I was at a friend's place recently, and was struck by admiration when I saw her carefully cross out a day on her good ol' fashioned wall calendar. I've decided to print the month of December and give structure a chance. I will mark down schooling deadlines, word counts, and work schedule. I'm hoping this will make me a better, more organized person. I was wondering if/how everybody else plans their semi-immediate future. Do you have a magical cell-phone calender? A super-custom PC oracle thing? Or are you happy with a retro, glossy collection of cute kittens nailed to your wall?
I use my Microsoft Works calendar on my computer. I use it for deadlines, appointments, "to do" items, etc. All entries are assigned a reminder that will annoy me until I acknowledge that I have completed it.
I don't use a calendar. I use the phase of the moon. (No, really!) I have a thing called QuickPhase Pro (Google it) and I try to work all my projects by that. I'll tell myself I want to finish a draft of a story by the next full moon, or the next third quarter, or whatever. It turns out there isn't much in life that's really important that needs finer tracking than the moon phase. It works! And it makes me feel like I'm connected to the natural word as I do my work.
Any kind of non-recurring appointment goes on the old fashioned paper calendar on my kitchen wall. Things that regularly occur, like my book club meeting on the first Wednesday of every month, don't go on.
I'm not a planner. It's probably not a good way to be, but for some reason I can't envisage a future for myself. I live in spontaneous fashion. Sometimes I lie awake at night wishing it weren't so because, should something bad happen, I may not be adequately prepared. I gave up making plans a long time ago. Something always sticks a spanner in the works. So... no calendar—there's nothing I need to remind myself of, save the annual paying of my t.v. license. (For the benefit of those not in the UK: To to not do so will result in a heavy fine and a criminal record. Seriously.)
I use my calendar (google) for record keeping only (hours worked, for example), and get reminders for appts. But I don't use it for goal setting or any of that stuff - I know what I need to get accomplished and daily events determine whether I'm ahead or behind.
I use a weekly calendar in small book form that fits in my purse, my business runs on appointments. I have yet to become a slave to the blackberry or smart phone. Honestly, a quick scribble seems easier to me that keying in a date/time/event on a phone sized keyboard. But If I didn't look at the calendar the night before I wouldn't be in the right place at the right time the next day.
I have a phone calendar, but my schedule is so regular that I've made a sort of game out of being able to hit the button to turn off the alarm before it makes a sounds. It's really helpful for anything outside of the schedule, though! I don't think I'd ever remember the exact time of an event if I wrote it on a calendar, considering it wouldn't always be near at hand. That hasn't stopped my family from buying me calendars for Christmas. We'll have to see whether or not they remember this year - it would be a first!
I have my calendar, but I've been using an app called 'Wunderlist', which is, well, pretty wonderful. It's completely cross platform (pc, mac, apple, android) and will sync your items across them all. It's essentially a giant to-do list, but you can create separate 'to-do' lists, and it'll even send reminders to your email and reminders to your phone. I've used it for about 2 months now, and I have no idea how I'd tackle my new job without it. Also, paper calendar for home events & outlook calendar for work events. I MUST PLAN!!
I've utilized Google Calendar for years now, but this semester I started using a wall calendar to give me a better focus on what's happening each week. I write all my due-homework, tests, significant events, and anything else I need to know is upcoming on the paper calendar. For me, that helps me keep much more on top of my duties since I can glance at the wall and know exactly what to expect. The internet calendar is more useful for secondary reminders and long-term things I need to remember (i.e. dentist appointments, concerts, birthdays, etc.)
I have a calendar from WHSmith. It's quite useful. It's a week to a page on a 6x8 grid, so you can put deadlines for particular days and you can also divide your day up into Morning/Afternoon/Evening or whatever.
i love having a large format 'art' calendar to look at and am particularly partial to photos of places i've been to and love [especially greece and italy], seashore views and, for the past 3 years, 'porches'... i only mark the most important stuff on them... such as an app't [very rare] and dates when clients' payments are due... for the few birthdays i send out cards on, my www.jackielawson.com subscription notifies me a few days in advance... and my msn calendar reminds me to delete my internet stuff and cookies twice a week... that's all i need...
Like @mammamaia, I always get a large-format picture calendar of places I love, usually Michigan, Lake Superior, Nova Scotia, etc. Ever since moving to Scotland I always get American or Canadian calendars because many of the British ones begin each week on a Monday. I just cannot get my eyes oriented to that. All my life, the calendar week began on Sunday and ended on Saturday. And now it begins on a Monday and ends on a Sunday? Nah-ah. I found myself getting days wrong using the British calendars because the day in the center was NOT Wednesday, but Thursday! I've adapted to most of the quirks of my new country's way of doing things, but this is one thing I'm holding out on! Sunday starts MY week!
@jannert That's so funny Maybe I should start a new week with Sunday too. Then Monday would be the second day and maybe it'd feel less depressing... This semester I've used my phone calendar / outlook calendar. I used to carry a pocket-size calendar with me, but for some reason it hasn't caught on this year. I plan ahead quite a bit cos i need to know when I'm going to work, when are my deadlines due, and how much time do I have for procrastination.
