To-do Yes, But Calendar
Technology offers us an overload of tools in our quest to manage time effectively. While to-do apps seem to be the modern solution, there’s an age-old tool that often surpasses them for tasks that demand immediate attention: the calendar.
Many believe, and rightly so, that prioritizing life events in a calendar is not only cleaner but also more effective than using endless to-do lists.
Let’s ask why it is more effective. Calendars don’t foster the bad habit of ending up with overdue tasks, a common pitfall of to-do apps.
Here are my thoughts on why the calendar might be a better ally in time management and being a better doer.
Time Blocking
By allocating specific blocks of time to tasks, you’re committing to focusing on them without distraction. This leads to eliminating multitasking and fostering prolonged focus, so the quality of work often improves.
Example: Consider Alex, a digital marketer. Instead of a vague “create an ad campaign” in a to-do list, he blocks out three hours on Tuesday for brainstorming and initial design. This ensures dedicated focus and responsibility on that date.
Urgency Visualization
A calendar provides an immediate visual cue about upcoming tasks and their urgency. It aligns with how the brain processes information, making us more likely to act. The brain’s response to urgency and its visualization involves a complex interplay of cognitive, emotional, and physiological processes.
Here’s a breakdown of how the brain processes urgency and how it might be visualized:
Perception of Urgency
When we perceive something as urgent, it’s often because there’s a time constraint, potential danger, or a high level of importance attached. This perception can come from external cues (like a deadline) or internal cues (like a feeling of anxiety).
Amygdala Activation
The amygdala, a part of the brain responsible for processing emotions, gets activated when we sense danger or urgency. It can trigger a fight-or-flight response, preparing the body to act quickly.
Prefrontal Cortex Engagement
The prefrontal cortex, responsible for decision-making and problem-solving, evaluates the urgency and determines the best course of action. It helps prioritize tasks and allocate resources.
Release of Stress Hormones
- In response to perceived urgency, the brain releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones increase heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness, preparing the body to respond to an urgent situation.
Visualization of Urgency
- When visualizing urgency, the brain might associate it with specific colors, shapes, or symbols. For example:
- Colors: Red is often associated with urgency due to its attention-grabbing nature.
- Shapes: Flashing lights or exclamation marks might be used to indicate urgency.
- Symbols: Clocks, timers, or countdowns can visually represent time-sensitive urgency.
Memory and Urgency
The hippocampus, which is responsible for memory formation, might store experiences of past urgent situations. This can influence how we respond to future situations. For instance, if someone has faced negative consequences for not acting on an urgent matter, they might be more responsive in similar future cases.
Feedback Loop
Once the urgent situation is resolved, the brain evaluates the outcome. This feedback can influence how the brain perceives and responds to urgency in the future.
Example: Emma, a teacher, can see she has to set exam papers by Thursday. This visualization prompts her to prioritize this task on Monday. Adding any of the mentioned visualization symbols addresses the urgency of the event.
Avoids Overcommitment
Calendars show your available time slots, helping in realistic task allocation. To-do apps, by nature, have a tendency just to let you increase the number of tasks, and this needs to align with proper planning since you could come up with many ideas that put the person in an overcommitment/overwhelmed situation, which can lead to burnout. Calendars help maintain a work-life balance by showing when you’re stretching yourself too thin.
However, there are certainly to-do apps with a calendar layout feature, bringing the same importance of a calendar apps for end-user.
Example: Jake, an entrepreneur, sees his Thursday is packed with meetings. He avoids scheduling product development brainstorming that day.
Reduces Procrastination
Scheduled tasks on a calendar can be a commitment device, reducing delays. A commitment device that behaves economically can be a potent tool in shaping behavior. A calendar can be a simple yet effective commitment device.
One of the key advantages of using a calendar as a time management tool is the inherent sense of accountability it creates. When you schedule tasks on your calendar, you are making a commitment to yourself to complete them at the designated times. This commitment can be a powerful motivator to overcome procrastination tendencies.
Note: Dedicating time and using a tool that clearly informs the time has passed would help to stay present with the current task. I recommend using the Pomodoro technique as a good combination for a healthy and focused time box session with the traits mentioned.
No More Tagging/Categorization
While tagging can be useful for getting an overall sense of our history, when it comes to daily events, we only need to remember the essential information to be prepared and present on time. Keeping our memory of events simple helps avoid overloading our brains with too many details and dependencies.
I had the wrong belief that using the built-in tagging feature of to-do apps to categorize tasks would provide a better overview. However, such advanced mental operations only increase the number of open threads we’re dealing with and offer a limited benefit. To organize events, I use only a title and description. This matches my requirements to mention important information (notes, links, etc.). Events in a calendar are just an entry point to anywhere else. I can expand the context of an event by mentioning a different link from Notion, Spotify, X, etc.
Conclusion
While to-do apps have values, calendars offer a unique blend of visual cues, commitment, and flexibility. For those who’ve experienced the stress of overdue tasks in a to-do list, the transition to a calendar might feel like a breath of fresh air. Dive deep, reflect, and let the calendar guide your days, ensuring each moment is purposefully spent.
The choice between a calendar app and a to-do app largely depends on your needs. A calendar app might be more suitable if you’re looking to manage your time and schedule events. On the other hand, a to-do app would be a better choice if you’re looking to execute tasks, prioritize them, and break them down into sub-tasks.
Last but not least, the post is inspired by my own experience and what I learned from the beginning of my freelancing and professional career, and every experience is unique. I would like to hear yours through comments; it would be a highlight of my day!
