Use Google Calendar as Your daily Planner
I used to be team #PaperPlanner. I never thought I’d switch to some kind of digital planner. I feared I’d forget to check it or that it would take forever to access it.
But now, Google Calendar is where a large portion of my brain lives. It’s one of the first things I look at to prep myself for what’s happening each day. Here are some tips how to use Google Calendar as your daily planner and reasons I love it.
Tip: Create Multiple Calendars
I have separate calendars for business and for personal life. I also subscribe to a few different calendars for programs I’m in and clients I work with. You can toggle calendars on and off so you’re only viewing one at a time or you can view multiple calendars to see if events overlap.
Keeping calendars separate keeps the view from becoming to overwhelming if you need to focus on just one aspect of life.
Tip: Put ALL The Info In Event Descriptions
In the “Description” section of events you can add all sorts of text. I add Zoom links, links to files I’ll need, location information, reminders about things I need to bring, etc. Any information I can move from my brain to the event is a win.
Now, when that Zoom meeting rolls around, I’m not frantically searching for the link or the document with my notes.
Tip: Use the App
The Google Calendar app is a life-saver. Having it on my phone means that my planner is almost always with me and just a few taps away. I can quickly pull it up and to see if I’m free on a weekend, what time an appointment is, or add a quick reminder to myself.
The app is a must in my opinion.
Tip: Use Recurring Events
Something that happens every week? Enter it once, set it as recurring weekly and you’re done! It’s so quick and easy! You can set recurring events to end on a specific date or after a specific number of occurrences. My 12-week archery class? I create ONE event, not twelve.
Now let’s talk about features I love.
Search For Items Fast
One benefit of Google Calendar vs paper planners is that you can search for items and find them fast! Search by key words or do a more advanced search. No more flipping through pages to figure out when your next hair cut is, just search it!
Share Your Calendar
I love that you can share your calendars and any changes are updated in real time for everyone!
Switch between different Views
I love a month view but sometimes I wish I could zoom in to one day and plan it hour by hour. Google Calendar allows me to do that! Give the schedule view a try! You can even create your own custom view. Go to the gear icon in the top right corner > Settings > General > View Options and choose an option from the “Set custom view” drop down.
Easily Reschedule events
You can drag and drop events to new days or edit the times as needed without ugly eraser marks or crossing things out!
There are so many reasons to love Google Calendar, I doubt I’ll ever go back to a paper planner.
The beginning of this year I started to use my Google calendar for meal planning my evening meals. As I plan for the week I find the search option very useful. I have “Italian” set up for every other Sunday. I want to find out the last time I had homemade Spaghetti sauce I do the search. This Sunday is October 19 and my search tells me I last had it September 21 just last month even it may not be too soon I say it will be. So let me figure something else out or type in another menu item and see where that goes.