New Year, New Calendar

I love a new year, a fresh start, a new outlook.

It’s always so refreshing to me. I am not one to set big goals or resolutions in fact I think the opposite. Don’t set yourself up to be disappointed. I do try to do 1-3 monthly goals all year long. That way I feel so great at the end of each month when I accomplish the goals. I just appreciate a re-set that comes with a new year. We all need it! My calendar is always a mess at work. I’s just a blue blob of back to back meetings. Meetings on top of meetings, overbooked, no time for projects or speaking to my team.

My goal last month was to start cleaning up my calendar for 2020.

Declining meetings I don’t go to but have kept on my calendar in case I want to pop in. I delegated two meetings this year to team members to attend on behalf of our department. Then I went in and blocked out an hour for lunch every day and made a pink color. A happy color. Some days lunch is at 11am and some days it’s at 1pm but I ensured that I get that hour every day one way or the other. Mondays are my lightest meeting day so I went ahead and blocked the whole day moving forward. That way I know it’s my dedicated catch up day for email, projects, meeting/calling customers, scheduling some one on one’s with team. If I get it all blocked now, no one can steal that time from me.

I made sure to use color on my calendar.

Green is for desk time/projects, etc. Pink is for lunch, orange is for personal if I have a doctor’s appointment or off site stop. Yellow is for my team one on one’s. Blue are my meetings. It’s amazing to look at my calendar with a new approach. The colors help my brain quickly realize the needs and not feel so overwhelmed with my calendar. Commit to cleaning it up. If you can do for a few months out great if not do it one week at a time.

Just a reminder by a favorite of mine Emily McDowell: