by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’ve become something of a Google calendar fanatic. I’ve completely outsourced my memory to it and have it open much of the day on my laptop and phone.
I used to love having a printed calendar, but disliked having to carry it with me for those frequent times that I needed to check it when I was away from the house. Printed calendars meant that I usually still had to keep the bits of paper clutter associated with the calendar entry (the slip that listed all the food allergies on the soccer team when I’m in charge of snacks, etc.)
With Google calendar, I either copy-paste the detailed information for the appointment or task and add it to the “notes” section of the entry, or I transcribe the details/contact info on the paper. Then I toss the piece of paper away. Having all of the information in one place saves me a lot of time and throwing away paper helps keep my house from getting cluttered.
The ability to have the calendar with me at all times (since I always have my phone with me), has really helped me to minimize conflicts and keep on task each day.
Google calendar (free app) helps me keep track of everything: events, appointments, chores, my grocery list, weekly menus, and family and friend birthdays.
There are also some helpful writing-related applications for the app:
I add a mini-outline each day on the calendar so I know what I’m planning on writing that day (and can grab a few extra minutes to write when I’m out of the house and having to unexpectedly wait on something or someone). Just jotting a line or two down can give me enough direction so that I know what I’m writing next.
I put the editorial calendar for this blog on my Google calendar.
I like adding goals to the calendar using the new goals feature. Google recently released a new goals feature for its calendar. You can schedule in your writing goals or reading goals, or even personal goals for exercise, etc. You add the goal, tell Google how often and what the best general time of day is to complete it, and Google schedules it into available time on your calendar. When the goal reminder pops up, you can defer it or mark it as completed . Google learns what times work better for you when you defer, edit, or complete goals.
Using the calendar as a crutch to outsource my memory and important tasks also helps me feel less stressed out and more creative. Whenever I read about helpful plugins on WordPress or a smart way to optimize my Amazon book pages, I used to feel that I needed to drop what I was doing and work on the task while it was fresh on my mind. Not only did this put me behind, it also stressed me out because I wasn’t finishing one task before beginning another. Now I’m scheduling these types of tasks in the future on my calendar and adding the links to the helpful articles in the notes section.
A few tips:
Print out the month view of the Google calendar and put it somewhere accessible if it’s too hard to quickly see potential event conflicts on the app (sometimes I have to look at a print out to really absorb what my week looks like).
Save time by sharing calendars with someone else. You can make a lot of different calendars on the Google calendar app and choose which ones you share out. So if I make a calendar that only has my daughter’s soccer schedule on it, then I can choose to share that one with her so that she knows/can be responsible for her schedule, too.
As a reminder–if you rely heavily on this or the Apple iCal, remember to back up the calendar. Can you imagine losing all that data? It would be as if I’d suffered complete memory loss all in one fell swoop.
What’s one of your favorite tools to stay organized and keep up with goals?
And, as a quick note, I’ve got an interview with author and podcaster Stephen Campbell up on his site, The Author Biz (one of my favorite podcasts to listen to and always informative). I’m talking about my experience with pre-orders:
Using Google calendar to simplify life and set goals: Click To Tweet
I use my iPad calendar and Siri. I joke it’s my brain now.
Will have to come back and listen to the whole interview. You’re very lovely in the video!
Alex–It’s good to have more than one brain!
Thanks! Stephen gave me a heads-up that we were going to do video instead of just sound, so I had time to put makeup on and get out of my gym clothes. :)
I don’t use Google calendar to its full potential but as I’m using it more and more, I find it handy to have on my phone when I’m away from the computer. Great interview.
Mason–It’s always nice to have a calendar close by. It’s kept me out of trouble so many times!
And thanks!
You know, it’s funny, Elizabeth, I don’t use Google Calendar as much as I could, and I know it does some fantastic things. I hadn’t thought of using it to schedule my writing life, but I can see how it’d be really helpful. Thanks!
Margot–It’s nice to have a prompt, sometimes, to keep up with blogging and writing. Hope you have a nice week!
It would be like a memory wipe if you lost it. Think about how much we rely on our cell phones now. We lose our phones, there goes our whole address book.
Diane–It really just makes me break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it!
Gosh, you always have the best tips!
I have multiple calendars- personal/family stuff, blog postings, synagogue events, homeschooling- and I use the task function. (Sharing my calendar with my husband has eliminated a lot of headaches as well). I didn’t, however, know about the Goals feature. I will have to play with that, as it sounds very powerful- thanks for the tip!
Deb–I like the shared calendar feature too, although I think I need to adjust what stuff I’m sharing since my husband is getting all kinds of random alerts on his phone during his day about the cats’ Frontline, my reminder on my New Year’s Resolution, etc.
Goals is brand-new…they debuted it last week. I’ve already found some good success with it–nice to be reminded of goals each day before I get lost in the minutiae of life!
Hi Elizabeth,
Just listened to your podcast – enjoyed it! You spoke well and came off as relaxed.
I’m very curious about author interview, since my one author appearance was so nerve-racking that I don’t think I’ll do it again… and I’m even a former high school an community college teacher, so I’ve had years of experience in front of an “audience”! Still, talking about my books and general author questions felt really uncomfortable, even if the audience didn’t see it as a particularly bad presentation.
Any tips? I noticed this was framed as your “failures” – does it help to talk about the pitfalls rather than the successes? Or something else?
As always, thanks for your time!!
Rebecca–Thanks!
I’m very relaxed talking to writers and more nervous talking to readers. I’ve been a member of Toastmasters for about a year now and it’s helping me with my comfort-level in speaking to readers.
It also helped that I’ve spoken to Stephen before (different interview…maybe a couple of years ago on production plans).
The more reader-type events you do, the easier it gets (especially for a polished/experienced speaker like you). I get pretty much the same questions for each Q&A so I’ve got more interesting or humorous answers. Now I’m working on being more *entertaining*, which isn’t especially easy for me!
I’m still old fashioned and use a day planner. It’s faster to flip through the pages and take stock of everything. However, I do use my calendar on my phone for reminders for things that have to be done at a specific time.
Anne–Sounds like you’ve already got a system in place that works for you! I’d never tinker with success. :)
Simplify. Bwaawawawa ( my best evil laugh). I’m betting on the agents of chaos instead. You know, the ones we live with!
Jack–Yes! Family can throw a monkey wrench in the best-laid plans…and at the most unexpected times!
This sounds like a helpful tool for people with more tech and a more social lifestyle than I have. (No smartphone, etc., and I rarely leave the house for more than groceries.) I have a calendar on the wall for big stuff and a little appointment book on my desk for daily things I need to remember.
This does poke me in the butt, however, to get myself more organized with my time, so I can get more done. Thanks!
B.E.–I think my life would closely resemble yours except for the fact that my teen daughter is *so* involved that I’m juggling her tight schedule.
My upcoming Friday post is more in the vein of getting organized…being intentional with free time. My new thing!
Great article again. So useful. I’m still using paper calendars. I like the idea of having my calendar on my phone, but they’re only as good as the backup and I worry…about me doing…that. I wrote down in a notebook all my phone numbers from my phone, which helped once when they all disappeared. I think you can save those somewhere in a cloud or atop a mountain :), but don’t know.
I would like to look into using the Google calendar. Homework time.
Teresa–If you’re on an Android phone, the contacts back up automatically to the cloud/mountaintop. :) I’ve done terrible things with my phone (dropped it all over the place) and my contacts are still intact. A good thing!
Hi Elizabeth – I hate to say it … but most of my calendar is in my head – I do note things into G calendar – but must learn to use it properly or more effectively …
Loved hearing you .. and Stephen – seems a good way to go … and I hope we see more – cheers Hilary
Hilary–But you’ve got a great memory! I’ve noticed how much data and facts you keep track of…not everyone has a bad memory like I do. I say, if it’s working for you, don’t change your method!
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This is very cool Elizabeth, thanks for sharing! I just started using Plan (Getplan.co) to plan my weeks integrating tasks with Google Calendar. Working very well so far, but looking forward to looking at goals too.
Lakis–Thanks for the tip on Plan…I’ll take a look!