Technology has so many variables that it interacts with all parts of our lives, improving them as much as possible. Yet, tech and paper now blend in ways many forget about and should remember. Aside from the software options available, a tool can increase productivity and minimize time management risks. The printable calendar is a traditional and effective way to respond to work-related stress.
You use calendars in digital or analog form at least once a week. Many remember paper calendars from childhood when they were ticking birthdays or family events. The tool managed to overcome time challenges and still flourishes in 2018. You typically consult a calendar to determine the date and calculate the remaining days until an event occurs. How about turning the traditional paper calendar into a modern tool that improves productivity?
Where to Find a Printable Calendar?
Paper calendars are usually available in any newspaper kiosk between December and January. Otherwise, you might have trouble finding a paper calendar. Even so, instead of finding a design that fits your needs, you only get to choose from colorful and overloaded designs.
However, using a printable calendar doesn’t require a budget if you turn to the right sources. We have researched options available in portrait, landscape, and daily planning forms and created monthly sheets that only outline weekends. You can find more calendar templates and only the monthly sheets you want.
Simple designs allow you to symbol and color code and minimize distractions. It would help to mark dates and events in your calendar and quickly acknowledge them so that any extra color might raise concerns.
How to Use a Printable Calendar
The printable calendar is a reminder if you place it in a visible area. Experts say that one such spot is the wall behind your desk, next to the laptop or computer monitor.
By color-coding, you manage tasks and group and prioritize them. Before using the calendar, you reorganize your work tasks and prioritize them. An easy method to find out what tasks are truly essential is to use the Eisenhower scheme and categorize them as follows:
- Urgent and important – tasks with short-term effects.
- It is important but not critical – tasks you regularly postpone, although they might benefit the company’s well-being.
- Urgent, but not important – administrative tasks you need to handle, although they don’t have long-term consequences.
- Not urgent and unimportant – things that can be postponed as their results don’t significantly change your activities.
You can use the calendar to mark business meetings and events, conferences, lunches with clients, deadlines for product releases, reports, and other responsibilities that last longer than four hours.
The key rule in using a calendar is not to get carried away by marking dates in the calendar. You cannot fully schedule an entire month. You will also need room for national holidays, vacation days, and family occasions you should attend.
Increase Your Productivity Using a Printable Calendar
- Group similar events. When you perform identical tasks, your brain reacts faster. Avoid multitasking and group similar responsibilities as much as possible—your focus on details and work speed increases.
- Build your routine. The calendar works as a reminder only if you consult it accordingly. Create a ritual by checking your calendar in the morning before opening your email. A calendar is more efficient than an alarm that notifies you one hour or ten minutes before the event. However, you must also handle its implication in your daily job and consult it when necessary.
- Back up your data. You leave the office daily and sometimes travel to another state for a meeting or conference. Connect the calendar with your work-related apps by photographing the monthly sheet. Ensure you update the image whenever you tick or mark something in the calendar.
- Evaluate and improve. Your work productivity should improve every month. Therefore, whenever a month ends, you should analyze the data from your calendar. Observe what activities you’ve missed and what could’ve taken more or less time to complete. Please write down your observations and apply them in the next month.
- Could you share it with your assistant? These analog tools work if they keep everyone up-to-date with your activity. Share the calendar with your assistant and notify them whenever you mark a new event. You can even send it as a weekly newsletter. However, refrain from allowing colleagues or assistants to write notes in the calendar, as they only confuse you.
The printable calendar is efficient because it also helps you provide others with quick confirmations regarding your availability. The more changes you make, the less understandable your calendar will be. The tool also forbids you from editing and doesn’t allow you to postpone or switch.
Printable calendars manage to work as productivity analog tools that improve the quality of your work every month. They develop your time management skills while taking away multitasking and stress. Thanks to their endless possibilities, you can use calendars to organize your house and family activities.
