Aren’t we all searching for that secret to better efficiency and productivity? There is, of course, no definite answer to this, but one great way to improve is with calendar tricks to keep your day organised and focused. By integrating different devices to organise your time blocks for maximum efficiency, your calendar may well be your best friend.
Here are some great ways to get the most out of your calendar:
- Set your Schedule – Multitasking has been shown to actually lower efficiency, set aside specific periods without interruptions and do what you plan.
- Set out-of-office (OOO) time — Designate certain blocks of time on your calendar as “unavailable,” “not working” or “OOO” if you are not working on those days, on holiday – or just need a day without those constant emails. You can even set recurring OOO time if you have a regular need for it. You can do this by opening Outlook, open the meeting you want to recur and click on Recurrence in the Meeting tab (in the Options group). You can then set your desired frequency.
- Sync your calendar with your mobile – It’s easy to get caught up, and without the use of your computer, meetings and times can quickly be lost. Integrate your calendar on your mobile and never forget that important meeting again.
- Buffer time – Nobody wants to be rushing frantically around. If possible, schedule an extra 10 minutes before and after your meeting. This gives you a little extra time to set up and clear up between meetings.
- Schedule breaks through the day — When you’re sat in front of a long to-do list, it’s easy to plough through until you can’t even see straight. Getting up for a few minutes to get the blood flowing is a necessary aspect to your workday. By simply scheduling breaks into your calendar it can boost creativity and avoid burn-out.
- Set check-in reminders — With major deadlines quickly approaching, it’s a great help to schedule check-ins with reminders for benchmarks along the way. This lowers the inevitable end-of-project stress and ensures you’re checking off tasks along the way. Include any team members involved on your calendar to encourage team check-ins as well.
- Integrate business contacts — You can easily invite business contacts by integrating your calendar with your contact list. It’s also possible to add a contact from an email message in Office 365, simply open a message with the contact name in any of these lines: From, To, Cc or Bcc. Right-click the appropriate name and click Add to Outlook Contacts.
- Sharing your calendar – When you share your calendar to other users, only those who you have selected have access to it. It’s possible to share your calendar several times by creating additional calendar folders for different projects, which means you can manage each share individually. It’s also possible to revoke access at any time if you don’t need or want it to be shared anymore.
How to share your calendar
- Select the calendar from the drop-down menu
- In the Calendar Properties box, click Add.
- Enter the name or email addresses from of the users you want to share your calendar with.
- In the Calendar Properties box, select the user’s name or email address, then choose the level of details that you wish that person to have access to.
How to unshare your calendar
- Select the calendar icon and click and choose which you want to stop sharing.
- Select home> click calendar Permissions.
- Under the permissions tab, find the name you want to remove and click the delete icon to remove their permissions.
- Publish your calendar – By publishing your calendar everybody who has the link to it, can access it. This can be both inside and outside your organisation as this option is designed to be made public.
How to publish your calendar
- Firstly, log in to your office 365 account > navigate to outlook and click on the app launcher (the 9 dots in the top-left corner) and select the Outlook icon.
- Secondly, click on settings > View all outlook settings
- Click on calendar > shared calendars
- Choose the calendar you want to share > select “can view all details” > click “publish”
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