From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Using your calendar effectively

From the course: Time Management Fundamentals

Using your calendar effectively

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- In my decades of consulting people and organizations, I found there are six fundamentals to help you get the most out of your calendar. First, think of your calendar as your time budget. When you schedule things into your calendar, think of it like withdrawing money from a bank account. We each have a maximum weekly limit of 168 hours. We need to live within that limit and never overdraw. Otherwise we go into time debt and must pay interest on time. When we try to do too many things in too little time, we pay lots of switching costs. Things take longer, we make more mistakes and we increase our stress. Use the calendar to track your time withdrawals so you can avoid overspending. This leads to the second principle, avoid double booking yourself. There's only one of you so don't try to schedule two things at once. Otherwise, you create lots of time debt and switching cost. Third, never commit to an appointment without putting it into your calendar. Sometimes people casually say something like, "Let's do lunch next week." If you don't put that in your calendar, you put pressure on your mind to keep track of it which often leads to lost time and feeling overwhelmed. If it's important to you, if it must be done, schedule it. Fourth, schedule buffer and travel time. Avoid having appointments that are back to back to back to back, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock with no room to breathe between them. Leave space for unexpected interruptions or just a moment to relax. And if you must physically travel from one meeting to the next, schedule that on your calendar. Fifth, think of your calendar as a commitment to others and to yourself. Stick to the time you budget in your calendar. The calendar isn't a place for tentative or perhaps. It's a place for you to choose what you'll do and when you'll do it. And if you're not committed yet, don't schedule it. And finally think long term. Most feel like they don't have enough time to get everything done because they're thinking in terms of what can be done within two weeks. As you open your perspective to months and years from now, you'll realize you have an abundance of time. Schedule deeper into the future. These six mindsets lay the groundwork for using your calendar productively.

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