I’m sure you have all heard everyone talking about their Google Calendar.

And if you want to know more about Google Calendar’s functionality, I’ve got you.  A few years ago, I fell into a  new full-time job, while at the same time my family and I were getting ready to open a wedding venue on our farm.  I quickly learned that I needed a few tools to help me balance my M-F job duties and tasks along with the work that would need to be done for the venue. I started out with a spiral-bound paper planner and some notebooks, which, still do work for me in a certain capacity. But I didn’t want to have to carry my planner and notebooks to and from my job in the office, to the venue, and back again.

My new teammates had already adopted Google calendar fully in the office, so I quickly had to learn the pieces of its functionality that I needed for all the work things. I managed everyone’s calendars at the time, and the interface of Google calendar was something I had to get used to.  It took me a few weeks to really get the hang of the main features of it. But I knew I had only really scratched the surface of Google Calendar’s capabilities.  I wished I had a resource (like this) to helped me set up my calendar to fit into my life.

Today we are going to be going through a (fairly) Quick and Easy Google Calendar Setup. Essentially, how to easily make your calendar work hard for you. If you are a: student, entrepreneur, employed or just really curious, get your notebook ready to start taking notes.

The steps you need to take are:

• Sign in or sign up to Gmail
• Separate your life into categories
• Create different calendars
• Colour-coding!!
• Start filling in your days
• Setting reminders for important dates

How to setup your Google Calendar, step by step…

1. Sign in or sign up to your Gmail account

In order to access your Google Calendar, you need to have a Gmail account. So if you do not have Gmail, now is the time to sign up!
Once you have signed up/signed into your account, you can easily locate your Google Calendar.

Your Google tools can be found at the top right of your Google search bar, which is shown in the image above. Click on the 9 dots, and then look for the calendar icon.

2. Write a list of all the categories in your life you would like to focus on

Next, you need to write a list of all the categories in your life that you want to add to your calendar. This can be as broad or narrow as you would like…be creative.

Pro tip for students: Create a category for each subject or module that you are studying

Your list will look something like this…

• Chores
• Religion
• Me time
• Sleep
• Exercise
• Reminders
• Job
• Extra learning
• Food

3. Create different calendars for each category of your life

After you have completed the previous step, you can now create a different calendar for each category.

I love this technique. It takes a bit of extra time, but trust me, it will make your life so much easier!

Next to “Other Calendars” there is a “+” sign – click on that, then “create new calendar” and give the calendar a name, and select the right time zone.

4. Colour code each calendar

Colour coding is one of my favorite parts of planning. I like to allocate certain colors to make my calendar more visually appealing (feel free to be as extra as me). To make this part even more exciting, Google Calendar has so many colors to choose from, making planning that much more enjoyable.

In order to change the color you need to hover your mouse over your category of choice, you will see 3 vertical dots on the right. Once you click the 3 dots, a box would show (as pictured below).

Once you put all your categories into separate calendars, the left-hand side of your calendar should look something like this.

5. Start filling up your day, hour by hour

Let the fun begin!

To allow maximum efficiency and productivity, planning your day hour by hour doesn’t let any time go to waste.

Although this post is all about achieving maximum productivity, please please make sure you factor time for yourself to unwind and unplug!

I suggest starting off with times that are constant on a day-to-day basis. Some examples are: waking up, bedtime, meal times, working out, me time, etc. I like to prioritize: when I go to sleep when I wake up, exercise, meal times, and stretching first.

Once you add the things in your day that don’t change much, your calendar should look something like this.

If there are changes in your schedule or something urgent comes up you can easily click and drag your tasks around the week in seconds. Leaving gaps is also very important in case you take longer than expected to complete a task.

6. Add reminders for important tasks and appointments

Never forget an appointment, deadline or birthday again with the reminder section of Google Calendar. This section can easily be located when you are adding your task.

PRO TIP: if there are recurring events, tasks chores, etc., set it up to repeat on your calendar so you aren’t entering it in over and over and over from scratch.

And that’s it! You’ve done it! 

How has Google Calendar changed my life?

Kept me accountable
Helped me get so much done in the day
I feel more in control of my time, rather than letting time slip away.
(obviously!)Reminded me of any important dates, deadlines, appointments and birthdays
Kept me on a better sleep/rest schedule

On Sundays, I like to make a skeleton of the week which includes a few items from my weekly to-do list as well as the tasks and items that are set to repeat on schedule.

Planning my week in advance allows for a much less stressful and more productive week!

Using your Google Calander in this way, you’ll soon realize that your mind is so much ,more focused which will help you direct your mental energy into things that matter most.

Enjoy your calendar, keep tweaking it until you get it just exactly the way you want it, and reap the benefits of your increased productivity, sharper focus, and clearer mind.