How to use diaries and calendars effectively
Every manager should use a time planner... a diary, a day book, an appointment calendar, a daily organiser - call it what you will. Although effective time-management primarily depends on personal discipline and willpower, time planners can help you win that daily battle with time. Here are a few guidelines to get you thinking about how to make best use of those essential management tools - diaries and calendars...
1. Know what a diary should be.
Pocket or desk diaries and calendars are the traditional 'appointment books' - but they ought to be used for more than recording appointments. They require enough space to list one day's appointments and, on the same page opening, enough room to comment on the planning or recording of the day's work: telephone calls, reminders, meeting notes, goals, ideas, lists, events. Your diary should become a written record of events, thoughts, and plans - a book you will want to keep dipping into, a basic tool you will not want to be without.
2. Be aware of how a diary can help you.
If you have any doubts about the value of a diary to you as a busy manager, consider that it can:
- reduce your stress by reminding you of appointments, telephone messages, promises, and tasks to be completed.
- enable you to recall incidents and ideas.
- increase self-confidence and control, all the key aspects of your work being recorded in one handy volume.
- remind you that time has both an economic and a spiritual value.
If you intend to become an effective time-manager, you'll need a workable diary or calendar for daily use.
3. Choose your diary thoughtfully.
A survey by the US magazine Business Week found that effective managers look for certain qualities in their diaries and calendars. They prefer:
- a 'planner' format to a simple diary. For them, a diary is more than an appointment book: it's a planning tool.
- a diary that lies flat. It should lie open on a desk without needing to be pressed flat.
- a diary with a time management section. They believe that a proper planner can help them manage time.
- a diary with aesthetic appeal. It's a personal tool. It says something about the user, who wants to look good in front of others.
- a range of features, including a double-ribbon bookmark, to keep two places; quarter-hour time subdivisions; simple, uncluttered layout; and usable forward planning components.
What features do you require in a diary or planner?
