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Who doesn't want to make the most out of your day? We always feel like it would be like heaven if we can lay in bed all day, watching YouTube as much as we want. Try it for one day and you will see how much of an agony it is. Doing that kind of thing doesn't give us any fulfillment. But being productive do.

Everyone wants to live a more productive existence as it provides you with a more enjoyable, fulfilled life. However, most people don’t realize th
at one of the most effective ways of achieving these ambitions is through their calendar rather than buying expensive productivity apps to help you.

The calendar is something some of us even not bother to look at these days. What is the use of a calendar when I can just know the day when I see the lock screen? Do you remember the last day you used the calendar app on your phone? Almost every smartphone comes with a calendar app. Heck, some Android phones from non-Google companies come with 2 calendar apps, including Google calendar and their own app.

And in the Playstore or in the Appstore there are hundreds of apps. There must be a reason why these companies are bundling calendar app with your phone, right? It is because the calendar is one of the most powerful time management tools if we use it well.

You might be already using a calendar to plan your day, but is it going according to the plan? Since you are here reading this article, I think it might be not going smoothly as you hoped. Well, don't lose hope. Here are some of the most important fundamentals on how to start using the calendar and make it your most powerful productivity tool.

Know how to manage your time

Just think about time as money. But this is much valuable than dollars or any other currency because once you use it you can never have it back. Not a second you waste now will not come back to you no matter how rich or powerful you are. So when thinking about time management, just act like you are preparing a financial budget. We all have prepared budgets from our school days, so it not a thing you want to take lessons for.

Write down the things you want to accomplish during a given day and give a realistic time frame that you can 'PAY' for each task. Each task is not equally important as well as not equally urgent. So you have to give dividends according to that.

Think that your house has been robbed and only you have left is $1000, but nothing else. What are the things that first come to your mind to buy? Do you think about buying that PS5 you always wanted or the Apple iPhone 12? No, those things even don't come to your mind, because there are rather important aspects to fill than thinking about expensive toys. First, you surely have to call the police but let's keep that aside. You want to buy some food, clothes, or maybe a cheap phone so you can contact your relatives or someone. See, there are priorities.

So when you sit down to plan your day, just don't write down all the things that come to your mind and make yourself promise that you will go through each and every one of them. That is never going to happen as we know by experience. Think about what are the things you can do tomorrow to make your long-term and short-term dreams to come closer. Take them the priority, and give the rest of the tasks less importance. Because at the end of the if you could at least fulfill your priorities, that is a big win.

Find a calendar that works for you

In this digitalized world, finding a person without a smartphone is a really tough ask. And having one makes our lives much easier because we can allow some duties to our little friends like reminding us when to pay the credit card bill, when is the meeting or even when is your dinner reservation. But not having one is not an issue at all because using the traditional paper calendar is still a very much viable option. Even if you have a phone, you can still choose to go with a paper calendar because it is much more fulfilling for some people to cross off the finished tasks from paper rather than putting a tick in the phone.

If you like to use a phone app, the first option you have is to use the default calendar app of the phone. Most Android phones come with Google Calendar and it is a great option because it syncs with all your Google system apps. But it doesn't matter what app you use, just choose a one you feel like using. Regardless if you go paper, digital, or use a combination of both, the only way you’ll get the most out of a calendar is to find one that fits your needs and style.

After you’ve found your preferred calendar, spend the time getting to know what it can do, as well as its limitations. The action you take might be to learn keyboard shortcuts to the latest hacks. And if you use a paper calendar, get to know how other people use their calendars by using Pinterest or any other similar service. Knowing your calendar like the back of your hand will save you a ton of time.

Schedule time for planning as well

Assess your calendar every morning

And if you can, finish the most significant and most challenging task of the day as the first thing. You will most likely procrastinate more on the most challenging task because in your mind, it causes the largest mental resistance. So you need to place your most likely-not-to-succeed-job into your calendar as one of the first things that you do for the day. This is the best time to engage in such activity because you have the most energy and focus within the first couple of hours after waking up.

Once it is out of the way, you will be filled with motivation to carry on the day. 

Use time blocking method

You may have heard this as timeboxing as well. What is meant by it is to simply allocate specific chunks of time for particular tasks. During this block, the allocated task is the only thing that you pay attention to.

Let's take a small example. Think that you have allocated time from 8 am to 10 am for your daily highlight. And after a break by 10.15 am, you have to go through another task. So no matter how much you have finished off, you have to switch to the other task by 10.15 am.

And you can block a time space for any unexpected responsibilities that arise during the day. So you don't have to completely messup the daily plan in order to attend that.

Have a daily highlight

Simply put, you have to choose a task from your list for the day, and then no matter what happens, you have to get it done during the day. You are excused if you couldn't run through some things at the end of the daily tasks, but you are failed if you can't complete your daily highlight. It's your top priority. It's your 'Star task' for the day. You have to get it done.

The daily highlight necessarily doesn't need to be the most time-consuming activity of the day. It is better to have a task that helps to reach your short-term or long-term goals. So invariably you take one definite step at a day towards your goal.

With time you can even have 'Session Highlights' like I do now. It a simple extension of the daily highlight. You have to choose a highlighted task for morning, afternoon, evening, and night. This is not at all recommended to start right away without trying the 'Daily highlight' as it may fed you up.

Try the daily highlight first and take daily step towards your goal. And if you mastered that, then you can raise your bar.

Launch reminders

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If you choose to use an app, then having the ability to set reminders is a lifesaver. You can set the app to remind you about the important tasks during the day so you don't have to keep your head full all the time. Not only do they help you remember important tasks or dates, but they can also keep you focused and on track. The key is to use reminders strategically.

Some people set reminders to all of their tasks during the day, and I would advise against it. Because, first of all, you don't want to feel like your life is being controlled by an app that says everything you want to during the day. And with this method, you know every task is not urgent and you might feel like ignoring some. Then in few days will completely ignore even the important reminders because you are not pushing yourself to respond to reminders. If you only set reminders for your important tasks, then you have to put up the work and get them done.

And also remember to set a separate reminder 24 hours in advance, for your most important meetings, reports because if you have forgotten it altogether then you still have 24 hours to get ready.

Don't get disheartened if you choose to use the Paper calendar, because still, you can somewhat simulate this by using a color code in your calendar. Use a red color to ark your important tasks and they will pop out of the rest, so you will not miss them. Then you can add other color codes according to the categories of tasks you have to make it more visually appealing.

Schedule Breaks as well

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But when having pre-planned intervals you know you have to start again after your break. There is a push. To beat procrastination you need those little pushes from doing little things through the day. And there is one more great thing about pre-planned breaks. When taking them you don't feel guilty irrespective of how much work left in the day. It is a part of your day. If you take breaks here and there, no matter how long they are you will always have small guilt in the corner of your mind about wasting time. You know what I mean.

So plan the breaks and feel the freedom.

You can use the calendar with an app, a diary, with a notes app or even simply by using a good-old printed calendar. It doesn't matter which option you pick, the way you use it determines your outcome. Organizing your work life around a calendar will tremendously improve your productivity and give you a great idea about the time-wasters in your life. Time is one of the most important things in all of our lives and even a second wasted can never be taken back. So you have to consciously use your time when you should work and enjoy when it's time to take a break. It is a pretty simple theory, but in practice, very few percentages of us use that.

But, properly managing your calendar ensures that you have complete control of your valuable time. But the hard part is not the planning, but sticking with what you have planned. The plan might not go smoothly on the first day, second day, or even third day. Don't give up, and assess why you can't meet what you have planned to be done. Most of the time it is because we put unrealistic hopes on ourselves. We try to go through tasks that take few days to complete, in a single day. When it fails, we think that we are not productive enough and go back to the pit you whence you came from.

So be smart when you plan your day and give yourself credit for what you have done by the end of the day. You are a human and you can improve on the next day even if you have completely flushed today down the drain. Give yourself some time to get used to using a calendar and reap the fruits in near future.