Boosting Your Calendar Power

To assess your calendar prowess, you first need to know where you stand. A time log makes an instructive exercise, bringing you face to face with the truth about how you manage time.

Create a time log using binder paper, planner pages, or the free printable time log from OrganizedHome.com. In it, conduct an hour-by-hour assessment of what you do each day, noting activities for each waking hour. Using colored markers can help you highlight different activities, such as work, personal care, and household chores.

At the end of the week, you’ll have created a visual map of where your time goes each day. You’ll be able to see which activities are oversubscribed and which priorities are being shunted aside. A time log clarifies whether you have a realistic grasp on expectations, making overscheduling obvious. Time-gobblers and bad habits will stand out, as will any mismatch between your personal circadian rhythms and your activities. Use the guidance a time log provides to set goals for better management of your time.

Create a Single Calendar

In the conflict between you and the clock, a personal calendar is the first tool in your arsenal. You’ll use it to schedule your time and decide when to carry out the work of your life. Make a good start by setting up a personal calendar and using it to outline your day.

Whether entrusted to a computer, a paper daily planner, or free printable schedules from OrganizedHome.com, your calendar acts as a map of your time. Use it to allocate your day into activity segments: to work on goals, handle the business of life, or engage in social activities. Reviewing the calendar provides feedback about where you need to fine-tune your use of time.

Personal preference will dictate the complexity of your daily calendar. Do you prefer to group activities into several broad categories, blocking out time for each? Then a simple daily schedule may be enough to keep you on track. More complicated lives that juggle competing work, household, and community commitments may need to plan time in hourly increments or smaller.

Calendar format is also an individual decision. Those who live life attached to the terminal find it convenient to rely on computer software for time management. Others prefer the simplicity and ease of pen and paper. Review your time log and your goals to decide on a calendar format that’s right for you. You’ll want power enough to handle everything you’ll throw at it, with sufficient simplicity for ease of use.

Basic Routines for Time Management

Calendar in hand, develop a set of simple routines for good time management. Working one at a time, add these new habits to your daily life:

•  Carry your calendar with you always. Out and about, our lives are filled with decisions about time. Will we need to make an appointment, check availability, or agree to attend an event? It’s hard to know what to do when the calendar’s somewhere else. Keep your personal calendar close at hand for easy consultation on the go.

•  Depend on it daily. Add “calendar check” to morning and evening routines. Before bed each night, review what you’ll be doing the next day in time to make any night-before preparations. Consult your calendar each morning to refresh your memory on the events ahead and to hit the ground ready to roll.

•  Track deadlines. Use your daily calendar to remind yourself of upcoming deadlines. Whether you count down with daily assignments or post a reminder of an impending deadline a few days ahead, creating a calendar tracking system will keep you moving forward.

•  Set targets. To meet goals, work backward. To complete a handmade Christmas gift, for instance, enter benchmarks in your calendar, making entries on the dates you will plan the project, purchase supplies, reach the halfway point, and complete the item. Break down goals backward to plot their trajectory in your calendar.

•  Let your calendar be your naysayer. Answering requests for your time with an automatic “let me check my calendar and get back to you” avoids the need for an immediate answer and gives you breathing room to evaluate the request privately and honestly.

•  Build in buffer zones. When estimating time entries on your personal calendar, build in buffer zones. Overstate the time you think you’ll need, or create small pockets of free time between one activity and the next. Build in wiggle room for life’s inevitable delays and distractions.

•  Trap ideas and reminders. Do you rely on bits of paper to record phone numbers, appointments, and reminders? To get organized, you need to stop shedding Post-It notes like leaves in autumn. Trap these nuggets of information in your calendar, whether it’s a paper planner or a smartphone’s dictation function. Create a one-stop home to store these stray bits of information.

Shared and Household Calendars

Where possible, avoid double or multiple calendars. They waste time and lead to scheduling conflicts. Instead, explore ways to create shared calendars that allow for synching and collaboration, without having to resort to segregated scheduling for family, work, and community events.

SPEEDY SOLUTION

Online family organizers make it easy to share calendars with an entire household. With email reminders, smartphone apps, and the ability to sync with computer calendars, free services like Cozi.com and Google Calendar offer fast solutions to coordinate life at home.

Another solution is to set up a calendar on behalf of the entire household. Think of the household calendar as a planner for your home—a centralized list of activities and events. While each family member maintains a personal calendar, the household calendar belongs to the house as a whole.

A household calendar is one case where sticking to a paper format trumps flashier alternatives. Post it in a public place, and no one will need to flip open a phone or boot up the computer to check dates for social engagements or team practices. Household helpers, such as babysitters, can access the calendar’s information without needing to sync up in any particular electronic platform.

Use the household calendar to coordinate weekly schedules, family vacations, or church functions. Add chore reminders and family workdays to keep household functions humming. Include birthdays and special occasions so everybody’s aware of an upcoming anniversary. Transfer information from school calendars and sports team schedules so the whole household knows who belongs where and when. A well-seasoned household calendar tells everyone who lives there what’s going on and what needs to happen in the house that week.

Hold regular family scheduling sessions to keep the household calendar current. Add “calendar check” to weekly routines to keep family members on the same page…literally!