We’re all living in a 24/7 world. So, I’m assuming that everyone is using a calendar of some sort. That is, anyone that has a job, is a student, has a family, a job, a life.
They are really so important for so many reasons on so many different levels. We can use them for:
• Appointments
• Deadlines
• Renewals
• Tracking
• Reminders
• Goals
• Events
• Holidays
• Occasions
• Time Management and, of course, the best for last…
• ORGANIZATION!
Here are my top tips for putting a calendar to good use:
1. Decide if you want to use a paper planner or a digital planner. Go with whatever you think will work for you.
2. Use whatever option you decided upon for a few weeks as it does take time to get used to.
3. If you decide to use a paper planner and it doesn’t really work after a few weeks, CHANGE it. It’s okay to change it if it’s not working for you. In fact, that would be a good thing as chances are you won’t use it if it’s not working for you.
4. Make sure you use your calendar CONSISTENTLY. If you’re not consistent it’s not going to work well. In fact, not using it consistently can have an adverse effect. For example, when you look to see if you’re available when making an appointment and you forgot to add an appointment that you previously made, you could wind up double-booking or missing an appointment.
5. Check it each night before you shut things down so that you are prepared for the next day. It will remind you of what you need, where you’re going, etc.
6. Remember to update it when appointments change or cancel.
7. Don’t forget to cross off the things that you have accomplished. This step can be very rewarding.
8. If you use a paper planner, make sure that there’s enough space. What’s enough space? For me, it’s got to have enough room for appointments, To Do’s and whatever notes are important for each day (ie, someone’s birthday). I’m old school. I use a paper planner with two pages for each day. One side is for appointments, the other side is used for my To Do’s and the bottom has a section for notes. (See photo above)
9. If you use a digital planner make sure that you are synching it with your phone so that you have it on the go. Also make sure to back it up.
10. USE YOUR CALENDAR EVERY DAY!
PAPER:
http://www.lifephoto.com/catalog/daily-planners/day-planners/
http://www.personal-planner.com/US/
http://www.no-frillscalendar.com/
https://plannerpads.com/
https://www.daytimer.com/daytimer/home
https://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/store/index.jsp?
DIGITAL:
Google Calendar
Cozi
Timeanddate.com
Outlook
Apple Calendar
I can assure you that using a calendar, each and every day, will help you in your day to day life by keeping you on track and, of course, ORGANIZED.
Let me know how it goes…I’m interested!