7 Signs That Your Calendar is Overbooked

Does your calendar have more colors and blocks than a Tetris board?

Are you constantly trying to fit more meetings into your day? Even finding yourself double-booked in many cases?

If so, your calendar is overbooked. You are causing unneeded stress and life friction in your day.

Too Much on Your Calendar

There seems to be two approaches to calendar management.

Some people are afraid to put anything on their calendar, due to lack of commitment.

And on the other extreme, are those who put so much on their calendar that they can never hope to keep up. Just looking at their calendar causes fatigue which prevents them from being productive.

How can you tell if you are over-scheduling yourself?

Here are 7 Signs that Your Calendar is Overbooked:

1. You Aren’t getting Any Work Done – Do you spend more time in meetings than you do actually doing work? Resist repeating meetings and decline ones that you shouldn’t be spending time on. Reduce the duration of meetings that you must attend. Own your own time, and get your most important priorities on your calendar before those pesky meetings fill it up.
2. You Are in Back-to-Back Meetings – You can’t be somewhere 9–10 and then at another meeting 10–11. Unless you can teleport from one location to another, you will be late. Make sure your appointment schedule is possible without bending space and time.
3. Appointment Conflicts – Do you constantly need to defuse meeting conflicts and overlaps? Don’t let them get on your calendar in the first place. You need the ability to say NO to meeting requests or appointments when they do not align with your available time or work priorities.
4. You Don’t Have Any Time for Yourself – If your calendar only has meetings on it, then you aren’t using it correctly. More important than meetings, is the time you should be scheduling with your work. Make appointments for tough tasks right on your calendar. Make sure you allocate enough time so that you can complete your most important work.
5. Your Rush from One Appointment to the Next – Running from one place to the next isn’t fun. In fact, it brings a lot of stress, and as well results in many of life’s “little accidents.”
6. You Are Expected to be Late – Are you the one that everyone else expects to be late? Don’t underestimate the negative impact of your time management reputation.  Being late isn’t an excuse. It’s a choice.
7. You Never Say No – Can you never say no to requests for your time? If so, your calendar will always be full.  The ability to say yes, requires that you say no to some things first.

Manage Your Calendar

If you calendar is overbooked, it’s time for you to take a look at your time. Calendar management is time management.

Productivity happens when you manage your time well, stick to your most important todos, and do them to done.

Over-scheduled is under-productive. Stop overbooking to have less stress, and get more work done.