WEBVTT - Keep one calendar

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to keep one calendar for both your

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<v Speaker 1>work and personal life. If you can't do this, and

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<v Speaker 1>I know there are many reasons people can't, then have

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<v Speaker 1>at least one place where you can see both work

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<v Speaker 1>and personal time specific commitments. Being able to see both

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<v Speaker 1>massively increases the chances that you don't drop any balls

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<v Speaker 1>that you'll feel terrible about dropping. So first I want

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<v Speaker 1>to explain my calendar system. Even though I know there

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<v Speaker 1>are many reasons this won't work for other people, I

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<v Speaker 1>work for myself, so I actually keep a paper calendar.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a weekly at a glance calendar that fits in

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<v Speaker 1>my purse. I put any time specific commitments or need

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<v Speaker 1>to know information on this calendar as soon as I

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<v Speaker 1>know these dates. So I've marked the days my kids

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<v Speaker 1>are off school in the fall, even though that school

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<v Speaker 1>year is nowhere near starting yet. In the upcoming year

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<v Speaker 1>section in the back, I marked our spring break. Our

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<v Speaker 1>school district published this calendar. And even though I can

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<v Speaker 1>assure you I'm not thinking much about the spring break,

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<v Speaker 1>I know that most likely in the next few months.

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<v Speaker 1>Someone will ask me about a date in March or

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<v Speaker 1>April of next year. I'd hate to say sure, I'll

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<v Speaker 1>give a speech then, and then find out it's right

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle of our best opportunity for a family vacation.

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<v Speaker 1>Another example, when I found out one of my children

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<v Speaker 1>had a special school event in early June, I put

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<v Speaker 1>it on the calendar and then chatted about it with

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<v Speaker 1>my husband. I found out that he was going to

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<v Speaker 1>be on a work trip then, so that raised the

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<v Speaker 1>stakes for my being there. I know that he won't

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<v Speaker 1>be able to go, so I made a note not

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<v Speaker 1>to schedule over it unless something really really important came up.

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<v Speaker 1>When people send me electronic calendar invites, I note these

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<v Speaker 1>times in my paper calendar, and maybe just the person

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<v Speaker 1>who sent the invite, so I can retrieve the details online.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm generally not copying phone numbers and access codes in

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<v Speaker 1>that paper calendar. But one of the reasons I like

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<v Speaker 1>paper is that I can see at a glance if

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<v Speaker 1>the day is getting too full. I also like to

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<v Speaker 1>see if a day looks completely open. If it does

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<v Speaker 1>or looks almost open, I might try to keep it

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<v Speaker 1>open or transfer something out of that day. I love

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<v Speaker 1>looking at white space on my calendar. Now I know

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people have to keep electronic calendars for work.

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<v Speaker 1>It makes sense you're supposed to be able to give

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<v Speaker 1>other people access so they can schedule meetings. Though I

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<v Speaker 1>have to say this requirement is probably one of the

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<v Speaker 1>leading causes of the proliferation of meetings in the corporate world.

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<v Speaker 1>The fact that a time is open does not mean

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<v Speaker 1>that you need or want to meet, or that a

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<v Speaker 1>meeting would be the best use of that time. But

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<v Speaker 1>that's a subject for a different episode. This one is

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<v Speaker 1>about why you should have all your work in personal

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<v Speaker 1>commitments in one place. And maybe some people see no

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<v Speaker 1>reason for this. I mean they work very specific hours

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<v Speaker 1>and basically never have personal commitments that would come up

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<v Speaker 1>during these hours. Work is work, home is home, never

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<v Speaker 1>the two She'll meet. For many of us, the work

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<v Speaker 1>life integration is more the name of the game these days,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you have a relatively flexible job, it's very

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<v Speaker 1>frustrating to schedule a nice but not critical work event

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<v Speaker 1>at a time when it turns out there's something you

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<v Speaker 1>really did want to go do in your personal life.

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<v Speaker 1>It may be complicated to extricate yourself, or you might

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<v Speaker 1>not be able to and then you'll be kicking yourself.

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<v Speaker 1>I call this an own goal situation in the game

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<v Speaker 1>of work life balance. You'd like to avoid that. So,

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<v Speaker 1>if you do need to keep an electronic calendar for work,

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<v Speaker 1>how can you make sure you're seeing all your personal

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<v Speaker 1>commitments to The most straightforward way is to just put

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<v Speaker 1>your personal commitments on your work calendar. This is pretty

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<v Speaker 1>much what my husband does. He notes when I'm gone overnight,

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<v Speaker 1>so he's aware of this, and his assistant is aware

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<v Speaker 1>that when he's awaking work travel arrangements he needs to

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<v Speaker 1>take that in mind. He puts when he's supposed to

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<v Speaker 1>pick up a kid somewhere, so he knows he needs

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<v Speaker 1>to be back in time for that. He puts his

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<v Speaker 1>and the kid's dental appointments that he covers and things

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<v Speaker 1>like that. From what I gather, his perspective is that

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<v Speaker 1>our lives are boring enough that there aren't real privacy

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<v Speaker 1>concerns With this, his colleagues are aware that he has

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<v Speaker 1>a family, and this also helps other people know that

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<v Speaker 1>if they'd like to meet with him, certain times are

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<v Speaker 1>better than others. Even if you do have more privacy concerns.

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<v Speaker 1>You can always just put a code word on your

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<v Speaker 1>calendar or just label things personal if you're pretty sure

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<v Speaker 1>you won't forget what that means. So, for instance, if

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<v Speaker 1>you're seeing a specialist for something that is really none

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<v Speaker 1>of your colleagues business, that's how you can still make

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<v Speaker 1>sure no one schedules you into something for that time

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<v Speaker 1>unless there's a really good reason. Of course, some people

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<v Speaker 1>can't access their work calendars at home, which creates a

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<v Speaker 1>different issue. If you can't see your work schedule on

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<v Speaker 1>the weekend and you're discussing who can do kid pick

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<v Speaker 1>up during the week with your spouse when you're talking

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<v Speaker 1>on a Sunday, well that's just not gonna work. When

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<v Speaker 1>I ask my followers on Twitter for their suggestions for

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<v Speaker 1>people who can't or don't want to keep everything on

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<v Speaker 1>their work calendars, I got a lot of great ideas.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people can import their work calendars into a Google

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<v Speaker 1>calendar that they keep as their master life calendar. Some

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<v Speaker 1>people use apps that allow them to import commitments from

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<v Speaker 1>multiple places and then see all these commitments in one

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<v Speaker 1>place on their phones. Fantastical two is one app that

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<v Speaker 1>got a shout out for that. If an automatic solution

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<v Speaker 1>isn't going to work. You might need to enter your

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<v Speaker 1>work schedule manually into your personal calendar and then make

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<v Speaker 1>notes on your work calendar of times where you can't

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<v Speaker 1>be scheduled, but as much as possible, make sure you're

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<v Speaker 1>aware of the whole landscape of time when you're making commitments.

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<v Speaker 1>If you know your kid has a choir concert on

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<v Speaker 1>a day when you're supposed to speak at a conference,

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<v Speaker 1>then you can be empowered to request an early time

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<v Speaker 1>slot and make it back in time for the concert.

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<v Speaker 1>That feels like a work life win rather than one

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<v Speaker 1>of those no one can have at all moments. You

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<v Speaker 1>can't score that wind though, Unless you see the full

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<v Speaker 1>picture of time. You are one person. You have one

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<v Speaker 1>set of hours, and that's why I think it's worth

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<v Speaker 1>trying to keep one calendar. If you need to keep

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<v Speaker 1>an electronic calendar for work and have come up with

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<v Speaker 1>a good way to make sure your work and personal

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<v Speaker 1>commitments are reflected in one place, please let me know.

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<v Speaker 1>You can email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,

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<v Speaker 1>and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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