A few weeks ago I was walking my dog, Rocky with my husband and my two older children.  There are two things you should know about this situation. First, our dog is a Great Dane and second, I am barely five feet tall.  We were in a new environment so Rocky was really excited. He pulled at the leash, taking off after every squirrel and dog he saw, dragging me along with him.  I found myself getting frustrated and angry. Over and over again my husband asked me if I wanted him or one of the older children to take the dog and over and over again I refused.  Until my husband said, “You are having a problem. We are offering you a solution. You can either be frustrated or you can let us help.”

 

That was simple enough.  I let my son hold the leash and my frustration was gone.  

 

Life is like that though.  We have a problem and there is a solution but we find ourselves so frustrated, we ignore it and continue on our way with the problem.

 

This story came to mind as I sat down to write this article because it is mirrored in so many areas of our lives.  I was just with a mom who explained to me how she simply can’t get anywhere on time and half the time she forgets things all together because she is just so busy. As we talked I came to realize she keeps everything in her head, never using a calendar to schedule her day.  

 

This afternoon I had a similar conversation with my son.  He has missed several homework assignments, mostly in science, his first period class.  When I asked him why he said, “Science is first thing in the morning. I have 5 classes and lunch before I come home. How am I supposed to remember what happened in the first class?”

 

So often in life, happiness and contentment can come from organization and frustration and anger can come from being disorganized.  

 

When I started using a DayPlanner years and years ago, it wasn’t because I had an epiphany and suddenly realized how difficult I had been making my everyday life by trying to hold all of my appointments, ideas and lists in my head.  It was because the company I worked for gave the planners to everybody and asked that we use them.

 

Using the Dayplanner made my life infinitely easier.  I was able to not only keep track of my work appointments, but my children’s play dates, doctor’s appointments and even the dates of the local story times.  I was able to stay ahead of my husband’s travel schedule and plan my upcoming marathon training around it. I like to say, it freed up brain space.

 

But I make it sound easy.  It wasn’t. In the beginning, it was a challenge because I had not made it a habit.  I would write some appointments in but not others. I would leave my Dayplanner on the desk over the weekend and try to keep my appointments in my head until Monday, inevitably forgetting something and making another appointment for the same time slot when I got back on Monday.

 

Luckily with the age of smartphones we can carry our Dayplanner with us.  But getting in the habit of using it is still a challenge. Here are some tips I learned all those years ago and some I have learned by transferring from a hardcopy Dayplanner to Google Calendar to the iStratus Dayplanner

Plan -

It may sound silly to have to plan to use your Dayplanner but a plan can make all the difference.  Decide now how you want to use it. Do you want to only use it for planning your work appointments?  Do you want to add in dates that aren’t appointments but not necessarilly a firm date? Will you use the list feature or build on that later?  How about the encryption feature? I suggest taking time to learn what the Dayplanner has to offer first and trying each of these features in the beginning.  It’s easier to start with them than come back and try to relearn them.

 

Make it a habit -

Even all these years later and with my phone in my hand 90% of the time,  I find myself making an appointment without consulting my calendar. Only to find when I do go back to it I have forgotten a standing appointment at the same time.  Make adding your appointments a habit. When someone wants to schedule an appointment, stop and open your calendar before proceeding. As I have gotten busier in life I have found this helpful in for myself but also as an encouragement for others.  I don’t have time for people to forget appointments we have made. When I make a point of pulling out my calendar to schedule them in, it is a good reminder for them to do the same thing. However, even if I see them pull out their calendar I make sure to use the invite feature to make sure we are on the same page with all the details.

 

Transfer your appointments -

If you are living life the way I was, you have appointments written on different sticky notes, stored in your head or living with your spouse on their calendar.  Transfer those before you do anything else. If you are using the calendar on your phone for your appointments but want to try all the extra features offered in the iStratus app, you don’t have to do anything.  When you open the app, all of that information will automatically import. While Dayplanner is my favorite calendar app by far and it has so many features that allow me to schedule much more complex tasks and appointments, the way it seamlessly interacts with my other calendars is my favorite.*

 

Maybe every generation feels as though they are busier than the next.  But I truly believe, with the advent of the smartphone and the fact that we are always “on-duty” these days, our generation is inundated with appointments like never before. Using the Dayplanner from iStratus can help you in so many ways and solve a major problem in your life.  

 

Are you ready to take charge of your calendar?

 

Side note: My company uses G-Suite.  When my assistant schedules my appointments in google calendar, they automatically share to my Dayplanner.  This is a feature I cannot say enough about.