Setting Up Your Calendar

At the start of every term I would sling on a backpack, tie my shoes, and wonder how to get to the nearest Starbucks. Realizing that my laptop was neatly packed in my bag, I would reverse the shoe tying and backpack slinging process, pull out my laptop, remember that I could have just used my phone, and finally look for directions.

Fast forward 20 minutes and I would be ready to order myself a coffee and perhaps a cookie (I would just hit the gym later in the term anyway, it’s cool).

Sit down. Spill coffee on lap.

All of this to spend 40 minutes preparing a calendar for the term.

Alright. Why Does This Matter?

Well, at school and work it turns out that routines are common, and deadlines are regular. It helps at the start of a term or the onset of a new work project to have a good overview of how your days will be scheduled for the next couple of months. If you plan ahead and fill in as much as you can in a calendar, you can rest easy knowing that you don’t have to remember all of the plans you make. Your calendar will be a clear reminder for you later about the commitments you have.

Looking at your calendar also gives you a lot of freedom to make more plans, as it turns out. Suppose a friend of yours invites you to hang out. Having made your calendar, you can quickly find out if the proposed hang out will conflict with other plans. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a new plan! If it does, well then you can just suggest an alternative time that you DO have free.

Cool. So What do I do?

You’ll want to set aside around 40 minutes to work on this. You will also need to choose a platform on which to build your calendar. I use Google Calendar, and so do a lot of other people. There are a few other good choices as well like Sunrise Calendar, your default Phone or laptop Calendar, classic pen and paper (you weirdo!), or perhaps even a white board style calendar.

Now that you’ve got a calendar and some time to fill it out, you need to approach it considering the priority of your time. Here’s the sequence in which I added items to my calendar when I was in school:

  1. Put your class schedule on. It should repeat week to week, and there are likely 14 weeks per term (you will have to check this on your school’s website).
    • Use a single colour for ALL of your classes
    • make note of the class’s location
    • If you are making a calendar for work, I suggest roughly planning out the next 4 months.
  2. Allocate study times EVERY DAY.
    • Use a different colour for these study blocks
    • Try to make the blocks at least 1 hour long. This allows you to split the time into decent work / break chunks
    • At work, you should list the various projects you are working on and set times within your week to work on each project. Larger projects need more time, so plan accordingly.
  3. If you want to improve or maintain fitness, place gym / running ,etc. time on the necessary days.
    • Follow the specific fitness routine you enjoy
    • Have some rest periods in your week (at least one rest day is typically recommended)
    • Use a new colour again for these times
  4. Put Social events on your calendar.
    • your calendar may be shared with friends if you trust them to know your availability
    • Social events don’t usually lend themselves to strict scheduling, so block out large chunks of time to maintain flexibility in your schedule
  5. Fill in the gaps
    • At this point, you have plenty of time planned out already and it is reasonable to stop here. Some things you COULD add though are:
      • Reading time
      • Meditation time
      • cooking
      • Hobby time
  6. Ensure you have enough time left every day for rest / sleep
    • People require different amounts of sleep, but the rule of thumb of 8 is certainly a safe and healthy choice. I use 7 hours myself.
    • Remember that it is almost NEVER worth staying up late to finish something. consider waking up early and going to bed early

And If I Want More Information?

Google calendar Help is a good resource if you’ve never used the service before:

https://support.google.com/calendar

I more recently read through the following article and found the approach suggested very useful:

http://www.asianefficiency.com/schedule-management/how-to-use-a-calendar-and-to-do-list-with-each-other/

Up next

Task Management