Top tips for calendar management
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Today’s busy lifestyle creates a very time-poor environment. With so many things to do, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to complete everything.
This blog gives you some tips for managing your calendar better so that you can claim some of that time back.
What is calendar management?
Calendar management is the process of actively organising your time in order to create the most productive and realistic plan. It includes work tasks, meetings, calls, trips, client work, school runs… whatever you need to do each day.
What are the benefits of proper calendar management?
Calendar management can help you with:
- Prioritising the important ‘must-do’ tasks that can get pushed aside
- Efficiency and productivity by planning ahead so there’s less time wasted
- Organisation of teams, meetings, calls, goals…
- Finding achievement in getting things done
- Insight into where your time goes.
Tips for managing your calendar
There are different ways to manage your calendar so you need to find what works best for you. Below are some tips that could help, so try them out and see what sticks!
Review
Review what you need to get done each day and week before you start. This way you can decide in advance what your focus will be and be prepared for what’s ahead. Start by writing down the top three tasks for the day.
Block booking and batching
Carve out blocks of time for different tasks and where possible, batch like tasks together.
For example, if you need to write 5 posts this week, block out a set amount of time and do all 5 together. This allows you to focus on one thing and stops you from flitting between different tasks.
This works for any type of task as well as client work. It’s also a great habit to get into for email management – block a certain amount of time in the day to deal with emails and don’t look at them at any other time.
Calendar scheduler
Use Calendly (https://calendly.com/) or another similar calendar scheduler to book appointments. You set times within the app that you are available for meetings and then just send the other person a link to book whenever suits them.
This way you avoid wasting time going back and forth trying to fix dates and times that work for you both.
Merge calendars
This works well for personal and works calendars as well as collaborative team calendars. Putting all the information in one place will give you a much better idea of how the week should pan out.
Colour code
Colour coding helps you see at a glance what’s in store for the day, and some people find it very useful for avoiding being overwhelmed by a large list.
Know yourself
Know when you’re at your peak – for many it’s first thing in the morning – and plan your tasks around that. Tasks that require more mental power should be planned for peak time and lighter tasks for when energy wanes, usually after lunch.
Time track to have a better idea of how long things take
Track how long tasks take so that when you’re planning out your calendar you can be more accurate with timescales. Leave some flexibility in your calendar so as to not get stressed when things don’t go to plan.
Summary
Successful calendar management should give you back your time and make you more productive in the time that you have.
If you need help to review your calendar management, then give us a call.
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