Calendar Conundrum

                How many times have you been late for an appointment? Forgot about the doctor’s appointment until you get a reminder from the office (If you get these) and realized you had a full day and there was no way you could get off work or find someone on such short notice to watch the kids? These things happen every day to millions of people just like you and I. Some people prefer electronic calendars, some like paper calendars. Either way you do it, you need to make sure that as soon as you make an appointment or commitment that you record it. Those business cards size appointment reminders you may get can so easily get lost. My suggestion is that you take a couple of minutes once a week whatever day you choose (I do Sunday) and look at your calendar for the upcoming week to see what is coming. It will give you a fresh reminder of appointments, play dates, events, or birthdays that may have slipped your mind. This also allows you to make arrangements that you may need to make, remind you to get that dress out for an upcoming party and dust it off, or get out that dress shirt you normally don’t wear and iron it. To run to the store to get that birthday card that has to get in the mail today, or get those cookies for the class party that you volunteered for. Things get hectic at times and we all forget things. I have both paper and electronic calendars. In my job I keep up with several people’s calendars and 4 conference rooms that are often booked solid and meetings times and places are changed several times. I am asked many times a day is John in a meeting? Or is conference room A open from 2-3 today. There are times that I know off the top of my head, but most of the time I will tell the person asking hold on a moment while I look for you. There is no shame when someone asks if you are available to say “let me check my calendar”. If you have that moment open but the rest of your day is booked its ok to say “I’m booked solid” and offer a different day, time or even place. Give yourself a little wiggle room for the little things that may cause you to get behind, traffic, a phone call, a spill you have to clean up, a pair of shores you can’t find, the keys you don’t remember where you placed, the meeting that runs over. Because there are always things that pop up. Nobody can reasonably plan every single minute to go perfectly as we do not live in a perfect world. Also don’t forget to schedule some time for yourself. Whether or you simply just have a couple of minutes of down time, or take a long bath, read a book, paint or even look for a place to stay on your next vacation. It is very important to make time for yourself and give yourself forgiveness for things you over looked and wiggle room because after all we are human.