NYC Professional Organizer Calendar Choices for Getting Organized in the New Year
As you look ahead to getting organized for the New Year, one of the key elements of success is utilizing one of the many calendar choices available. Planning events, tracking deadlines and remembering appointments and birthdays are all a part of getting organized for the new year, and this is the perfect time to get on track with the calendar choice that works best for you.
First, our NYC Professional Organizer points out that you should give some thought to whether you work best with a paper calendar or an electronic one. This is important, because ideally you want to have one calendar that includes everything. Otherwise, you can spend far too much time synchronizing your calendars and trying to be sure that you haven’t left something off of one or the other.
If you’re a paper calendar devotee, our NYC Professional Organizer loves these options:
Planner Pad – The Planner Pad is an ideal tool to help you keep track of all of your business and personal activities on one calendar. The Planner Pad offers a two-page spread for each week, working like a funnel to help you establish priorities, organize work flow and plan activities.
Taylor Planner – offered in a variety of styles and with a number of useful add-ons (such a phone call log and contact directory) the Taylor Planner is more than a calendar; it’s a time management system. Taylor Planners provide enough space to schedule appointments with yourself to actually get the work done so you can turn intention into commitment.
Mom’s Family Calendar – this is a fun and inexpensive wall calendar, designed to give everyone a quick view of which family members need to be where each day. Divided into vertical columns rather than the traditional calendar grid, this calendar can take a little getting used to, but the design makes it easy to see each person’s appointments and activities. One product reviewer noted that there are some complaints that there’s not enough space to write in activities; she counters by saying, “When I find there isn’t enough room to write, I realize that I am over-booking either myself or one of the kids. So it’s also a good conscience-keeper for me and helps me say ‘no’ to too many activities.”
If you’re often on the go and carrying a planner isn’t your thing, there are many electronic calendar options. A few stand out to our NYC Professional Organizer:
Fantastical has been a popular Mac desktop calendar app for some time. This app has been redesigned for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The app supports iCloud, Google Calendar, Exchange and other calendar services so you can sync with what you’re already using on your desktop. Creating events is quick and easy – just type or speak them into the calendar. The app is designed to be fast and friendly, offering a day ticker, calendar and event list.
For Android users, aCalendar is the top-rated free calendar app. It offers intuitive navigation and color coding.
Calendar choices for students can help them (and parents!) make good on New Year’s resolutions to get organized.
iStudiez Pro for iPhone, iPad and iPod is an award-winning app designed to help students organize their schedule, plan assignments, track grades and set alarms for deadlines and project due dates.
Class Buddy is an Android student calendar option that allows students to manage homework assignments, projects, tests and meetings. Import events from CSV or Google Docs files; export to email/text or Google Docs, and sync with Google Calendar.