Resource: Managing Your Calendar for Peak Productivity By: Dave Crenshaw, LinkedIn Learning
1) Use only one Calendar
2) 15 minute rule
3) Time budget
4) No tentative meeting
5) No double booking
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1) Use only one calendar: Dave suggests to everyone that a cloud based calendar is better than a physical calendar. You will find accessibility, recurring events, and notifications are better this way.
a. Accessibility: You can use any devices including your phone and computer to get access to the calendar. Then you don't need to carry the physical calendar around, risk damaging or losing the physical calendar.
b. Recurring events: Set up is easier than a paper calendar because you don't need to write it every single time. If you want to avoid the carbon tunnel then a cloud based calendar would be better.
c. Notification: If you set multiple notifications to your devices at different times, you will save your energy and time to send reminders to yourself and others.
2) 15 minute rule: If your tasks like reports, projects, or meetings are taking over 15 minutes, you might want to have a proper time scheduled. Tasks under 15 minutes could be completed right away. If you are not sure how to estimate the complete time, just schedule a time slot for it.
3) Time: Your calendar could resemble a financial budget. It may help you focus on what's important so people know how to cooperate with you. Sleep, exercise, meeting and family time are important in your schedule. Balancing life holistically is important. You could start by budgeting the day, week, month, and year. As time goes by, you will find your pattern. Maybe you can schedule meetings in the afternoon so your most productive time in the morning focuses on something that adds value to your career.
4) No tentative meetings: If people say, “I'm not sure”, or “I may not be able to join”, you can ask “which time you can fully commit to it?”. Sometimes people say this is securing the appointment by asking one more question. “Is there anything that might come up so you can’t attend?” This will prepare the attendee to value the meeting time too. So prepare to say “no” to others, when they can’t confirm a solid “yes”.
5) No double booking: You may want to avoid double booking, so you can focus on the appointment. When you chat and do other tasks, you decrease positive energy and may show disrespect. So, try to stay focused in that time slot and that will help you gain more positivity.
I hope you can apply these five tips to increase your productivity and to be the person that you want to be.
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