( If it was your blog please leave a link in the comments below as I forget who was writing about it now).

Hmm. How hard can it be to make something like that?

Not very. ( Although very hard to photograph! ) Here's how. You need two laminating pouches and a laminator.

1. Send a pouch through the laminator with nothing in it so you get a nice double strength plastic.

2. Cut out a piece the height you want and double the width. Dont forget that the rings mean you need it a little wider than the width of paper you want to put inside it.

3. Fold the cut out piece to form the pouch shape. It will be springy and not want to stay flat so send it through the laminator again in its folded state. The heat effectively presses it flat.

4. We now need to seal the bottom to form a pouch. To do this send another pouch through the laminator with the open edge of the pouch going through last. Insert the bottom end of your page finder into the open edge of the empty pouch just as it goes through the machine. You want to catch about a centimeter or so of the page finder between the empty pouch to seal it.

5. Trim, punch holes and cut tiny bits from between the inside edge and the holes as on a Filofax ruler and Voila! Pouch page finder.

If you want a tab you can either make the pouch longer and trim a tab from the plastic itself, or you can put the tab on your insert. I used a magnetic bookmark on mine. You can see mine still has blank paper stuck nt grey card in it. This does obscure the pages below but it occurs to me that you could print or write a list on an OHP transparency and stick it in the pagefinder to get a sort of overlay effect.

Having made it to prove I could, I now find myself considering how to use it. My initial thought before I am starting was that it was perfect for recurring tasks and goals.

But now it occurs to me that it would also be useful for planning ahead gym training sessions if you need to remember target heart rates for interval training or which weights exercises you are to do that session. Insert the training plan ahead of time and when you get to the gym, snap it out, lock the filofax in the locker and take the pouch in with you.

Or I know several people are on diets and have separate health filos. This could be a food diary in your daily planner. Ditto for people recording their daily spending and running a finance filofax.

Or it could have motivational quotes, a prayer list, a shopping list.. Anything really. What would you use it for?

 

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