The key to my effectiveness of time management is my use of electronic calendars. I use calendars such as Outlook or Google to create blocks of time to make progress on everything I want to (see Timeboxing to Maximize Output).
Over the years, I've developed a lot of methods to elevate my effectiveness with these tools.
Best practices for using electronic calendars as a basis for effective time management:
- Plan your week ahead. Once per week I do an organization session to get touch base on everything currently going on, prioritize, and set up weekly activities based on evaluation of my action plans.
- Build in time for goals. Anytime I have a larger goal that may expand over a period of a few months or longer, I carve out two to three blocks of time per week as a recurring series. I set up each block for a couple of hours. This makes sure that I get a couple of solid windows of time to dedicate toward driving my goals forward consistently. Being selective of what goals you focus on is key.
- Schedule recurring tasks. For minor tasks that recur at a certain frequency, I'll block out a half hour or hour in the calendar so that I don't forget to do them. I add in any helpful notes and/or links right into the invite so that I don't have to rethink how to do it every time.
Tips:
- Using colors for specific types of meetings and/or reminders can be very helpful too. For example, self-reminders can be gray. Big meetings that you run can be green, etc. Colors make it easier to see where things are intuitively as you start to associate topics with them.
- Be flexible and move things around as needed. Schedule working sessions for yourself as "tentative" status so that others can still schedule time with you. When you do have a conflict, simply drag the time block over to an open space.
- Recurring appointments can be set to repeat every week day or on the last Friday of the month, for example, so set them in a way that is most effective for you.
- Carve out 5 minutes every morning to plan your day. Even though you have already scheduled everything out, you want to evaluate if it's the best use of your time before you get started. You may want to move some things around based upon things that come up or drives that you have. I have a workbook where I pick out what my key focus will be, note what little tasks I need to accomplish, and plan how I want to grow each morning. I love writing those types of things on paper, noting ideas about them, and checking them off as I finish them.
Setting up my calendar this way brings me great peace of mind to know that everything will happen before it needs to. It's one of my favorite and most essential life hacks!
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