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I haven’t progressed to the electronic ones because I don’t like having to turn on a computer to find out what I’m to do for the day.  I’m wary yet of having my life displayed on my cell phone. 

We have a system that seems to work well for our family and business at this point, although I’m always open to ways to improve.

• We have a wall calendar with fairly large spaces around the numerals.  There the five of us write appointments, my substitute teaching dates, and family events since they all involves us to some degree.
• There’s a bulletin board nearby where my daughter, son-in-law and I post our weekly work schedules for the local supermarket.  Thus we all know when everyone is working and how to coordinate rides.
• For my blog writing, I have a notebook for each blog with deadlines posted there.  These are kept in a box with current writing notes.
• Business and financial dates pertaining only to my husband and me are kept on a calendar in our office.

This may seem cumbersome to some people, but it has worked for our families for years and seems to be a system that keeps us on track.  Some day, we probably will do more electronically.  However, the one time we put data on an electronic planner, it crashed, so dates, addresses and phone numbers all were lost.

What are your calendar successes?

Post from: My Organized Biz

Since we live in a multi (three) generational household, there are many times when we have to coordinate personal, business and school schedules.  Sometimes it involves transportation of getting a family member to an appointment.  Other times it’s knowing who will be home for a meal and who won’t.

When I have business meetings and deadlines, then it’s helpful to know what the rest of the family are doing.

We have a general calendar on the wall near the living area and main phone.  There we all write appointments, tack work-outside-the-home schedules, dentist/doctor appointments, school activities, business meetings, and times anyone will be away for an extended period.

I carry a schedule book in my purse to jot down appointments and commitments that come about when I’m not at home.  I transfer the appropriate ones to the family calendar and my writing ones to my writing deadline calendar which I keep in my office.

This may seem cumbersome to some people but it works for us.  The main calendar is accessible to everyone without our having to go into a computer or ask anyone.

Some people like online calendars and those with a daily reminder when they turn on the computer.  However, I find the “at a glance calendars” works well for me.   Also, if the computer goes off, I’m searching my memory for deadlines and appointments.

What works best for you?

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Post from: My Organized Biz

Control your time, so it doesn’t control you
Using a calendar and planning your time will go a long way towards making you feel in control of things. Do you make a list of the things you need to accomplish on a given day? Great! Do you actually give yourself time to do them?

If you don’t schedule in the time to do your most important tasks of the day, you might not get them done. Without that specific time slot when I need to be doing “X” it is easy to get distracted with little things. Like e-mail. Or research. (Not to mention Twitter and Plurk!)

Why you should calendar
The whole point of calendaring your day is to make sure you actually make time for the things you say are important (and to remember things).

Write down that phone call you need to make at 10am, that meeting at 1pm, that doctor’s appointment next week. But don’t forget that project that’s coming due very soon, that you haven’t even started yet. Break it down into manageable pieces and it won’t seem so overwhelming. Make steady progress and before you know it, it’s done!

A two week experiment
Try this for the next two weeks: each day, figure out the five most important things that you need to accomplish that day. Then schedule time for them on your calendar. Schedule it around meetings and e-mail and errands. Actually block out time where you concentrate on that task.

And when that time comes, work on the task. If you only have a 1/2 hour, then see how much you can get done in a 1/2 hour. Don’t answer e-mail. Don’t pick up the phone. Just stick to your calendar.

Didn’t get your task done in the allotted time? That’s okay. Did you make progress? That’s the important part.

A new way of thinking
You don’t have to calendar yourself to death, scheduling every minute of your day. Just think of your day in chunks of time and do what you can in those chunks. If you’re not used to it, it may take some time. Allow yourself some leeway in learning a new way of doing things.

Are you the type that hates to have your day scheduled? Try just jotting down your most important tasks and refer back to it throughout the day to make sure you’re making progress.

We want you to find things that work for you – and not everything will. But you won’t know until you try it! So how do you use your calendar? Do you only list meetings and appointments? Do you block time for projects? Is your calendar working for you? Why or why not?

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Post from: My Organized Biz