Productivity hacks: how to manage your calendar

We’ve put together a series of practical tools to help you put Smarter Everyday  ideals into practice. We’ll be publishing them on Conversations over the next few weeks, starting today with the ‘Managing your calendar’ tool.

Your calendar is the beating heart of your productivity system. By scheduling your activities and tasks, you can make sure your work will get done. When you’re overwhelmed and can’t decide what to do next, your calendar will point you in the right direction.

Unless you prioritise, small or unimportant tasks will fill up your time, and you’ll never get round to doing the things that need quality time and energy. And during busy periods it’s difficult to concentrate on work when you’re worried about lack of time, or about missing out a vital step.

If you take the time to fill in your calendar mindfully, you will manage expectations, assess when you can take on more responsibilities and create the space for that very important thinking time, which you never seem to get enough of.

So if you don’t have a well laid-out plan for your week or if you don’t seem to be able to stick to your plans, give this tool a try, and don’t forget to let us know how you get on, by leaving a comment or tweeting @NokiaAtWork.

Next week we’ll be back with a brilliant daily review tool, which is the perfect next step when you’ve got your new calendar up and running.