Feeling in control of your calendar, like it’s yours, is awesome.
Feeling like your calendar is controlling you, like it belongs to someone else, is depressing. After a long day of meetings and work, you look back at it and think, I guess those things happened, because they’re grayed out and in the past. This is supremely unsatisfying. To feel in control, give yourself clear visual credit because you did what you set out to do!
Enter the checkmark emoji ✅
As you complete them, check off your events, deadlines, and work sprints by renaming them with a ✅ at the beginning, and you will immediately feel better, more accomplished, and more in control of your time.
Benefit #1: You get credit for meetings and appointments
You attended in person. You were focused and on task the entire time. You contributed ideas, took notes, and made a list of next actions. So go back and rename the scheduled event “Department meeting” to “✅ Department meeting.”
You clocked in extra hours on weekends. You solicited input. You wrote three drafts, incorporated all suggested revisions, and turned in an impeccable final version on time. So rename the all-day event “Quarterly report due” to “✅ Quarterly report due.”
In other words, use ✅ to take ownership of — and pride in — your obligations to other people.
Benefit #2: You’re more likely to achieve your own goals
The ✅ also motivates you to honor your obligations to yourself. Knowing the satisfaction of a ✅ is just around the corner makes you more likely to 1) add important personal commitments to your calendar and 2) follow through on them. To put this to use:
Now, when you look back at previous days, weeks, months, and years, you’ll behold a sea of checkmarks: indisputable proof that you’re serving others and caring for yourself. What better way to spend your precious time on this planet?
Feeling like your calendar is controlling you, like it belongs to someone else, is depressing. After a long day of meetings and work, you look back at it and think, I guess those things happened, because they’re grayed out and in the past. This is supremely unsatisfying. To feel in control, give yourself clear visual credit because you did what you set out to do!
Enter the checkmark emoji ✅
As you complete them, check off your events, deadlines, and work sprints by renaming them with a ✅ at the beginning, and you will immediately feel better, more accomplished, and more in control of your time.
Benefit #1: You get credit for meetings and appointments
You attended in person. You were focused and on task the entire time. You contributed ideas, took notes, and made a list of next actions. So go back and rename the scheduled event “Department meeting” to “✅ Department meeting.”
You clocked in extra hours on weekends. You solicited input. You wrote three drafts, incorporated all suggested revisions, and turned in an impeccable final version on time. So rename the all-day event “Quarterly report due” to “✅ Quarterly report due.”
In other words, use ✅ to take ownership of — and pride in — your obligations to other people.
Benefit #2: You’re more likely to achieve your own goals
The ✅ also motivates you to honor your obligations to yourself. Knowing the satisfaction of a ✅ is just around the corner makes you more likely to 1) add important personal commitments to your calendar and 2) follow through on them. To put this to use:
- Schedule events at certain times for working out, practicing an instrument, reading for your book club, and so on.
- Make all-day events for smaller habits like meditating, flossing, or tidying up.
- ✅ these off as you do them!
Now, when you look back at previous days, weeks, months, and years, you’ll behold a sea of checkmarks: indisputable proof that you’re serving others and caring for yourself. What better way to spend your precious time on this planet?