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The Calendar

The calendar purpose is to hold scheduled tasks information. It is the lay of the land and the foundation for the daily planning; so it is important to keep it as accurate as possible and not clutter it with non-time-sensitive information. The calendar should contain information about:

  1. Scheduled tasks, recurrent or not.
  2. Projects due dates.
  3. Events in which we are not involved, but that may influence our plans.

One last type of information could be added: information about the opportunities that could be beneficial, but to which commitment was made. A good example would be an alternative for a scheduled event in case it is cancelled. Care must be taken to no overload the calendar with that last type of information; options can be numerous.

The routine tasks, the tasks with a period of one day or less, even if they are scheduled should not be on the calendar unless there is no better place to put them. The reason for this is to, avoid cluttering the calendar with information that does not change. A good alternative to the calendar is to use recurrent alarms on your phone or keep a daily checklist in a spot you are sure to look at. A routine task should not be confused with a habit. If you are trying to build a habit, don’t put it on the calendar, use a habit building app or a streak card.

Looking Ahead

When reviewing the calendar, it is important to look ahead to see what is on the horizon so that you are ready when the time comes. The calendar is the best tool to schedule tasks and it is easy to see at a glance what is coming up in the current day, week or month. But when it comes to the next months or years, it is less easy. There are so many great tools already available to hold and manage time-sensitive information and some have a timeline or schedule views that span on many days to show only the event coming up. Another alternative is to keep a list of upcoming events ordered by date like a timeline and only display the future ones.

Keep the calendar lean and accurate; review it often and look ahead.