Page 29 - J2TEAM-Community-RescueTime-Focus-Guide

Let others do the work

Although using a calendar to schedule your work can help make sure
everything important gets done, it can also create even more overhead
as you end up with longer email chains to create and reschedule
meetings throughout the workweek.

To avoid this, Hogan suggests blocking out periods of time on your
calendar when you’re available to meet with others, and letting them
book those times. You can use an app like Calendly for this, setting
time blocks when you’re available and simply sharing a link to your
calendar where others can book appointments. Or if you use Google
Calendar with your colleagues, you can use the built-in appointment
slots feature to let others book appointments on your calendar.

Hogan also suggests making events editable by attendees wherever
possible, and adding a note when scheduling an event to let attendees
know they’re free to make changes, as your schedule will update
automatically. This way, you save the back-and-forth of email chains
figuring out when everyone’s available and if it’s okay to move an
event, and you leave the hassle of rescheduling to those who need to
move the event in the first place.

Fix your Mondays

We can’t talk about schedules and calendars without talking about
Mondays. They may just be the most tricky days to plan for.

Freelance designer Jessica Hische suggests avoiding setting deadlines
for Mondays:

“
If there is a deadline on Monday, and you are
prone to procrastinating/procrastiworking like me,
you are most definitely working on the weekend.

Instead of setting deadlines for Mondays, Hische sets aside Mondays

29