For all the ways we depend on them, it’s kind of amazing how little attention we tend to pay to make sure our calendars are working for us.

Your calendar can set your day-to-day priorities but without intentionality, that will fall to other people’s priorities. This has been really evident for me in 2023. It crept up on me but meetings started to take over my day. I was jumping in and out of meetings all day long only to look down at my to-do list getting bigger, not smaller.

This was all out of good nature. I thought by keeping my calendar as open as possible and making myself available to anyone even on short notice, that I was doing my part at work.

This could be the right approach especially if you’re in a service-based role where most of your work is done through customer interaction. But if your job depends on you completing work and projects, this can be a problem.

Have you heard the saying, “Show me your calendar and I’ll show you your priorities?”

Calendar management is the systematic process of organizing meetings, events, and tasks. It includes creating, scheduling, and accepting meeting invites along with resolving conflicts. A good calendar management process also includes guiding principles to help shape your day and maximize the return on investment you can get from your time.

So how can we use our calendar to maximize our output? What principles should I consider as part of my calendar management process? Today, I will give you 3 strategies I’ve been trying in 2023.

Key Takeaways:

• What is calendar management?
• How to protect your focus time
• How to aggregate your meetings into blocks
• 3 questions to ask yourself each Monday to prepare for the week
• How to find “doubles” in your day

Mentions:

E102 - Email Management Tips for Young Professionals Overwhelmed by a Cluttered Inbox: www.tsirpodcast.com/102

More of The Struggle is Real:

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