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Tools For Success

Why Calendars are Notable Tools for Success

Photo Credit: Eric Rothermel

You may or may not know it, but a calendar is a powerful tool for productivity. It may not be something flashy or exciting, but it does help you manage your time by helping you plan ahead, see what events/deadlines/occasions are coming up, and helping you plan your free time.

As kids, we learned to use calendars as a way of knowing what day of the week, date of the month, and what year it is. It’s something everyone needs to know so that we’re telling time consistently. 

Paper Calendars

Paper calendars are probably the type that we are most used to. After all, they have existed for far longer than digital calendars. 

Pros

Paper calendars have some flexibility. They can be hung and displayed on your wall, refrigerator, or any place you frequent. You can have a desk calendar that covers part of the top of your desk, which ensures that it’s always in front of you. You can also have a daily desk calendar, usually decorated with some kind of theme. 

Cons

As wonderful as they are, paper calendars have limitations. They are limited to the surface area they occupy. I just recently bought a calendar, and there I was looking at  5 x 8 in and 8 x 11 in options. Even though the smaller one would be more compact and portable, I opted for the bigger one. I wanted more space to write dates, appointments, and notes. I also write big, so that’s a factor too. For the most part, it’s very handy to have a paper somewhere at home, or at the office (wherever that may be right now). 

Digital Calendars

With more things being digital, it makes sense that calendars are digital too. They are on our computers, smartphones, and smartwatches, and more. Having the date handy isn’t something new, we even have calendars on mechanical and automatic watches before smart watches. 

Pros

With digital calendars, typically you have much more space than with paper calendars. You can add a large amount (and possibly unlimited number) of appointments, tasks, and notes. You can unleash all the things you can think of or need to remember, and it’ll fit.

Cons

Part of my issue with digital calendars is that they’re only available when I’m using my computer, smart phone, tablet, or any other electronic device. I don’t always have those available with me. If I want to look when something is, I have to take some steps to get to my digital calendar 

Up to you

It’s your choice. You can use whichever works best for you. Use a digital planner on your phone. Use a paper calendar on your desk. Use both; (that’s what I do). The important part is that you keep your appointments, deadlines, and important dates organized. The more you plan ahead, the more time you’ll be able to make for yourself.

Roderick Conwi writes at Nourishment Notes about lifestyle development. He is also the author of The Procrastinator’s Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights that enhance your day, join his free newsletter.

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Success Tips

Success Tip: Create Your Space

Photo by Bench Accounting on Unsplash

If you’re like me, and working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, you know that it comes with challenges. A lot of us had to drastically change the way we worked in a short amount of time. I had a few days to prepare and make the transition. I had to find a way to do my full-time job at home, which is a place that normally isn’t suited for it.

Since this is a huge disruption of your normal daily life (we are in a pandemic after all), it would be helpful to build some consistency. Having a set place to work at home would help with your adjustment to working from home.

One tip that will help is to make your home workspace a place just for your job. That way, you have some sort of physical differentiation between your work space and your home space, even if your work space is now in your home space. It isn’t much, but I have a desk in the corner of my bedroom that I use as my home office. I have my computer, paperwork, and a modest amount of office supplies. That’s enough to get me through my work day. As tempting as it is to work in the living room and the kitchen, it’s nice to compartmentalize my workday. When I’m at my desk, I feel like I’m at work. If I worked on the couch or at the kitchen table, I know my mind would associate those with work, so I would feel like I’m at work even if I was watching TV or eating dinner.

Another tip that will help you with the adjustment is to make your home workspace work for you. Personalize it to your needs. You know what you need to take care of your duties, so set up your work area to help you establish a workflow that you are comfortable with. It may or may not be as productive as you would be if you were back in the office, but if you’re not comfortable, you’re probably not going to be very productive (and you’ll probably have a negative experience while doing so).

It’s okay to adjust your workspace as necessary, but keep it as consistent as possible. Consistency is the key that will help you build a daily routine as you work from home.

Roderick Conwi writes at Nourishment Notes about lifestyle development. He is also the author of The Procrastinator’s Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights that enhance your day, join his free newsletter.

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Miscellaneous

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Success Tips

Success Tip: Take Initiative

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash

Success is complex. There isn’t one single tip that I can give everyone that will guarantee success. It depends on each person, their situation, and their goals. Each person has a unique path to their own version of success. Any successful person can give you many tips of how s/he got there, and those tips may or may not apply to you. One tip for success that is worth exploring is the concept of taking initiative.

Taking Initiative Helps You Be More Productive

Most people know when you have a job, you  get paid for the time that you put in. Consider the hours that you put in and all that you do within that time frame. The more you were able to get done the market productive you are. To be more productive, you have to take more initiative.

Being more productive doesn’t happen by accident. It’s an active choice you make every day. When you take initiative, you’re actively making the decision to do more. You’re also making the effort to take on either more responsibilities or more important responsibilities. You are deciding to make better use of your time, which in turn, makes you more productive.

In every job I’ve ever had, I hated being bored. I didn’t want to be busy; I wanted to be productive. Call it my competitive nature, I wanted to accomplish more than everyone else. I wanted to maximize my time. My productivity depended on not just the time I put in, but my effort, which stemmed from taking initiative. 

Make Your Vision Known

One thing that you should do is take the initiative to let people know what you want. Talk to your supervisor, friends, colleagues, and family members. Tell them what you want to do in life can you tell him your vision. That way, they can help hold you accountable. Keep in mind, as much as they can help, it’s ultimately up to you to keep yourself accountable. 

At work, tell your supervisor what you really want: a raise, promotion, different responsibilities, or a different project. Your supervisors aren’t mind readers. You have to tell them what you want in order for them to know what you want. If you want more responsibility, you have to show them that you not only deserve it, but there is a need for you to do it. Also, you need to make it clear to them that you can handle the responsibility that you want.

Before I worked in professional development, I was an employee who wanted to be a trainer. My supervisors didn’t see me in that light. All the meaningful and high-profile responsibility was given to someone else who was much less experienced than me. Eventually, I told my supervisors that I wanted to get promoted into the professional development department as a trainer. They may not have given me more opportunities to advance, but when I took initiative to participate in professional development related events, they stood out of my way. Eventually, I earned a promotion to trainer. 

Take Initiative To Get an Active Advantage

Being proactive gives you an advantage over being reactive. When you are proactive, you are taking the initiative to start something that needs to get done. Instead of waiting for someone to tell you to do something, you are doing it yourself. If everyone else is waiting to be told what to do, you get a head start by being a self-starter. 

When I worked in professional development, I created a lot of training protocols. When staff had to be trained on new procedures or using new software, I usually volunteered to create the training. Why did I do that? I knew that I was going to have to do the training, and I wanted it to be good. The best way I knew how to make the training practical, informative, and engaging was creating it myself. I took the initiative to make it happen.

Lasting Thoughts

If there is something that you’ve been meaning to get done, you need to take initiative to get it done. It’s up to you. No one else is going to do it for you. It’s up to you to get started, it’s up to you to put in the time and effort, and it’s up to you to get it done. If you don’t take initiative, it’s never going to get done.

Roderick Conwi is the author of The Motivation Mindset: Train Your Brain To Get Up and Get Going and the Executive Editor at Nourishment Notes.