What is a Calendar? – Productivity System Basics

TL;DR

A calendar is a fundamental building block of a holistic productivity system, can be used in different ways but should always be your first check in every day.

Introduction

Welcome back to the next post in this mini series relating to elements that make up a comprehensive productivity system.  In our last post we covered what an inbox was – click here if you want a refresh on this.

Without further ado, lets get into the next element – the ‘Calendar’

What is a calendar?

This seems like a silly question, and you most likely know the answer to this!  One definition of a calendar is as follows:

“A calendar is a chart or device which displays the date and the day of the week, and often the whole of a particular year divided up into months, weeks, and days.” [Link]

What is a calendar used for?

Like many questions relating to productivity the answer is individual to you, what works for you may not work for someone else no different!

If you follow the ‘Getting Things Done‘ approach to productivity the only items that go on a calendar are actions or events that have to happen as a specific time or day.  For example a meeting with your manager to discuss an upcoming project, which would happen on a specific date and time.  Another example is ‘Issue report to client’ which you have to do on a specific day (but maybe not a specific time, so would be an all-day event).

The rule in a GTD approach is that the calendar is your first point of reference for your day, and the only items that appear absolutely must get done when they are scheduled.  Anything else which has flexibility goes on your next actions or projects list.  (In the future I may write more about the GTD methodology if you are interested – feedback in the comments is always welcome!).

Another approach, and one that I’m currently following is ‘Time Blocking’.  With this approach, the calendar is used as your guide throughout the day, where you assign blocks of time against tasks.  For example, you are working on a report for your manager, and you decide that you are going to work on it in the morning – you would then create a calendar event for ‘Work on Report for Manager’ and give it a timeslot, say 9-11am. Its worth mentioning that you should not put down small tasks on your calendar, take a higher level approach.  In the report example, the next actions and small tasks (write introduction, format headings, proof read etc…) should still be on your task manager, but the time to actually work on the report is on your calendar.

There is more to time blocking than this, and if you would like to read more I recommend an article by Paul Minors called How to “time block” (my #1 productivity technique)

What does not go on a calendar?

The simple answer to this question is everything that is not mentioned in the above!

Your calendar should be sacred, and the linchpin of holding your day together – it should be your first check in each day to establish how your day is structured.  With than in mind, don’t use the calendar as a dumping ground for anything and everything.

Its not recommended to add routine tasks, notes, random reminders for the day, or other small tasks to your calendar, otherwise it will become overloaded and this causes friction, which eventually leads to not using the calendar at all.

What is the best type of calendar?

Electronic or hardcopy – whatever is best for you and whoever you share your calendar with.

Some people love the physical nature of a hardcopy calendar, stuck to the wall in their kitchen – yes, something I like the idea of, but in reality you then cant take it anywhere or make changes on the fly.  Personally, I’ve been using electronic calendars for years as they can follow you on your phone, tablet, laptop – pretty much anywhere!

How many calendars should you have?

Another one of those questions where the answer is really up to you, and more likely where you work!

In our family we have a shared calendar for events and deadlines that we as a whole need to keep a track of – when our daughter is playing a football match, when we have our holiday time scheduled, when pets are going to the vets as examples.  On top of that I have two other calendars in my system – my work calendar, and my personal calendar.  Why do I split these up?  Simply because I don’t want my employer being able to see my personal events, and also stops me logging on to a work device over the weekend to check on my events.

You can have more than that, some people have A3 desk calendars, weekly planners, other shared calendars (such as being subscribed to a football fixtures calendar).

5 Top Tips

We’ve covered what goes on, and what does not for your calendar, lets begin to wrap up this article with some calendar top tips:

1. You calendar is your guide throughout the day – check in the morning before you get into any focus work, and check periodically throughout the day to keep you heading in the right direction
2. When scheduling events, remember to allow ‘travel time’ to and from it, whether this is a short walk to a meeting room, or a bus journey somewhere, always allow for that time to ensure your arrive promptly
3. Don’t be afraid to delete events or items on your calendar if they are not as time sensitive as you first thought.
4. Try to have an ‘event free’ day per week – let that day be your deep work day
5. Schedule personal events, and weekend activities – even simple items like ‘play football with the kids’, it makes your life more thoughtful

Its the end…

This post is rather brief, and is not really what I was intending to publish.  I would love to go into more detail on the calendar, and maybe in the future will revisit this article, but for now the idea is to follow the mantra of productive not perfect.  No, its not a perfect article, but its drafted, and it can be shared for everyone to read and provide feedback on.

Hope to see you again for the next article in this mini series!!