Life gets hard. It all seemed so simple when we were kids. All we had to do was go to school and get good grades. There were the ups and downs with friends, a bit of stress over the odd test or quick, but generally speaking, our affairs were well in order.
Fast forward to adulthood and you’re talking about a different ballgame altogether. It seems that, after college is completed at least, responsibilities keep adding up. There is always something to do tomorrow, the next week, and further off on the horizon.
Most successful people are good at managing stress. They don’t get overwhelmed by obligations because they can segment what they need to accomplish into lists and goals.
Getting things done is about a strategy, not leaving things up to luck or fate. They’re detailed planners who take appointments, prospects, and obligations seriously.
Managing a calendar is a key to success when it comes to organizing your life and achieving what you set out to do. Modern calendars come in many forms.
You’ve got traditional paper calendars that hang up on a wall in a kitchen or home office and you’ve got multi-person calendars that can be shared across teams in different organizations.
It’s all about finding a good calendar that fits your lifestyle and keeps you on top of what you need to do.
Senior executives at large companies live and breathe by their calendars. These people are so busy that, without their calendar, they would be completely lost.
In large companies, executive assistants, direct reports, and even security teams have access to executive calendars. They use an all-hands approach to syncing for the company.
Wherever you are in your journey, using a calendar can help you plan and execute at a higher level. There’s just something about writing down goals or aspirations in a calendar that makes you feel more committed like they’re bound to happen.
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using a calendar whether you’re using it to keep track of the kids’ after-school sports or you’re starting a new business in 2021.
Keeping a Calendar can be Meditative
It’s easy to get lost in the rush of a busy day. A lot of times, we feel like we’re barely holding on, running from crisis to crisis. When there is a moment of rest, that’s when we remember the household chores we forgot or a bill that should have been paid.
But what about time to sit and reflect? To think about what you want to do in the next week, month, or year? It’s still early on in the year, so if you haven’t had a planning session for 2021, it’s still possible.
You can sit down somewhere quiet and think about what you did last year, what activities you loved, successes you had at work, and other accomplishments.
In your calendar, list your goals for the year and when you hope to achieve certain milestones along the way. Effective goal setting uses milestones to make incremental success that ultimately ends up in something big.
The whole planning process can be quite meditative and rejuvenating. Your days will have new purposes, and you’ll feel fantastic as you check off or strike through things on your calendar.
Calendars Boost Collaboration
Odds are, you likely depend on other people to get things done.
Whether it’s picking up something from school while you’re at work or needing something from a colleague for an upcoming presentation, doing amazing work often involves multiple people.
Calendars are a terrific way to involve other people and keep them accountable.
You can use a virtual calendar in the cloud and share them with team members, friends, family, or whoever else you need to take on a certain task. You can set appointments so they know when something needs to be completed.
If you’re using a more traditional calendar, like a lovely, high-quality notebook calendar, then you can set reminders for yourself to follow up when something should have been done and make sure that you get what you need.
Calendars are great for preventing things from falling through the cracks.
They Help You Set Priorities
If you’re like most people, then it’s easy for you to have two appointments at the same time or several people with demands on your time.
A calendar helps you cut through the noise and decide what’s important. With a calendar, you’re not rushed to make decisions. You don’t have to make a last-second call about which event or meeting you’re going to attend.
You can look at things a week or a month in advance to decide where your time will have the biggest impact. You get to set priorities for what you want to do and set a course for your life.
One thing that makes parsing through multiple calendar obligations easy is having a daily or weekly calendar review. That way you’ll have enough runway to analyze which event will deliver the best return on your time.
A Calendar Will Keep Your Day Structured
Without planning, the hours seem to slip away so much faster. A calendar adds much-needed structure to your day to help you accomplish more in less time.
People in offices who use detailed calendars are usually much more productive. They move from task to task in an efficient manner and feel like they’ve accomplished something at the end of the day. If you’re not in the habit of keeping a calendar.
Try using one to list out what you want to get done in a given week. We guarantee you’ll feel fulfilled after a week of great, effective work.
A Well-Kept Calendar Helps You Remember
If you’re good about keeping a calendar, your calendar will serve as a sort of journal down the road. As you start new goal-setting or planning sessions, you can flip through your old calendar pages and remember where you were and what you did.
Why can this be so helpful?
Because remembering that amazing concert you went to or that crucial meeting with a client can be difficult when you have a lot of things going on.
Your calendar can help you avoid things you thought were a waste of time and pursue more meaningful appointments and goals.
A detailed calendar helps people in business understand where their time is best spent and helps families plan logistics better so everyone is getting to where they need to be.
Reduce Stress with a Good Calendar
A calendar eliminates that anxiety of not remembering what you haven’t done. For people who have a lot on their plate, the fear of missing something important is very real.
It probably stems from some old experience where something bad happened when you forgot to pick someone up, turn in a paper, or deliver expected work results.
With a calendar, you don’t have to worry as much about remembering everything in your head. Instead, you’ll have everything in front of you well in advance to ensure all bases are covered.
These are just some of the benefits of using a calendar. Give calendaring a shot and see what a difference it can make in your life. You will find that planning and accomplishing goals becomes easier. You’ll look back down the road at all you’ve achieved and keep the habit for life.