One of the top 4 questions that business leaders ask is, how can I increase efficiency and effectiveness? They ask this because time is limited and, consequently, has great value.
This post is part of the series – Get Your Life Back!
Take Control of Your Schedule
4 Tips for Managing Your Calendar More Effectively
Plan Your Year with Your Annual Plan
Create Your Best Week
You Can Keep Up With Your Email
The Secret for Managing Email More Efficiently
Those who maximize their influence and effectiveness, do so because they have a very intentional plan for life and a bold, compelling vision for their work.
If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to read my previous post in which I provide 4 ways to take control of your schedule once and for all. It will provide context for this post.
In this post I will provide 4 tips for managing your calendar more effectively. These are things which dramatically improved how I spend my time at work, at home, and my leisure time. I’ve picked these up from a number of organizational leaders and compiled them into a list that works for me.
They will have some value to you, although you probably have other tips we can all learn from. So, be sure to share your ideas in the comments.
Here we go – 4 tips for managing your calendar more effectively:
1. Create an Annual Plan
I’ve written a detailed article about how to create your Annual Plan. In the article, I provide a guide and customizable template for planning your entire year and explain how to use the guide and template.
Remember, if you don’t make time for the important stuff first, it will be crowded out by the less important – every time – guaranteed!
2. Draft your Best Week
I’ve also written about how to create your Best Week. To save yourself time and trouble, click here to download my Best Week Guide and Template and follow the simple instructions for developing your own.
The same principle applies here – set aside time for the important things first!
Once you develop your Best Week, it becomes the template for your calendar every week. I’ve found that planning my calendar has become immensely simpler because I don’t have to plan my entire week every week. At the beginning of each week I simply plan the few discretionary hours.
This will work for you too – no matter who you are – as long as you don’t start with excuses. Look for the post later this week.
Click here to download my Best Week Guide and Template.
3. Get some help
This is an important step. We’re all better when we have a little accountability. Managing your calendar is no different – the more help you have, the better you’ll be at it.
Just last night I reviewed my Best Week with my wife, Sarah. I printed a copy for her and highlighted a few key areas that I would like for her to help me with over the next week or so.
My assistant also has a copy of my Best Week and uses it to manage my calendar.
If you don’t have an assistant, you can get one. There are many ways to do this now. Consider setting up a simple internship for a student at your local community college. Advertise for a volunteer – many businesses and non-profits have volunteer staff. Consider a Virtual Assistant – this has proven to be very effective for many leaders.
4. Only one person manages the calendar
Decide who its going to be – then no one else touches it. WE don’t manage the calendar – either you manage the calendar or your assistant does.
I have personally set a few boundaries, priorities, and expectations so my assistant can manage my calendar. Here are a few of them:
- I don’t set appointments.
- When creating calendar items in Outlook with Invitees, she deselects “request responses” or she sets responses to go to her. This keeps me from receiving an email every time someone accepts (or proposes a new time for) a meeting. More about reducing email later this week also.
- I scheduled 2 weekly meetings with my assistant for us to catch up on projects and how things are working. Although we interact regularly throughout the day, this one-on-one time provides a time to stop and regroup together. We are learning what items can be discussed face to face rather than through email.
- I have also asked my assistant to track how I am spending my time. I encouraged her to regularly ask, This is how you have been spending your time recently – Is this how you would like to spend your time going forward? It may be helpful for you to use this Time Tracking Tool to help you collect useful data.
I have numerous other detailed tips – here are a few examples: how travel and accommodations notes and appointments are added to my calendar, appointments are set for the actual time I will spend at an event or conference rather than setting a “full-day” appointment, and more.
Question: What other tips have you learned for managing your calendar more effectively? Share in the comments.
Great tips. I’ve found a virtual assistant great. The ideal week, I dream it up but never really happens!
Thanks Jody. The ideal week won’t be perfectly executed, but I’ve found the more I write down and the more specific I get, they more I get done. Keep up the good work!
i really enjoy the idea of an ideal week, does that exist?! I find this a challenge as a pastor, my weeks are not cookie cutter at all. Depending on the season of ministry and the major events, programs or projects that are needing focus, my week can look very different. This is also a reason I enjoy my work so much!
Good point, Paul. I found that because most of my days were spent in crisis management mode, I MUST develop tools like an email strategy, “annual time block”, and an “ideal week” to maximize my time. If I don’t schedule my, someone else will. If you have already, check out my post about the ideal week. I provide my template for you to review. You’ll notice that it is general in nature, yet specific enough to ensure that I tend to the top priorities in my life and work.
When I maximize my time (between crises), I am better able to help when people need my time and attention. Does this makes sense?
Let me know if you would like to discuss further – I’d love to connect by phone if I can help.
Looking forward to that “Ideal Week” template. Also looking forward to a smartfridge that will cook and do the grocery shopping. I’m betting I’ll get the template first …
Nice, John. 😉 You’ll have it Wednesday morning my friend.
Certainly! I’ll send you a message on Twitter with some contact information. I look forward to learning more about your situation.
Patterns work for me. Two days of writing all day long. Two hours of writing each day. Four months of writing season blocked out. Week long writing retreats twice a year. It’s going to get done.
That’s great! Have you sketched out this schedule on something similar to an annual time block? If so, I’d love to see it.