“Put it on the calendar”

February 12, 2011

Todays’ Bit of Advice…..

“Put it on the calendar”

I ran into a friend last night at a Cub Scout meeting.  She is also a music teacher and I do some piano playing for her choir.  As I was leaving to come home she said “I’ll drop off that music to you sometime soon”.  Inside my head I said, “HUH?  What music?”.  But my voice said, “Sure, that would be great!”  Obviously I had made a promise to play for something for her but I couldn’t recall it to save my life.  No panic, however.  As soon as I got home, I went to my calendar and looked her up.  Sure enough, I had scheduled her into my May calendar for a concert at her school. 

My calendar keeps me from panicking.

My calendar keeps my home running smoothly (well, smoothishly).

My calendar is like a life line.

I keep everything in my Outlook calendar – dates of activities, details, directions, RVSP info, gift ideas, reminders, To-Do’s.  Everything.  And, lest you get worried, I also have a paper copy of the calendar and I pay for an off-site continuous backup of my calendar through an internet based service.  I can sleep at night knowing the all-important calendar is safe.

Because everything (and, again, I mean everything) is in the calendar, I don’t have to worry that our family will get double booked for an activity without our permission.  I don’t find out 10 minutes before the start of a party that we were supposed to bring a gift.  I know which uniforms my children are supposed to wear to school on a given day and when their library books are due.  Life is just easier.

Putting entries into my calendar serves another important service.  If I put it on the calendar, it will happen.  Some people will give you a verbal confirmation that they plan to attend an event but then they forget, change their mind, don’t remember the time or place and don’t attend.  If I put it on my calendar, I will be there.  And if something happens that I can’t be there, I let the person know. 

For example, I am trying to coordinate a meeting with some colleagues from a volunteer activity.  We’ve been trying for several weeks and something has happened each time to force a change in the meeting date.  None of those changes have come from me, however, because each tentative meeting time has been put into the calendar as a firm commitment.  I won’t say that I can meet at that time unless I am 100% committed to it.  When we have to look for a new time, I find one on the calendar that I know will work and I move the meeting to that date (the advantage of a digital calendar – no cross outs!) and commit myself to it.  We think a meeting this week will work.  I know I’ll be there.

I don’t just put activities and events into my calendar.  I have a few other digital calendars linked to my Outlook account.  One is a home tasks calendar that I use to keep track of when things need to be done.   Ever have to ask yourself, “When was the last time I cleaned out the dryer vent hose?  Vacuumed the coils on the refrigerator? Changed the oil in the lawn mower? Checked for expired items in the medicine cabinet?”?  I have enough to remember in life to keep track of all that.  I write tasks for myself into the calendar and they pop up when it is time to do them.  Ta-Da!  Speaking of which, February is clean out the dryer vent hose month (in the Barrow house).  If you can’t remember the last time you checked yours, please do it this month along with us.  No excuses – a dryer fire can change your life for the worse!

We also have a meal calendar where I schedule our dinners for the month.  I can see which nights are busy and require a crock pot or quick meal.  I know when we have more time and I can spend longer preparing dinner.  I can also see when I have served pizza too often and need to mix things up a bit.  Putting the meals on the calendar commits me to preparing them rather than trying to decide at 5pm what I have time to make or have the necessary ingredients to prepare.  Those nights are bad on the budget because the words take out, pizza, and McDonalds usually find their way into the conversation.

A calendar is a great thing.  But a calendar that you use efficiently and committedly is a wonderful thing.  Try putting it on the calendar and see if it doesn’t make your life a little more relaxed too!

Hope you enjoyed the read.