It’s incredible what can be accomplished in a single day. Yet highly productive people don’t simply fall into effective, efficient habits. Instead, maximizing your time requires focused decision-making and self-analysis. For this reason, it is important not to revert to default mode—especially when it comes to the default calendar app on your phone.
When we aren’t analyzing our actions and actively making decisions based on them, it’s easy to follow the path of least resistance. While there is a time and a place for going with the flow, becoming the most efficient version of yourself isn’t one of them. That is why it is essential to select a calendar app that best works with your busy lifestyle. Read on for five reasons you should avoid your phone’s default calendar app.
It Wastes Time on Back-and-Forth Emails
Selecting the ideal time and date for a meeting with one person can sometimes require a day of back-and-forth emails. Add in more people, and the difficulty merely increases. For this reason, it is essential to have a calendar app that allows you to search for the availability of multiple people quickly.
With the Calendar app, you can easily find available scheduling events for everyone and quickly get the meeting set up. Time saved on back-and-forth emails is now time you can spend marking another item off your to-do list—or simply taking a 20-minute walk around the block, no emails required.
It Won’t Help You Narrow Down the Perfect Location
Choosing the location is almost as difficult as selecting a time and a date for a meeting. With most default phone calendars, there is no feature to help you narrow down the location. In addition, choosing a spot that works for all meeting participants can require another half-day of emails to determine everyone’s preferences and options in the area.
A calendar feature that allows participants to pre-select locations can save countless hours and multiple emails. It’s another example of how a bit of pre-planning goes a long way in maximizing your efficiency.
It Can’t Record Meeting Notes
With your default phone calendar, you may have assigned someone to record meeting notes or utilized yet another app for recording. Why not save the time and hassle and use a calendar app with built-in transcription? This would allow transcription to be enabled for any of your many meetings. In addition, the transcribed notes can often be shared with each meeting attendee. This translates to less to remember for you, and more space in your brain to strategize about your next big move.
It Won’t Help You Maximize Your Time
While default calendar apps record all of your upcoming meetings and appointments, they can’t help you see areas for improvement. In pursuing productivity, analyzing how we spend our time is critical.
Studying your calendar can provide insights into the people you spend the most time with, the number of hours devoted to meetings each week, and the locations you most frequently visit. Calendars with built-in analytics will help you accomplish this.
Viewing our calendars with an analytical eye can show us areas for improvement. When you compare your goals with how you are truly spending your time, helpful changes can be identified. Calendar apps that analyze the time, duration, and participants in each meeting can be just what you need to achieve maximum efficiency.
Nonetheless, using a calendar app isn’t solely for work productivity. It is just as vital to maximizing your free time as well. Whether you are planning a tropical vacation or simply scheduling a daily excursion to the park, knowing when you are busy means you can also identify the times when you are available to try new things—or simply do nothing at all.
You Didn’t Choose It
When there are a variety of options available, why select the default? Instead, survey the features you most desire and handpick the perfect one. As a result, you are likely to benefit from the app and enjoy using it more.
Whether you want an app that works well with teams or one that connects with other calendar apps (or both), you get to choose. When you are the one to select the app, you are likely to utilize all of the available features fully. With the default calendar app on your phone, you are stuck with whatever features happen to be available.
Are you ready to ditch the default calendar app on your phone? Just because it happens to be there doesn’t mean it is the right fit for your life. After all, when you have big goals, you need an intelligent plan to tackle them. Even seemingly minor features like meeting transcription or pre-selected locations can save you valuable time. That time can then be devoted to more worthy pursuits.
It’s also important to remember that productivity isn’t everything. Calendar apps can be a great help when it comes to taking care of ourselve; and doing so will only help us be more successful at work.
Whether it’s taking a break to commune with nature or a nudge to drink water, remember to schedule self-care into your day. With the right balance of self-care and hustle combined with a calendar app, the sky is the limit.
Image Credit: Ono Kosuki; Pexels; Thank you!
Choncé Maddox
Choncé Maddox is a professional writer who recently left her job in the web design industry to produce killer content and manage her own writing business full time. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs be more productive and create a life they love by doing fulfilling work. On the side, she runs a podcast and blogs about getting out of debt at MyDebtEpiphany.com.