I recently came across a great new free on-line resource that I absolutely love. I’m so happy with it that I thought I would share it with everyone in my blog. Over the last few years, I have struggled managing my schedule. This is because I have so many different things going on at the same time. My guess is that you might be having a similar challenge.
Up until just recently, I managed my schedule through three different calendars.
1. The Day Planner System – I used to keep a large black day planner with me at all times. I listed all of my activities throughout the year in the annual calendar section. I then used the daily calendars for my appointments and the dreaded list of "to do’s."
2. Our database management system at the office – My assistant would post phone appointments with all of the relevant details, including names, phone numbers, etc in my schedule in my on-line calendar through this database.
3. The family calendar hanging on our refrigerator! My wife tracked our kids doctor’s appointments, actives (sports/classes), family parties, social events and just about everything else.
This setup caused many problems because all of the calendars were not linked together. For example, my assistant had to consistently ask me to give her times for new phone appointments. She was unable to see the appointments I had scheduled in my Day Planner. This was very inefficient for both of us. I had to stop what I was doing to look at my calendar and list openings in my schedule for her. Her time was wasted because she always had to wait for me to get back to her before she could schedule an appointment. It was very inefficient to say the least.
My wife would constantly be asking me – "What is your schedule like today?" or "What do you have planned for such and such date." I would have to grab my Day Planner and track down my schedule. Sometimes I would tell her my schedule was open only to find out that I had a phone appointment scheduled in our office database management system. It always seemed like I wasn’t able to keep everything together.
This was absolutely crazy…
Two weeks ago, I found Google Calendar. It’s simply awesome! The calendar is free and it’s very easy to use. After setting up my calendar, I was able to invite my wife and my assistant to participate. Now, we all use the exact same calendar, which is available on-line 24 hours a day/7 days a week. My wife can instantly see what my day or week looks like by checking the calendar. My assistant can look ahead in my schedule and see opening blocked for phone appointments. She can add phone appointments in seconds. My wife can check block time in my schedule for family activities without having to ask me. This on-line calendar has already saved me a great deal of time and I have only been using it for two weeks.
So if you struggle managing your schedule like I did, check out Google Calendar. I think you might just like it, too!
Rob Minton
