Keeping your calendar up to date is one of your most essential business tools

FOUR THINGS I DO TO KEEP ORGANISED - Years ago, before I ran my own business I only had to manage my employment obligations, and when it came to my personal activities I had a close friend who had a brilliant memory. We used to do a lot of out of work activities together and she would know at the drop of a hat where we needed to be at any given time, so I got out of the habit of keeping a personal diary and relied on her to tell me what I was doing.

Things changed enormously when I started my own business and I suddenly had to keep track of my own appointments and also design space for my own self-development and business growth.

After some experimenting I chose a combination of an online calendar – Google Calendar – and some other aids to my  memory which help me organise my day and my week.

I honestly can’t tell you how important my calendars are to my daily life and to help keep me organised and on track.

I’ll take you through my routines one by one. You may find one of these is enough, or all or some of them. You may even have your own excellent methods of keeping track – in which case, please share them, as I’m always trying out new things. But the methods below are those which I keep coming back to.

I start with my Google calendar, as it holds all my appointments.

 

Google Calendar

You can create separate calendars for different purposes and overlay them on top of each other to get a global view, or just unclick those which you aren’t using right now. I have a calendar for my business and personal appointments, one for my husband’s appointments, one for my social media planning, and one for working on my business.

I generally just see my business and personal calendar and my husbands when I open my calendar, as this shows me all my critical appointments and where I need to be, both physically and online, if they are Zoom or Teams meetings.

I colour code each type of appointment – purple for business; orange for personal appointments; blue for any health related appointments; dark grey for my husband’s calendar.

Google also allows you to add an ‘Out of Office’ block of time which I add whenever I travel, so that anyone who goes through my website calendar booking link cannot book time with me when I am on the road – these show up as lilac.

Google Calendar also lets you add ‘Tasks’ if you have tasks which need doing on a regular basis, such as monthly reporting.

I also have a ‘Brain Dump’ which I slot in at the end of the day. I use the Brain Dump to drop any any ideas which I would like to pursue further or activate. Anything I want to get out of my head and can go back to later.

Just make sure your Google calendar syncs with your phone, so you’re always read to schedule new appointments where they won’t clash!

 A4 Hard Copy Diary

Every year I purchase a cheap A4 diary from a discount store. I don’t use it for much. It acts as a mini filing cabinet for paperwork. For instance, if I have to have a blood test in the future and I’ve been given the forms, I slot them into the diary, and make a note when the test is due in my Google calendar. That way, I can put my hands on the paperwork straight away. Works for anything you need physical paper for. This way essential forms don’t get lost and you’re never rummaging around in piles of magazines and other random bits of paper for them.

Small Whiteboard

I have a small A4 size whiteboard. It came from an office supplies company and was already marked up with the days of the week down one side and line across in a grid. Every Sunday night I clean it off and record the coming week’s appointments. I date each day of the week and in the adjoining grid space write down physical appointment times in black marker and Zoom/online or booked phone calls in red whiteboard marker. It sits on top of my computer drive and shows me where I need to be at a glance without having to open up my calendar. Has an added advantage that my husband can go into my office and see where I am.

I keep another A4 whiteboard on a bookshelf on  my desk on which I list phone calls I must make and critical work for the week – but this isn’t entirely essential for my calendar routines.

Bullet Journal

Lastly, and this could be overkill for some, I keep my own form of bullet journal. An A5 notebook which couples as a habit journal and a jobs list. Every week, on a Sunday night I draw up a habit grid and write down the daily habits I want to achieve, then mark off the days I do them. Keeps me on track for some of the things I often put aside, such as exercise!

I recently used a habit tracker in the journal to record how many cups of coffee I drank in a day, as I was making an effort to cut down!

Then I note the day and date and each day write down tasks I need to complete. I cross them off when done. It becomes a great records of things I’ve done and also things I still need to do.

And that’s it.

How I organise my week in a way which works for me. 

Want to know more or spend some time talking about how you can be more effective when managing your time, then book an online session with me through my website: www.wordsolutions.com.au

__________________________________________________________________________________

Nan Berrett creates visibility for small business as well as mentoring small business owners and startups to help them navigate the mountain of knowledge which seems to be part of our everyday life in a digital world. She is based in regional South Australia in the beautiful Clare Valley and is happy to travel to meet clients or chat over Zoom. Find out more or book some time to chat: www.wordsolutions.com.au