How World-Class Creatives Use Their Online Calendar

The videos you watch, the ads you see, and the memes you share on social media all have one thing in common: Brilliant creative minds designed them.

What creatives do is incredible, but it’s hard work. Inspiration can run dry, and it can be difficult to get the ball rolling some days. So how do world-class creatives do it?

Calendar Tips From Creatives

Using an online calendar can help creatives, and you, maximize their time and efforts. Here’s how:

1. Keep Track of Holidays

Because they’re so widely celebrated, major holidays make creating content that connects with consumers easy. Creatives use these dates as starting points for their campaigns.

Creatives also need to keep an eye on holidays for more practical reasons. Often, holidays dictate when you have off work, when projects are due, and when brand events should be held. Regardless, it’s a good idea to highlight them in your online calendar.

2. Develop a Content Schedule

Creative professionals don’t create in a vacuum. To make sure the world sees their work, they put together a content schedule. This calendar describes when and where their content will be shared.

This type of schedule is helpful for every profession. There are specific times better for making cold calls, meeting with clients, or even finishing up paperwork. Figure out the times that work best for your tasks, and use your online calendar to optimize your time usage.

3. Set Deadlines

There will be times, as a creative, when you feel stuck. Sit for too long, and you won’t get anything done. Working under deadlines can boost momentum and hold you accountable for projects you need to complete.

With that said, deadlines can be stressful. Be cautious about how many you set and at what cadence. What’s important is pushing yourself forward — something deadlines in your online calendar can help you with.

4. Get Inspired

Some of the best pieces of content have come from outside inspiration. Whether it’s to gather new ideas, take a brain break, or get help with a challenging assignment, making time for some recreational activities can help you find that spark of inspiration you need.

Schedule some time in your online calendar for activities that aren’t directly work-related. Getting outside, diving into a book, or attending an event can provide new insight into your life and be a delightful way to pass some time.

5. Use Color-Coding

Is it any surprise that creatives use their calendars in creative ways? One of the many options is to use color-coding to organize your calendar events. Each color represents a category, which makes it easy to distinguish between types of tasks.

Difference colors can represent certain activities, promote work-life balance, or even order tasks by level of importance. Choose your palette, and start coloring your own calendar.

6. Organize Challenges

When it comes to your career, you have to be constantly improving yourself. This boosts your work quality and opens up doors for bigger and better opportunities down the road. Creatives are especially well-known for their thirst to grow.

One way creatives challenge themselves is by planning a daily activity that hones their skills. For example, an artist can start their daily routine by drawing a sketch using a style they struggle with. Go ahead: Put a daily event on your calendar to challenge yourself creatively, personally, or professionally.

7. Implement Time Blocking

Multi-tasking might be a skill you pride yourself in, but it doesn’t make sense for most creatives. Each project has its own parameters and style to follow, which takes a lot of attention. Time blocking can be used to tackle assignments one at a time.

With time blocking, you organize sections of time into individual blocks. Let’s say from noon to 1 p.m.; you want to work on a social media video. During that block of time, that’s all you focus on. Once the clock strikes one, you move to your next project.

8. Get the Worst Out of the Way

Every job has its downsides. Creative jobs are no exception. While these tasks aren’t enjoyable, they must be done. Using an online calendar can help you get them over with quickly.

Schedule your least favorite activities first thing in the morning. Tackling these tasks before doing anything else means you’ve already gotten through the worst part of your day. That way, you can then focus on the aspects of your job that you enjoy. If you save the worst for last, you’ll be dreading it all day, putting a damper on everything else you do.

9. Balance Your Time

One of the greatest tools an online calendar has to offer is time analytics. This allows you to see how your time is distributed so you can fully optimize it.

For creatives, this ensures every area of a project gets proper attention. Planning, executing, and distributing are important steps, and time analytics can reveal whether each area is getting the time it deserves.

You can learn a lot from the creative minds of the world. Not only can you admire their bright minds, but you can also emulate how they use their time. To create a brighter future for yourself, look to world-class creatives.