Taking notes at work

I'm the type of person who needs to take notes in order to follow a discussion, remember something, plan for follow-up actions, have an overview of a topic, and so on.  It's the reason why i use a Filofax.  I need pen and paper in my life, and that holds true at work too.

At my current job, i might take notes of ideas i have when sitting alone at my desk, or take notes during a meeting, or about a specific project i'm working on, and so on.  I wasted some time in the past trying out different systems before finding one that works for me, so i thought i would share my current tips:

• i use one A4 notebook only.  I use it for all my notes.  The only exception is that i have to take notes during phone calls to write up transcripts afterwards, so i use a separate notebooks for those.
• i leave around 5 empty pages at the beginning, then i have a page that i dedicate to an 'ideas' page (=random ideas i want to explore later), and then everything is in chronological order.
• i number the right-hand pages in the upper-right hand corner.
• i keep an index inside the front cover (eg: "p. 5: mtg w/ LST 06.16 on expansion").
• i use the margins to point out important info (with a *), to dos (with a []), to delegate (with a °).
• i use the lower right hand corner for follow-up questions, actions, and people to contact.
• i always write in black or blue, and annotate in green or red. 
• i highlight important to dos or infos in yellow, and finished actions/to dos/projects in green (then when i flip through the book i can easily what's still current and what's finished).
• i date every entry, and i also give it a title.  If it's a meeting, i put the names of the attendees, and if it's on a client's premises or outside our offices in general, i'll also write down where we are (i've noticed that it's helped in the past to remember specifics).
• when a book is finished, i put the period it's covered on the front and file it.

Here is my system, made up of advice given by my professors at school, by different bosses over the years, and gathered while reading different articles and books.

[for my fellow stationery geeks out there: my A4 notebook is a spiral Clairefontaine 90g/m², of course.  I use standard bics as pens though...]

Lifestyle changes

i've hinted before to some health issues i have. i've seen a doctor this week for it, and he's asked me to do some changes in my lifestyle. nothing major, but still hard for me to implement. i know my Filofax could help me with that, but i don't really know how. would you guys please help?

so first, i need to change my diet. i have to reduce my consumption of dairy and carbs (all kind), not totally cut them out though, but have one portion a day TOPS. and i have to up my protein consumption.
then i have new rules: i have daily exercises to do, i need to work out regularly, and work on relaxation.

how could i use my Filofax for it?
i thought about different ways to keep track of these changes:

-writing a checklist at the bottom of every day's block, and check when i have had my protein, when i did my exercises, etc.

-write in red when i've eaten dairy/carbs so i now not to eat it anymore for a few days,

-i could have a list of foods i like that are within the new limitations, to help me when shopping

-i could have one checklist and erase it/move it from day to day (maybe using a flyleaf?)

-i should maybe keep track of these things in a different calendar ? (but keep the list of foods i can have in my one life/one binder one ?)

what do you think? do you do something similar, and how? i need the system to really help me reach my goals without it being hard to maintain... the hardest days so far have been when i'm out with family/friends.
waiting on your suggestions you guys :) thanks for your help!!

Organization : home

As you may remember, we have just move into a new country. That meant we had a perfect opportunity to go through all the paperwork we accumulated over the past few years, and to set up a new system.
I went for something super simple, so I'm not sure it's any interest for you guys, but since it's working so well for me I thought, even if it only helps one reader, it was still good to describe it :)
I first divided everything in different categories : home (which contains rent information, insurance, appliances instructions booklets,...), car, bank, work (contracts, pay slips...), electricity, phones, etc.
I created an 'archive' binder for each category, which contains past years of data that I still need to keep (check online, but in my country you're supposed to keep the past 5 years for almost everything).
All these binders, I'm lucky enough to be able to store them in our basement, which is perfect : easily reachable should I need them, but not in the middle distracting me from every day business. In the past, having to pick up a huge and heavy binder just to put in the last bank statement for instance, meant I would wait 3-4 months to do it...
For all the current business, the past 6 months of statements and such, I bought a file for each of my categories. I haven't talked about it yet, but you know me, everything is color-coded :) So my Home archive binder is yellow, and the smaller file I keep upstairs is yellow too. These files are easy to grab, to identify, they make it easy to check something or file away something you just received in the mail. It's also very easy to take whatever is old enough (usually the back of the file) and archive it in the binder.
For whatever I have that need action, I leave it out on the counter and do it ASAP. It's the only way it's ever going to get done anyway...

Back to school time!

I'm so excited... I register for a new degree!
You guys may have picked up from my posts or my tweets that I'm not happy at all with my new job... I started it a month ago, and it took me forever to find a job in the first place... but I decided to react quickly this time.
I'm not able AT ALL to leave this job (because finding a new one takes forever, screw this economy), but if I continue like that I know I'm headed for a depression! So the idea is that I registered for a distance course in accounting. I liked the topic at school, and you always hear it said that accountants can always find a job, whatever the state of the economy is. It would complement well my resume. Focusing on learning something will improve my morale. I have a one-year contract right now, so I registered for 2 classes for the moment (you have to take 7 to get the final degree), and we'll see how it goes.
This opens up a new topic of consideration for me : how will I organize working full time, managing my finances and debts, being with my fiance, working out and feeling sane overall, and now studying for a Masters??
I know a bunch of you guys do it, or have done it. And the bigger part of you have done it using their Filos :)
Can you help me? Any sort of advice is more than welcome!
Organization, planning, following a learning plan... I need to know how to do all that so I can succeed :)