redeeming time 03: the calendar

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” –ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV

so far, I’ve been talking about daily lists, made from a funnel. here is a REALLY important part of the funnel: the calendar.

I use one of those moleskine calendars that have DAILY pages. calendars with daily pages are hard to find, but I highly recommend them. here is how I use my daily pages-

there are things that need to get done every day. things like a quiet time, maybe a check in with your accountability partner; or maybe updating your budget or check book. personally, I want to have a quiet time, I want to work through my personal prayer list for that day of the week, and I want to review the bible verses that I’m working on; every day. I write each of those details on my daily pages for a given month. so for February, I will take a pencil and write those three details on EVERY DAY.

then there are things that need to get done on your Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc. for me, on Mondays, I write letters. Monday only. I prep for my Tuesday meetings, and a bunch of other things too. Tuesday has its own list of to-dos, so do the other days of the week. so for February, on each Monday I write my Monday to dos on the daily pages of my calendar. I do the same for the other days of the week too. at some point, each day of my calendar will have a few details on it. I write these in on the last day of the month to get ready for the month to come. I remind myself to do this by writing that detail on the last day of the month in my calendar.

Then, on a given morning, when I’m making my daily list, I start pulling details in from my funnel. I go to today’s date in my calendar and see all of the things that need to get done today and transfer them to my daily list.

here is another way I use the daily pages in my calendar: if there are details that didn’t get done on my daily list, I just open my calendar to tomorrow’s date and transfer those details to tomorrow. then in the morning when I’m making a new daily list, those details will be waiting for me. they won’t be forgotten, they will get accomplished. I picked up that trick from my mentor Marvin.

then there details that need to get done next week or next month. for those, I just flip ahead in my calendar’s daily pages and make a note to accomplish that task. then, when that day arrives, I am reminded of that task and able to transfer it to my daily list so it can get done.

this is good for big projects too. sometimes a big project is so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start. but when you break it up into pieces its manageable. do the first step today. write the steps to come in your calendar’s daily pages.

I like daily pages because there is space to write things. you can use your phone for this, but in my experience, writing out details and seeing them on paper is the best. some people like using online calendars that can be accessed anywhere- and if that works for you, go for it. you don’t need to do what I do, you just need to do whatever is going to help yourself to be efficient and effective and productive.

so give it a try! get a calendar with daily pages. figure out what you want to get done EVERY day- and write those in the pages for this month. make a list of what needs to get done every Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. then write those into your daily pages. all of those details can be transferred to your daily list; and if they don’t get done today, put them on tomorrow’s page so that you’ll remember to get them done tomorrow. while you’re at it, put everyone’s birthday in your calendar- and your anniversary and all of the other important details. put them in a few days early so you’ll have time to get a card and a gift. your stress will drop and you won’t forget all of the important things and people in your life.

God is love.
-rev-rob