Your Calendar

Your calendar isn't just a record of how you spend your time. It's a reflection of what you prioritise

A few days ago, I was chatting with a friend and fellow coach. She shared something one of her first coaches had told her: "If it's not in your calendar, it's not important. And if it's in your calendar, it is important." which really struck me as I've been very conscious of using my calendar in the past couple of years. One of the drivers of that focus was the realisation that I was regularly skipping lunch. (Working in Singapore with colleagues in Australia meant meetings often landed right in the middle of my lunchtime. And because lunch wasn't in my calendar, it kept getting pushed aside.)

So I blocked lunchtime in my calendar. For an entire year. Sounds slightly ridiculous, doesn't it? Having to schedule lunch! But it made a difference. I could still choose to skip lunch if needed, but now I was making that choice consciously rather than letting someone else's calendar make it for me.

Then I began doing the same with learning.

Blocking time each week for courses, webinars and professional development. During my Year of Mindfulness, I even scheduled five minutes twice a day to practise mindfulness, because some things need protecting if they're going to happen.

What I've come to realise is that the meetings, coaching sessions and sales calls are important.

And so are the walks in the park, lunches with friends, picking up the kids from school and simply having time to do nothing in particular.

Of course, life isn't as simple as putting everything important into a calendar. Some of the best moments are unplanned. Some scheduled activities don't happen. And sometimes our priorities change. So perhaps the real value is in paying attention.

What do we make time for? What gets crowded out? What do we keep postponing? And what does that tell us about the difference between what we say matters and how we're actually living?

Here's a little experiment.

Open your calendar and look at next week.

How much of it is devoted to what you get paid to do for a living?

And how much is devoted to what you do to enjoy living?

There's no right answer. But there might be something worth noticing, and

I'd love to hear what you discover.