As both an accountant and a mom, effective calendar management is not only important for success in your profession, but it’s also a vital aspect of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. If you’re anything like me, your calendar serves as the backbone of your daily schedule, providing structure and organization to your day.
From meetings with clients and colleagues to kid’s activities and family obligations, your calendar likely plays a central role in your daily routine. When my children were younger, we had a giant dry-erase board on a wall in the kitchen with everything written for the month, and I had a leather-covered Day Planner that I carried around like a sacred text.
I used to say that those calendars were my therapy because as long as I felt organized, I was in a good head space. If things started to feel out of control, I would turn to my calendar to get back a semblance of control.
Unfortunately, despite the importance of using a calendar to organize your time and your life, it’s easy to fall into common calendar mistakes. These mistakes can lead to wasted time, missed opportunities, and, ultimately, a lack of productivity and success.
Even if you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while and have been implementing some of the things I’ve discussed on the subject of time management, it’s still easy to fall into the trap of making mistakes when it comes to calendaring. For those of you that feel like you’ve got a pretty good handle on your calendar, keep listening because there might be some mistakes you don’t realize you’re making.
When I work with my coaching clients on the topic of time management, they’re amazed at how much better they’re able to manage their time and their lives, but they’re also human and easily fall back into bad habits. They say it takes 90 days to create a habit, but I have found that’s not necessarily the case.
Time management and calendaring are skills that can improve over time, but they also take effort, which is something that our lower, primitive brain is not on board with. I’ve said this many times on the podcast, but until you understand how to manage your brain, you’ll never be able to effectively manage your time.
With the combination of brain management and effective calendar management, I promise you that you’ll feel much more in control of your work and personal life. You’ll feel less stressed and overwhelmed, be able to get more done in less time, and create more time.
This week I’m going to discuss the top calendar mistakes that are holding you back and what to do about them.
The top calendar mistakes that are holding you back
Let me first say that even though I teach and coach time management for accountants, I also fall prey to the mistakes that I’m going to share with you. My time management is a work in progress, just like yours.
The first mistake I want to talk about is overscheduling. I know we all have a lot on our plates, but research has shown that over-scheduling can lead to decreased productivity and increased stress levels.
Overscheduling is easy to fall prey to, but it leads to feeling like you have no control over your schedule or your time, creating a lot of stress and overwhelm. As a busy working mom, you probably have experienced this first-hand – the less control you feel you have over your schedule, the more stress and anxiety you feel about the amount of time you have to get everything done.
So what does overscheduling look like? It might be something like booking back-to-back client meetings without any buffer time in between. This can be a problem if a meeting runs longer than expected, causing you to be late for your next appointment or feel rushed and unprepared.
According to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 69% of Americans report feeling stressed due to a lack of time. Unfortunately, it can become a catch-22 because when we feel we have a lack of time, we feel like we need to overschedule ourselves in order to get everything done, creating even more stress and a lack of time.
Believe me, I understand when you want to get a lot done in a short amount of time, but overscheduling is actually working against you more than you realize for one very important reason – you have a human brain. An overwhelmed, stressed brain cannot be productive, so start to become more aware of when you are overscheduling yourself.
The second mistake that is holding you back is not prioritizing properly. When we’re busy and overwhelmed, it’s easy to get caught up in the urgent but not necessarily important tasks on our to-do lists; however, ignoring our priorities can lead to being overly busy and eventually to burnout.
In a study by the American Psychological Association, researchers found that individuals who neglected their priorities were more likely to experience burnout and job dissatisfaction. Whether the priorities are work-related or not, giving in to a sense of urgency when calendaring can be a huge mistake, especially when you don’t understand that your brain is hard-wired to see everything as urgent
For example, to your brain, spending hours responding to emails or attending meetings that don’t align with your long-term goals rather than working on a project that would move you closer to achieving those goals seems more urgent. It’s important to understand that your lower brain believes many more things are urgent than actually are.
The third calendar mistake that is holding you back is not following through with what you put on your calendar. Putting tasks on your calendar is a great way to stay organized and manage your time effectively; however, if you’re not following through with what you’ve scheduled, it can lead to feelings of guilt, overwhelm, and, ultimately, a lack of progress.
In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that individuals who shared their goals and progress with others were more likely to achieve them. This is because sharing your goals creates a sense of accountability and increases motivation.
When I work with my time management coaching clients, they learn a process for making sure they follow through with what they put on their calendars, but they also appreciate the weekly accountability from our coaching sessions. As we work together, they realize that their brain makes a lot of unhelpful excuses and that I’m able to call them out on them and help them to learn how to eventually follow through on their own.
Some of the typical examples of not following through include scheduling time to work on a project but then getting distracted by emails or social media or scheduling a workout but then skipping it because you’re feeling tired or unmotivated. You have to be clear on your priorities and calendar them but also understand how to guarantee you follow through.
If you notice that not following through with what you’ve put on your calendar is an issue for you, just know you’re not alone. There are many contributing factors, but none is as important to understand as how your brain works.
The truth is that your lower brain will always look for relief from anything that takes energy and is often in avoidance mode but don’t let that continue to derail you.
And the fourth and final calendar mistake that is holding you back is not setting aside time at the end of the day and the end of the week to reflect and review. Neglecting to take time to reflect on your progress and review your schedule can lead to unproductive habits and a lack of direction.
A study by Harvard Business School found that individuals who took time to reflect on their work were more productive, performed better on tasks, and were more likely to achieve their goals. When I work with coaching clients, I encourage them to keep notes about what was helpful or what they noticed wasn’t helpful as they go about each day, and then we discuss the best game plan for the following week.
The truth is that time management is an ongoing process. Not only is time management for accountants not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing, but it’s also a learning process that gets simpler as you reflect and review more often.
Ignoring the importance of reflection and review in calendaring can also lead to a sense of overwhelm and disorganization. As a working mom, it’s easy to become consumed by the day-to-day demands of work and life, but if you want a better sense of control over your time, you need to fix this mistake.
An example of neglecting reflection and review might be consistently scheduling tasks and appointments without ever looking back to see how effectively you’ve been managing your time. Skipping this step is often what leads my clients to repeat the same ineffective time management behaviors week after week.
So now that I’ve shared the four calendar mistakes, I’d like to explain what you can do to avoid them.
What to do to avoid these mistakes
If you make at least one of the mistakes I shared – overscheduling, not prioritizing properly, not following through, or neglecting reflection and review – it’s not your fault. We all hear about different tips and tricks when it comes to time management, but if you don’t know how to manage your brain, you’ll keep making these calendaring mistakes.
That’s why The Balanced Accountant Program that I created teaches you first how to manage your brain and then how to better manage your time. The reason these mistakes are so common is that no one is teaching you how to manage your brain.
So besides learning the process for how to manage your brain, in order to avoid over-scheduling, I teach my coaching clients how to be kind to the future version of themselves that has to follow their calendars. When they are creating their calendar for the next week or the next day, they have to create it as if they were giving it to someone they care about.
I know this might sound strange, but you also need to make sure you are allowing time for the unexpected. By leaving some white space in your calendar, you are less likely to be thrown for a loop when something unexpected pops up.
There are also things that we say are unexpected, but if we’re truly being honest, they happen often enough that they should be expected. For example, I coached a client whose boss typically started bombarding her with questions around 1 pm every day, so we took that into account when creating her calendar, even if the boss bombarded her unexpectedly at 11 am instead of 1 pm.
In addition, prioritizing your tasks and appointments can help ensure that you’re focusing your time and energy on the most important items. This might mean scheduling important meetings and deadlines first and leaving less important tasks for later in the day or week.
To avoid this mistake, take some time to identify your priorities and create a schedule that reflects them. This might mean blocking off time for important tasks, saying no to meetings or tasks that don’t align with your goals, or delegating less important tasks to others.
According to a study by LinkedIn, individuals who regularly set and prioritize their goals are more likely to achieve them. Additionally, individuals who regularly take breaks and prioritize self-care are more productive and creative in the long run.
Remember, taking the time to prioritize your goals and align your schedule with them can lead to greater fulfillment, success, and well-being in the long run.
With the mistake of not following through with what’s on your calendar, it’s important to identify the barriers that are preventing you from following through with your scheduled tasks. This might mean addressing distractions, setting realistic goals, or seeking support from others.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, individuals who set specific, measurable goals and held themselves accountable to them were significantly more likely to achieve them than those who didn’t. Additionally, individuals who regularly reviewed their progress and adjusted their goals were more likely to succeed in the long run.
Remember, putting tasks on your calendar is only effective if you follow through with them. By holding yourself accountable and addressing any barriers to success, you can ensure that you’re making progress toward your goals.
To avoid this mistake of not reflecting and reviewing every day or at least at the end of the week, it’s important to schedule regular time for reflection and review. This might mean taking a few minutes at the end of each day to review your schedule and assess your progress, or scheduling a larger block of time each week or month to evaluate your overall performance and make adjustments as needed.
Incorporating reflection and review into your calendaring process can lead to greater clarity, improved productivity, and a more intentional approach to managing your time. By taking time to reflect and review, you can ensure that you’re making progress, continuing to do what works, and making adjustments with what doesn’t.
So whether you recognize yourself making one or all four of the mistakes I discussed, it’s never too late to do something about it. Awareness is always the first and most important step.
The biggest mistake you could make after listening to this episode is not addressing any of the calendar mistakes you’re currently making.
Summary
Unfortunately, despite the importance of using a calendar to organize your time and your life, it’s easy to fall into common calendar mistakes.
With the combination of brain management and effective calendar management, I promise you that you’ll feel much more in control of your work and personal life.