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| Success Language - Interpersonal Skills for Workplace and Life Calendars and Schedules: Pick What Works Best for You (Part 1 of a Multi-Part "Time Management Series") By Sylvia Henderson Motivational Speaker, Writer, TV Host  What resolutions will you make for the new year? Diet? Save money? Work on relationships? A typical resolution is to use time more wisely.
We get new calendars for the beginning of the year. Some are fancy paper systems with colorful tabs, special inserts, and leather binders with special pockets. Others are hand-held electronic planners that present our schedules at the touch of a button. (There's an app for that.) Still others are web-based scheduling programs on our school or work networks with group sharing capabilities. Families even have group schedules.
With the capability to access planning information any time, from anywhere, using any kind of device or paper product, we still struggle with how to better manage our time. There is a big difference between scheduling our time and making better use of our time to balance our lives.
One of the points I make in my seminars is that to make a time management effort work, establish a system. The other point I stress is to stick to the system on a regular, long-term basis. These two points transcend the media you use. Whether you use a fancy electronic schedule or a free paper calendar, establish your system for using it and stick to the system you establish.
To establish a system, give thought to how you operate throughout your day. Do you access the Internet 24/7? Do your personal, family, school, and work activities take you all over town? Do you regularly make lists or write notes to yourself? Think about how you operate and yield to a system that accommodates how you live your life. If you seldom use your computer then signing up for a web-based calendar is futile. If you travel a lot and need something portable and convenient to refer to at any time, a paper-based system might be best. If your personal, academic, and professional commitments share a large part of your time, a system that enables you to record business, school, and personal appointments in one system is best. If you live at your computer or have always-on access to the web, an Internet-based system transferable to a smart phone or PDA device may be what you most use.
The most important aspect of choosing a calendar system is honesty with yourself about how your operate. I am a strong technology user who is interested in the latest products. Yet I admit that there are some things for which I prefer paper and pencil. I need to grab my schedule at any time-in the (stopped) car, when I have the PDA in my hand, or when I am in a Girl Scout meeting. A paper system works best for me even though I carry a PDA and use a laptop. I don't always have the electronic devices on, don't regularly sync them, and cannot access them while I am driving. I also make lists. When a thought hits me I grab a piece of paper, write it down, and stick it on the appropriate page in my paper-based system. An electronic system does not work for me. I therefore concede to a compact loose-leaf system that has worked for me for years. You might have a different view. Use a system that works for you, not someone else.
True story: In a business meeting with a close friend / business colleague, I pulled out my PDA to check a schedule per a request during the meeting. My friend saw my Palm Treo (at the time), laughed, and shook his head in disbelief. He pointed to my PDA and exclaimed, "You have Post-Its™ on your Palm!" I looked at my PDA and laughed at myself. Sure enough, during the course of that day I had notes I made to myself that related to several entries in my then-electronic calendar. I had to pull the notes off the screen so that I could see the schedule, then put them back on the screen when I was finished. After he (loudly) pointed out how ridiculous it was that I had paper notes on the screen of my electronic device, I thought about why they were there. That's when I realized that I need paper. I need to write notes immediately and insert printed e-mails where I wanted them in my schedule (like directions to a meeting or the doctor's referral to a specialist). Such things were difficult to put into an electronic calendar. That is also when I admitted to myself that, technology-proficient as I am, a paper-based schedule that I could stuff with notes and carry with me without worrying about a charged battery was how I best operated and managed my life.
Once you decide on your system, stick to it. Just like changing your eating habits, time management is a discipline to be practiced consistently and for the long term. It is a discipline that is not easy to maintain. But once you work at sticking to your system, day after day, month after month, you see it working and are more motivated to stick to it. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
First-publication rights to The College World Reporter - 2009.
About the Author: Sylvia Henderson is Founder and Chief Everything Officer (CEO) of Springboard Training. She is an expert in the "people skills" for workplace, professional, and life success. Sylvia facilitates workshops, trains, speaks, writes, and has a television program that all focus on personal development and interpersonal skills. An alumna of Cheyney University (BS-Education; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority) and the University of Pittsburgh (MBA), Sylvia's affiliations also include Toastmasters International (DTM-level speaker), National Speakers Association, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Women On Wheels Motorcycle Association.
Bring Sylvia to work with your organization via SpringboardTraining.com. Experience her monthly learning connections via Subscribe2Succeed.com. Sylvia is based in the Washington DC metro area, yet travels extensively and increasingly offers electronic and web-based resources.
Contact Information: P. O. Box 588 Olney, MD 20830-0588 | |
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