Simple hacks for your calendar

A calendar is the best life management tool you could ever use, but don’t let it get out of control, it could easily leave you in a spin.

Any type of calendar, the free one you get from the drugstore, the pocket planner, the pda, or something on your computer or cellphone. It doesn’t matter; just find a system that works for you, so it’s okay to experiment. My self I have a relatively simple set up, but it works for me:

1. I use Outlook on my computer while I’m offline.

2. Online I sync with Plaxo, an online calendar and contact manager.

3. My cellphone with internet.

Outlook is an interface that I’m comfortable with and you could substitute any scheduling program you’re more comfortable with, such as iCalendar or one of the many personal info managers available. I’ll input all my contacts, my tasks and todo info and my appointments, plus any other time defined information then I’ll sync with Plaxo .

Now that I’ve done that, the information is available online, so I can get it on my cellphone or at an available computer with an internet connection. This also works in reverse; anything I input to Plaxo on my phone can be synced to my home computer when I get back home.

Some people use an even more simple system, a calendar with space for making notes, marking when bills are due, and maybe, a notation of a special event that occurred on that date. Then, near the end of one year and the beginning of another they’ll go through and record pertinent information from the old calendar to the new one. Thus, they have a record of last year and already know when something is coming up in the New Year.

New for 2009

I was thinking about what the subject of my next post should be when an unfamiliar car came up my driveway, I went out to intercept them.

To my surprise, it was a father and his young son, the father was driving his son around canvassing the neighborhood to see if someone might want to purchase “farm fresh” eggs from the boy. In an instant I realized, that before me was a young business person in the midst of his first start up venture. I told the boy I couldn’t purchase any eggs at this time, he then handed me a business card and said thank you. I looked at the card, it had his business, his name and contact number, and was affixed to a magnetic backing, I was impressed.

After they had left, I went back into my home realizing that this was just the beginning, because like that young man, I to was in “start-up” mode with my writing. In today’s economy, the powers that be are saying we’re in a “severe recession”; to many of us it might even seem worse. In the Depression of the 30’s many fortunes were lost, at least that’s what our history books tell us. I don’t recall much information of the fortunes that were made as a result of that economic event, but I’m sure there were some. There’s a new attitude emerging in the world, it has to do with people looking for a chance to do better, to find new ways to affect their life circumstances in a positive manner.

This is why I write this blog, to showcase the information and experiences that I see around myself and to send a positive message.

I’ll close with a quote credited to Albert Einstein, someone who was very thoughtful, at least in my opinion.

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity”

Observations and Impressions

Photo by William J Yancey

 

                What causes complication and complexity?  Good question, where do we start?

·         Urgency is one of the first places, because the urgent things tend use as much of your time as they can.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many urgent tasks that are extremely valid and necessary.

·         Perceived Urgency, related to urgency, but different in that it’s more of a mental perception than a real urgent task.

·         Overload, a huge chunk of complexity, mostly because there are so many kinds of overload.  Some of this “overload” is self-inflicted while some is actually perceived, brought about by all of the various sources of information available to us.

·         Clutter, of all kinds lends itself to the chaotic elements in the world and our lives.  It stops you from finding what you need when you need it (a great source of stress!).  Disorganization also steals away your valuable time and can rob you of opportunities.

This is by no means a complete list, and I’m sure each one of these points will be revisited in future posts.

Again, feel free to add your comments and recommendations.

 

               

 

 

The Simple Start

It's a complex world that we live in, I thought to myself.

Through out my life I've become a "master" complicator.

I'm now realizing it's better to be simple.

I'm now an aspiring writer and I figured to best place to start would be starting a blog.

Not only would I get to write more, I would have to think about what I'm writing and best of all,

comments from others.  I welcome these comments and my hope is by blogging I can learn more

about writing, and maybe help others in the process.