Using the Tools at Hand

So I’ve spent a couple days now covering the why of the death book, and today I’ll dig into the how.

Dealing with the deaths of my parents showed me that I had a need for something to document all the things that would need to be passed off to someone when I die. But I still didn’t have the how of it. Except I actually did.

I’d spent a chunk of my life working in rotational positions. Jobs where multiple people rotated through a particular position. And the key part of that rotation process was the turnover. This was meant to ensure that nothing fell through the cracks between incoming and outgoing personnel. A warm turnover would be when you have some time to sit with the person you’re replacing. A cold turnover would be when the person you’re replacing is already gone by the time you get into the hot seat.

I realized I was trying to prepare for the most final of cold turnovers. And I realized I knew how to do it. All you needed was a very thoroughly documented book. Something that pointed out all the key details. Usually, a cold turnover book or binder would leave instructions for the incoming person regarding what meetings to attend, what the daily schedule looked like, important login details for various accounts, combinations for safes, what have you. The day-to-day stuff. Whatever bits of knowledge were needed to keep everything running smoothly. And this was what I needed. Something to leave behind so someone else could pick up the pieces right where I’d left them.

I now knew what I needed. I looked around my office and found an elegant solution for myself.

Long before the days when everyone just kept their calendars on their phone, my father had gifted me a Filofax personal organizer. This was a clever little system, made up of a nice looking binder/notebook and various inserts to fill it. I’ve since moved on to using my phone to keep track of my calendar, like most people, but the Filofax always stayed in a desk drawer. Both because it was a thoughtful gift when I needed it, and because it was too nice to just get rid of. And now, it had found a new purpose.

I dug out the Filofax and added some fresh inserts. I started with blank notebook pages. I figured this would be best to just start writing things down. I also added a zipper pouch, thinking that it could be useful to hold small documents or keys or whatever little items that needed to be kept close by. Lastly, I added some tabbed separators so I could split the notebook pages into sections, and I threw in a neat little insert that had a bunch of sticky note tabs and note pages.

Now my framework was in place. I had a canvas to work with. All that was left was to fill it with all the details of my life that would be useful if someone had to pick up wherever I left off.

Tomorrow, I’ll dig into the contents. I’ll go over my process for how I decided what to include, what to exclude, and how I plan to expand it as time goes on. Until next time!