my scorecard for this week: planned to go 3 things plus meet 1 important out of town visitor. Did go to the thing on thursday, pushed the friday thing to sunday, was about to go to the saturday thing when someone at home fell terribly ill so had to stay back, then didn't go to the friday/sunday thing cause I had to prepare something for work on Monday. Now on Monday morning have to go to the office plus sneak in some afternoon time with Important Visitor somehow. I am like, this is ridic!

I should just quit working and then Go To All the Things instead

There's life in a nutshell! I have friends that are big movers and shakers and I don't know how they do it. Hired help? Gallons of Diet Coke?

not only did I manage to squeeze in some 'afternoon time' with Important Visitor without upsetting the work commitments I also managed to join them and some peeps after work. So THERE, nasty scheduling issues! I shall make my way around your twining talons

I sympathize. Over the years I've become a very busy person, and it is really hard to hang on.

I'm gonna need to be sitting there midweek thinking about Monday morning

Yes, exactly. And honestly, it's entirely worth it. Here are my pro tips that continually save my life:

1. Start every day by reviewing your whole calendar for the day and the next day and giving the rest of the week a quick look-over.
2. Note down any things you absolutely need to get done to be prepared for the stuff happening today and tomorrow (the day after tomorrow can take care of itself if you do this every day).
3. Do those things.
4. AT the end of the day, review the calendar for tomorrow and the next day.
5. At the beginning of the next day, see #1.

Now here's Level 2.
1. Start blocking time out on your calendar specifically for getting organized to do work. Not to do the work mind you, but just to get organized to do work. I block off Monday mornings for this. Some Mondays it's just an hour, but ideally I block off the first two hours on Monday to organize the week.
2. Block off another chunk of time at the end of the week to tie up loose ends, file, and look ahead to the coming week. Use it to organize your desk and update your to-do list so you don't walk in to chaos on Monday. My chunk is Friday morning or Friday afternoon.
6. During that Friday chunk, review the calendar for the next upcoming week to refresh your memory.
7. Also on Friday, spend a few minutes looking farther ahead and adjusting your calendar. Maybe you can see that some week or other is going to be a real "crunch" time - right now, even if it's two months away, block off any extra time in that week so that you don't get overbooked by other stuff that adds in there. Make actual appointments on your calendar that say BLOCK - you'll know you can change them if need be, but you'll also remember you created that space for a reason and you'll be more likely to protect it. That becomes the time to finish your reading or reports or agendas or whatever for that project, so you don't end up going "AAAA there is no time to do this!"
7a. This is also a time to schedule your time off, if you have it. Pick some random Mondays or Fridays or other good vacation days and reserve the whole day so you can take it off if you like. THis is an especially good practice before or after "crunch times" so you can keep your head together.
8. Use one calendar. I used to keep a "personal" calendar and a "work" calendar. The lines are too blurry now. And also my work events are often on evenings and weekends, so it can become all too easy to set up conflicts with "personal" events, where you've assumed you're going to be free on evenings and weekends. I have to use just one calendar now, with everything on it.
9. Make abundant use of reminders (email or phone). Not just reminders that ding you once 10 minutes before the thing starts, but cascading reminders. So for instance, for all the due dates for my papers, I put in GMail reminders on this sequence: 10 days out, 7 days out, 5 days, 3 days, due date. That way it can simply not slip my mind for long, and there's a built-in countdown to things that take a lot of extra time in the leadup.

long story short: when you get busy, you actually have to tackle your busy-ness like it's another project, and manage it as such. It's being your own secretary, and it's really a great use of time. I am a lot happier and more organized since I started devoting more attention to it and stopped expecting myself to magically "just remember."

that's a great list Miko. thanks.

Yeah I think the 'hidden' problem here is not so much about scheduling as a matter of being physically present at a place but about preparation.

Like when I don't go to an event I planned to it's not about showering and leaving my house in time (which I have trouble with anyway) but also about not being prepared in various ways, e.g.

do I have time or am I handling something else? did I get enough sleep the night before or am I exhausted
do I have the clothes I need and are they prepared? do I need a haircut or time to shave
do I know how to get there and what my transport arrangements are? do I have enough money to go and participate
etc

So just keeping upcoming things in mind will help with these parts

I've been mulling the calendar thing, like should I have a calendar with 'confirmed events' vs 'prospective' events? I think for now I'll just put it all together. If I don't go I don't go. I can later delete things I didn't go to from the archived stuff

Yeah, the secret is definitely preparation. It took me a long time realize it, but people who are successful at this stuff devote a lot of time to preparation. Also to simplicity: they develop a set of steps or a routine for, say, picking clothing out, so it doesn't devolve into an hour-long process. And getting sleep is totally a big thing, especially as you get older. I find it actually starts to determine a whole lot about how the next day unfolds.

Saying "no" - I've found I can't do more than four meetings a day well. I can do them if there is no alternative, but after I get to 4 meetings, I consider that day "booked" and try my best not to take any other meetings.

As far as the calendar, if I tentatively commit to something I put a "hold" on it - just block off the time and mark it "hold for [whatever]." That way you don't double-book. You can indeed cancel/detele it if it turns out it doesn't happen.

Yeah, the secret is definitely preparation. It took me a long time realize it, but people who are successful at this stuff devote a lot of time to preparation. Also to simplicity: they develop a set of steps or a routine for, say, picking clothing out, so it doesn't devolve into an hour-long process. And getting sleep is totally a big thing, especially as you get older. I find it actually starts to determine a whole lot about how the next day unfolds.

Saying "no" - I've found I can't do more than four meetings a day well. I can do them if there is no alternative, but after I get to 4 meetings, I consider that day "booked" and try my best not to take any other meetings.

As far as the calendar, if I tentatively commit to something I put a "hold" on it - just block off the time and mark it "hold for [whatever]." That way you don't double-book. You can indeed cancel/detele it if it turns out it doesn't happen.