I used to use Google calendar like that, and it's quite liberating to know that any tasks I deferred to another day will show up later. So I don't have to worry about it now. It's immensely calming to be able to put something off my worry plate and focus unto today. Eg work on thesis, set for two days in next week. Easily see your workload over a month. Then zoom in later once the date is set and break into 4 hour work chunks later.
For this to work, you need to check your calendar religiously every day. And all the tasks you need to do today is. Set as all day events at the top. Color coded by priority. If there's too many things in your plate, just move it to the next day. Then back to day view to focus.
For some reason I haven't been able to do this in amplenote, despite it being well integrated to my notes. Perhaps that's because I'm lazy to check two calendars instead of one. Most of the meetings and scheduling of events still need to be done in native calendars.
I believe you're using amplenote as well. Curious on your thoughts.
I use the Amplenote calendar for 90% of my calendar usage, since I'm mostly time blocking events and tasks directly from my notes. I also faced a similar issue to you when I just started using the app, but what helped me was to do what I shared in the third screenshot: Make broad time blocks for deep work, and select tasks to do on my daily notes.
I prefer to keep my calendar as a "reference" for what kind of work I should do next, and have the concrete tasks that need to be done on my daily jot. It got easier to do with the new Task Dependencies/mirroring options as well, so it feels much more painless to do.
But yeah, scheduling meetings still need to be done in external calendars (this happens mostly because Outlook actively makes it hard to integrate with them, so we would have to maintain two different calendar sync methods, one for Outlook and another one for all the other calendars, so it's better to just ignore this type of feature).
I structured an 'ideal week' a few years ago and I more or less follow it. It's a good point to make something you don't need to fiddle with + buffer time to reduce anxiety over the calendar
I like the idea of building an 'anti-fragile' calendar that can handle any disruptions (vs something that needs to be followed perfectly)
One at a time as in going with the flow with one task and seeing if I complete it or not?
Deep work: I'd say it's a mix. If scheduled, I set 3 tasks for the day to complete. If I do even 1/3 from those to-dos, it's a win. More than 3 is unreasonable.
(researching, writing, working on time-heavy projects)
Admin but important: I tend to set reminders on my calendar and try to complete them before important deadlines (if no deadline, those admin tasks live on my calendar indefinitely)
(sending job applications, filling out forms, bank work)
If I've been procrastinating on an important task, I spend a whole day on it (to avoid task switching)
This is ideal
In reality, if my schedule is chaotic, I stick to the sequence in my ideal calendar:
(Walk -> deep work -> eat -> deep work -> gym -> walk)
It's not perfect. I sometimes get energy crashes due to mood/health, so I need buffer time/slack in the system as much as possible. It's something I fear when I get a job tbh, because most jobs try to optimize resource utilization
That's a good system. I went to the route of the Ivy Lee method, selecting 6 tasks to work on for the day instead. I do that since I like to break my tasks down into 30 min / 1 hour tasks, so I end up completing quite a few of them throughout the day.
But for when you get the job, you can "spend more time" reviewing what you did if you need some rest before starting a new task.
I'll steal your tip of working on something for the whole day if I've been procrastinating on it lol.
I used to use Google calendar like that, and it's quite liberating to know that any tasks I deferred to another day will show up later. So I don't have to worry about it now. It's immensely calming to be able to put something off my worry plate and focus unto today. Eg work on thesis, set for two days in next week. Easily see your workload over a month. Then zoom in later once the date is set and break into 4 hour work chunks later.
For this to work, you need to check your calendar religiously every day. And all the tasks you need to do today is. Set as all day events at the top. Color coded by priority. If there's too many things in your plate, just move it to the next day. Then back to day view to focus.
For some reason I haven't been able to do this in amplenote, despite it being well integrated to my notes. Perhaps that's because I'm lazy to check two calendars instead of one. Most of the meetings and scheduling of events still need to be done in native calendars.
I believe you're using amplenote as well. Curious on your thoughts.
I use the Amplenote calendar for 90% of my calendar usage, since I'm mostly time blocking events and tasks directly from my notes. I also faced a similar issue to you when I just started using the app, but what helped me was to do what I shared in the third screenshot: Make broad time blocks for deep work, and select tasks to do on my daily notes.
I prefer to keep my calendar as a "reference" for what kind of work I should do next, and have the concrete tasks that need to be done on my daily jot. It got easier to do with the new Task Dependencies/mirroring options as well, so it feels much more painless to do.
But yeah, scheduling meetings still need to be done in external calendars (this happens mostly because Outlook actively makes it hard to integrate with them, so we would have to maintain two different calendar sync methods, one for Outlook and another one for all the other calendars, so it's better to just ignore this type of feature).
I structured an 'ideal week' a few years ago and I more or less follow it. It's a good point to make something you don't need to fiddle with + buffer time to reduce anxiety over the calendar
I like the idea of building an 'anti-fragile' calendar that can handle any disruptions (vs something that needs to be followed perfectly)
Yeah, having a template for your ideal week makes it much easier to follow.
For what you'll do daily, do you choose a set amount of tasks each day, or do you choose one at a time and complete them afterwards?
One at a time as in going with the flow with one task and seeing if I complete it or not?
Deep work: I'd say it's a mix. If scheduled, I set 3 tasks for the day to complete. If I do even 1/3 from those to-dos, it's a win. More than 3 is unreasonable.
(researching, writing, working on time-heavy projects)
Admin but important: I tend to set reminders on my calendar and try to complete them before important deadlines (if no deadline, those admin tasks live on my calendar indefinitely)
(sending job applications, filling out forms, bank work)
If I've been procrastinating on an important task, I spend a whole day on it (to avoid task switching)
This is ideal
In reality, if my schedule is chaotic, I stick to the sequence in my ideal calendar:
(Walk -> deep work -> eat -> deep work -> gym -> walk)
It's not perfect. I sometimes get energy crashes due to mood/health, so I need buffer time/slack in the system as much as possible. It's something I fear when I get a job tbh, because most jobs try to optimize resource utilization
That's a good system. I went to the route of the Ivy Lee method, selecting 6 tasks to work on for the day instead. I do that since I like to break my tasks down into 30 min / 1 hour tasks, so I end up completing quite a few of them throughout the day.
But for when you get the job, you can "spend more time" reviewing what you did if you need some rest before starting a new task.
I'll steal your tip of working on something for the whole day if I've been procrastinating on it lol.