Turning a blank calendar into a meaningful plan - about having free time
- Caecilie Olive Hechtel
- 22 mag 2013
- Tempo di lettura: 2 min
Didn't I go all the way until here to have more time, read: a blank calendar?
One week ago, the day after leaving the job, I felt awkward in front of a blank calendar. Performance pressure started rising together with the temptation to fill the calendar. Just fill it. Feel busy. Feel needed. Meet friends. Do Something.
But then again, didn't I go all the way until here to have more time, read: a blank calendar?
I took a mental step back. An older post came to my mind: SO MUCH TIME, SO LITTLE TIME. I read it again and shortly after, the awkward feeling turned into an inspired flow of thoughts. Here are 5 simple steps to turn a blank calendar into a meaningful plan:
List your top 3 goals for the next 24 months
Break each goal into 5 to 10 milestones
Break each milestone into 3 main activities that can be clustered into blocks of 2 to 4 hours
Plan backward and make sure that each week you are equally dedicated to the achievement of all three goals
Fill your calendar* and do it!
*Bonus Tip: If you are used to a blackberry and an enterprise platform where calendar, contacts and emails are synchronized in real-time, you may want to work with the online Google calendar and install its app on your smart phone. This works well for me. It gave me a "family feeling" and reduced the stress created by unsynchronized appointments, read forgotten appointments.
Here an example based on my main goal: Learn Chinese.
1. Objective: Learn Chinese
2. Milestones: HSK1, HSK2, HSK3, HSK4, HSK5, HSK6, 3 months stay in China
3. Main Activities: Chinese group lessons, Chinese individual lessons, Chinese Homework, Visits to China
4. The teacher confirmed that HSK1 until HSK4 level can be achieved through class lessons. The last two levels can be achieved through a 3 month stay with 5 hours/ day of individual lessons. Each of the first 4 levels need around 130 hours. Meaning: 2 hour blocks 3 times a week for 20 months.
5. In Google calendar you can define different calendars. I have created one called "Learn Chinese" and have planned through until the end of the 24 month period.
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