How to Use a Calendar to Create
Time and Space
There has been plenty of discussion online
and off about how a calendar fits into one’s productivity system. The general
rule of thumb is that scheduled appointments should go in your calendar, while
tasks and the like should go into whichever task management system you use.
What often gets lost in the discussion is
what appointments should go into your calendar in order to best maximize your
time and ensure you’re making progress on the things you really want to be
doing. One of the best ways to do this is to get a bit more granular with the
definition of appointments so that you can use your calendar more effectively
as part of your overall productivity system.
Types of
Appointments
1. General Appointments
These are appointments in the most
traditional sense. They may be doctor’s appointments or business lunches.
Either way, they are fairly general in terms of what we define as appointments,
so they should be treated as such. These types of appointments can be moved to
different dates if given enough notice and both parties are able to make it
happen, although you should try to keep them “as-is” in most cases.
2. Self-Appointments
These are appointments you make with
yourself. They can be time blocks that you schedule so
that you can work on tasks or projects without interruption – by yourself or
others through distraction. These types of appointments are also transferable,
but I would recommend you try to build a framework so that they stay as static
as possible. Pick some time where you can work in 90 minute intervals as a
self-appointment regularly so that you can create a habit and improve
productivity. Break these times up with breaks where nothing is set in stone.
You can even take the larger blocks and break them down into smaller chunks
using The Pomodoro Technique if
you’d like so that you can move from task to task.
Keep these amount of time sacred, but be
nimble enough that you can move that amount of time to other hours of the day.
3. Team Appointments
These are appointments where a team is needed
to come together. The best way to schedule these is after the other two types
of appointments are locked in your calendar. While it might be hard to schedule
these after doing so, there are tools like Doodle, Tungle.me, and even Google
Calendar that can help pick optimal times where most can be present. When it
comes to these types of appointments, the needs of the many should outweigh the
needs of the few, so self and general appointments may have to be adjusted in
order to make them work. But only adjust those as a last resort – your time is
important and your teammates need to realize that.
Conclusion
I’ve heard some productivity types say that
scheduling time blocks works against you – that it goes against the grain and
is nearly impossible to do. But John Cleese has brought forth the
argument that people need two things in order to
create: time and space. I couldn’t agree more with that assessment.
If you keep in mind the types of appointments
you have at your disposal, your calendar becomes a tremendous tool that allows
you to create this time and space for yourself.
Mike Vardy
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-use-a-calendar-to-create-time-and-space.html
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