Old-School Calendar

Yes, I admit that I’m old-school when it comes to planning my week, or I’m mostly old-school. I keep a paper calendar on the wall, use a notebook for my weekly goal list, and have a binder with a “tentative” daily schedule placed in plastic sleeves so I can use a dry erase marker to make changes depending on the day. I also use my phone to remind me of specific appointments each month so I’m not completely antiquated.

Recently, I’ve been struggling to keep a regular work schedule, and that meant that I wasn’t writing or creating new content regularly. It can’t go on like that if I want to write for a living so I sat down to figure out what to do. I pulled up Microsoft Outlook and began to utilize the skills I learned working in a college library. The Outlook calendar was the key way to be notified about events, and I learned to schedule my days at the library using the events feature. Last month, I pulled out that dusty file drawer in my brain, dusted off the folder of knowledge, and began to create a daily schedule.

Now, I have a binder that contains my utilitarian daily calendar, and when I find my mind wandering, I open the binder to the day of the week and check to see what I’m supposed to be working on during that time slot. I include the mundane weekly grocery shopping and bill paying along with family caregiving. I schedule exercise, crafting, and reading time to be certain I take a little breather each day. I don’t follow the schedules religiously because that’s not the point. The point of the daily paper schedule is to help me focus.

Whatever adventure you have set out on, don’t overlook the necessity of knowing what needs to be done and when it needs to be finished. That old-school paper schedule helped me today when I was feeling scatterbrained. I opened the binder, checked the time, found the task I was supposed to be working on, and sat down to write as it said. Whatever you need to help maintain a productive work schedule as a freelancer, find what works for you. It doesn’t matter if it’s old-school or high-tech. If it works, it works.

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Inspirational Verse for the Day:

There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, CSB)