How to achieve your ideal calendar isn’t as hard as you might think when you have a virtual assistant organising your commitments for you. Let’s face it, when you’re asked to squeeze in a meeting, a deadline or a coffee catch up, it’s easier to say yes.
Your VA on the other hand, while not saying no, will make sure your calendar works … for you (not everyone else).
It’s their role to map out your calendar to ensure both your core and non-core functions have plenty of time allocated to them, alleviating your worry and allowing you to maximise your productivity. We can also teach you how to automate some of your non-core tasks to free up your calendar even more!
How To Achieve Your Ideal Calendar in 3 Steps
Virtual assistants are experts in time management. We’re used to managing multiple tasks for a variety of clients while working towards deadlines, meaning we can help you reclaim your calendar and not be afraid of it! We do this by…
- Delegating & Automating: You’ll be surprised just how much delegating and automating non-core tasks to another party or system will free up your calendar. A VA will help you identify the best processes to delegate or automate and set up the transition with you.
- Removing Distractions: If your calendar lacks structure, there’s nothing stopping your workflow from being interrupted again and again. A VA can help you avoid being constantly pulled away by unscheduled calls and meetings.
- Prioritising: Your VA helps you spend your time how you chose to. You won’t feel forced to spend time on tasks and meetings that don’t focus on growth. Instead, you can prioritise your time to working in your genius zone more.
What Your VA Needs From You
You need to communicate to your VA exactly what your ideal calendar looks like, what your priorities and goals are. Think about…
- How is it categorised?
- Is it colour-coordinated?
- When does your workday start and end?
- When in the day are you most productive?
- Do other people need access to your calendar?
- Do you want to block your day?
- Do want to continue to use to-do lists and other organisational tools (e.g. physical diaries)?
- Do you want to use templates to structure your calendar?
- How much time do you want to dedicate to specific tasks each day (e.g. emails, meetings, admin, projects)?
- How many tasks do you want to include in your calendar? For example, do you want it to include everything you’ll do in a day or only things with a set timeframe like meetings?
You need to describe your ideal calendar in as much detail as possible for your VA to make it a reality. Then, your VA will use your expectations and priorities to turn your calendar into one that works for you.
When designing your perfect calendar, think of the big picture. Imagine that your week has a time budget. Just like money, you need to budget your time so that you aren’t overworked and sacrificing valuable hours of sleep, leisure, and family time. To optimise productivity, you have to make sure you are setting aside enough time for the work that brings you closer to your goals.
One Action
- Go to the first week in your calendar that isn’t full of meetings.
- Now block out time with your perfect week in mind.
- Protect that time!
If you find yourself adding new events over these blocks note down what the events were, and how in the future you can keep your priorities.
Now make those blocks recurring. Start small but remember, your calendar should work for you … you don’t work for your calendar!
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