Planning with a digital calendar

Class timetables, work shifts, a doctor’s appointment, a child’s after-school club, a wedding date: keeping all of this in your head is hard. In a digital calendar you enter an event once, it looks the same on your phone and computer, and it reminds you on time. We wrote about the principles of planning in our article on time management. This guide is about the tool itself: using Google Calendar as the example, we cover events and reminders, repeats, separate calendars and sharing, invitations, time zones, focus blocks, tasks and syncing with your phone. At the end you will find a week planned by Komila, a student, followed by common mistakes, an exercise and a checklist.

Which calendar to use and where to start

The three most common options offer almost the same core features:

• Google Calendar: available to anyone with a Google account. It runs in the browser at calendar.google.com and on the phone as a separate app.
• Outlook calendar: comes with a Microsoft account or a work email account.
• Your phone’s built-in calendar: Calendar on the iPhone, Samsung Calendar and others. They can also show events from Google or Microsoft accounts.

The main example in this article is Google Calendar, because it is free and works on any device. Menu and button names follow the English interface. Apps are updated often, so some names or button positions may change. In Outlook and phone calendars the same actions may be named differently, but the logic is the same.

Before you start, go to Settings (the gear icon) → General and check that Time zone is set to Tashkent time, that is UTC+5. Under View options it is also handy to start the week on Monday (Start week on: Monday).

Your first event: title, time, place, description and reminder

An event is an entry tied to a specific time: a class, a meeting, an appointment. You can create one in two ways: click a free hour in the calendar, or click the Create button at the top left → Event. For the full settings, click More options.

A complete event includes:

1. Add title: the name. Keep it short and specific: not “Meeting” but “Dentist appointment with Dilshod aka” or “Statistics seminar, room 305”.
2. Date and time: the start and the end. Set the end time properly too, otherwise your day will look less busy than it really is.
3. Add location: the place. With an exact address you can open the map on your phone in one tap.
4. Add description: what to bring, whom to contact. For example: “Passport, medical record, previous test results”.
5. Add notification: the reminder. By default it is set 30 minutes before the event. You can add several reminders: for example, a day and an hour before. Notification shows an alert on your phone or in the browser, while Email sends a message to your inbox.

Choose the reminder time with travel in mind. If the journey from Chilanzar to Yunusabad takes an hour, a “10 minutes before” reminder is no use. A calendar’s default reminder is changed in its settings, under Event notifications.

All-day events

Some entries have no exact time: a birthday, a public holiday, an exam day, a business trip, a wedding. For these, tick All day in the event. Such an event appears as a separate bar above the day and does not take up any hours. For a trip lasting several days, choose a start and an end date.

An important distinction: “Mum’s birthday” is an all-day event, but “Dinner at Mum’s, 19:00” is an ordinary timed event.

Recurring events

There is no need to re-enter your timetable or a weekly meeting every week. In the event window, open the Does not repeat list under the time and choose an option:

• Daily: every day;
• Weekly on …: every week on that day;
• Every weekday (Monday to Friday): Monday to Friday;
• Monthly or Annually: every month or every year;
• Custom…: your own pattern.

The Custom window is the most useful. In it you can tick several days of the week at once (for example, Monday, Wednesday and Friday), repeat every two weeks and set an end date (Ends → On). For a semester’s classes, always enter the end date.

When you change or delete a recurring event, the app asks: This event (just this one), This and following events or All events. For example, if one Tuesday class is cancelled, choose This event. If a class moves to another room in the middle of the semester, choose This and following events.

Colours and several calendars

Colour categories

You can choose a colour in the event window. Use colours systematically: for example, blue for study, green for work, orange for family. Then a single glance at the week shows which area takes up most of your time. Four or five colours are enough.

Separate calendars for work, study and family

A stronger approach than colour is separate calendars. In the left panel, next to Other calendars, click ”+” → Create new calendar. Give it a name (for example, “Study”). Each calendar has its own colour, default reminder and sharing settings. Untick it in the left panel to hide the whole calendar for a while. You choose which calendar an event goes into when you create it.

Sharing a calendar

Click the three dots next to the calendar’s name → Settings and sharing. In the Share with specific people or groups section, use Add people and groups to add the person’s email address and choose the permission level:

• See only free/busy (hide details): only whether you are busy or free is visible, event titles are hidden;
• See all event details: all details are visible, but nothing can be changed;
• Make changes to events: events can be added and edited;
• Make changes and manage sharing: full control, only for someone you trust completely.

A manager at work usually needs no more than free/busy, while a spouse needs editing rights on the family calendar. Be careful with the Make available to public option: if a personal calendar is public, strangers can learn your address and daily routine.

A family calendar

A family calendar holds the children’s clubs (for example, swimming on Saturdays), doctor’s appointments, parents’ meetings and family events. If both parents can edit it, the question “who is collecting the child?” is settled in the calendar rather than over the phone. If you have set up a Google family group, a shared Family calendar appears automatically.

Invitations, RSVP, Google Meet and time zones

Inviting and replying

To invite others to a meeting, enter their email addresses in the Add guests field of the event window and save. The app offers to send the invitations: click Send. In Guest permissions you decide whether guests can change the event (Modify event), invite others (Invite others) and see the list of participants (See guest list).

The person who receives the invitation replies in their email or calendar with Yes, No or Maybe: this is what RSVP means. The organiser sees in the guest list who is coming. If the time does not suit you, you can suggest another one with Propose a new time in the reply menu. Do not leave an invitation unanswered: the organiser has no idea whether to expect you.

A Google Meet link

For an online meeting, click Add Google Meet video conferencing in the event: a link is created automatically and goes to all guests with the invitation. In Outlook the Teams meeting toggle does the same job. We wrote about preparing for the meeting itself in our article on online meetings.

Time zones

Tashkent time is UTC+5, and Uzbekistan does not switch to summer time. Many countries, however, change their clocks for summer and winter, so the difference shifts. For example, the difference with London is five hours in winter and four in summer. Do not work it out by hand, leave it to the calendar:

• In the event window, click the Time zone link next to the time and choose another zone. If a partner says “10:00 Berlin time”, enter it exactly like that and the calendar will show it in Tashkent time.
• If you often work with people abroad, switch on Display secondary time zone under Settings → General → Time zone: a second time column appears at the side.
• Guests see the event in their own zone, so when you write a time in an email, add the zone as well: “15:00 (Tashkent, UTC+5)”.

Focus blocks, buffer time and the weekly review

Time blocks in the calendar

The idea of time blocking is simple: important tasks get a slot in the calendar, just like a meeting. Create an ordinary event and name it after the specific task: “Coursework: chapter 2, literature review”, “Fill in the report table”. Give these blocks their own colour. A block usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes. For ways to avoid distractions during a block, read our article on focus and concentration.

Work or school accounts (Google Workspace) may have a special event type called Focus time, which can automatically decline invitations for that slot. In a personal account an ordinary event works perfectly well. If colleagues can see your calendar, leave the block set to Busy so that nobody books a meeting over it.

Buffer time

Do not put events back to back. Leave 10 to 15 minutes between them for travel, a queue or a meeting that overruns. If the journey is long, add it as a separate event too: “Travel: university to work”. In Google Calendar, the Speedy meetings option under Settings → Event settings shortens meetings slightly and leaves a short break between them.

The danger of an overloaded calendar

A calendar that is completely filled in is not a sign of productivity but a warning. The first delay pushes back the whole day, rest and sleep get shorter, and in the end you stop looking at the plan altogether. Leave part of the day free on purpose. Blocks that keep going undone mean the plan is unrealistic: change the plan rather than blaming yourself.

Fifteen minutes on Sunday evening

Create a 15-minute event on Sunday evening called “Weekly review” that repeats every week, and during it:

1. In Week view, look back at the past week: which blocks were done and which were moved.
2. Move to the next week and add new meetings, exams and deadlines.
3. Set aside a focus block for each important task.
4. Check the family calendar: who is taking the child to their club, which day guests are coming.
5. Make sure every day has a buffer and some free time.

The content of the weekly plan, meaning goals and priorities, is covered in detail in our article on time management; here the point is how to transfer it into the calendar properly.

Tasks and syncing with your phone

Working with Tasks

Not every job has a fixed time: “return the book to the library”, “write to a partner”. For these, choose Create → Task. A task is tied to a day, shows up in the calendar and is ticked off once done.

A useful split: the calendar holds things with a fixed time, the task list holds things with a flexible time. If the job is a multi-stage project, it is easier to run it on a Kanban board: the board shows what is being done, the calendar shows when.

Syncing and notifications on the phone

Events are stored in your Google account, that is in the cloud, so they look the same on every device signed in to that account. On Android, sign in to the Google Calendar app with that account. On the iPhone you can install the Google Calendar app or add your Google account in the Calendar section of the phone’s settings; the name of the section depends on the iOS version.

If reminders do not arrive, check three things:

• whether notifications are switched on for the calendar app in the phone’s settings;
• whether battery saver is stopping the app in the background;
• whether the event went into the right account and calendar, and whether that calendar is hidden.

Add a new event on one device and check that it appears on the other.

Example: Komila’s week

Komila is a third-year economics student. She works part-time as an administrator at a training centre: on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14:00 to 19:00, and on Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00. Most of her classes are in the morning. In the past she mixed up a seminar and a shift more than once. For general advice, see our article on working while studying. The table below is hypothetical and the times are made up.

Komila set up four calendars: “Study” (blue), “Work” (green), “Family” (orange) and “Focus” (purple). Classes were entered as recurring until the end of the semester, shifts as Weekly, and the family calendar was shared with her mother.

What Komila paid attention to:

• The journey to work takes 40 minutes, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays there is a “Travel” event from 13:15 to 14:00, and the focus block ends before it.
• The dentist appointment has reminders a day and two hours before, and the description says “take the medical record”.
• The coursework deadline was entered as an all-day event with a reminder a week before.
• She replied Yes straight away to the group leader’s invitation to an online consultation, and the event with its Meet link appeared in her calendar automatically.

Planning long-term goals is covered in our articles on a self-study plan and a development plan; the calendar turns them into actions for the week.

Common mistakes, an exercise and a checklist

Common mistakes

• Vague titles. A week later, a title like “Meeting” tells you nothing.
• A reminder that comes too late. Allow for travel time.
• Everything in one calendar. It becomes hard to separate things and share them.
• A recurring event with no end date. Classes keep showing during the holidays.
• Choosing “All events” by accident. Deleting the whole semester instead of one class.
• Ignoring time zones. Joining an international meeting early or late.
• A day packed full with no buffer. The first delay breaks the whole plan.
• Not looking at the calendar. Without a weekly review the calendar soon goes out of date.

Practical exercise

Plan next week’s calendar:

1. In Settings → General, check that the time zone is Tashkent (UTC+5).
2. Create three calendars: “Work” or “Study”, “Family” and “Focus”. Give each a colour.
3. Enter your regular classes or work shifts with a Custom repeat and an end date.
4. Make a loved one’s birthday an all-day event that repeats Annually.
5. Create one appointment with a place, a description and two reminders.
6. Set aside at least three focus blocks for the week, with buffers between them.
7. Send a friend a test invitation with a Google Meet link.
8. Share the “Family” calendar with one family member and choose a suitable permission level.
9. Create a 15-minute “Weekly review” event on Sunday evening that repeats Weekly.
10. Check on your phone that events are visible and reminders arrive.

Checklist

• The time zone is correct and the week starts on Monday.
• Work, study and family are in separate calendars with a consistent colour scheme.
• Recurring events have an end date.
• Important events have a place, a description and a reminder that allows for travel.
• Focus blocks and buffer time are set aside, and the day is not packed full.
• Permission levels on shared calendars were chosen with care, and your personal calendar is not public.
• Syncing and notifications work on your phone.
• The weekly review is in the calendar.

If you would like to learn digital tools like these systematically with a teacher, take a look at our association’s free computer literacy programme and other training programmes. When you are ready, submit an application and our specialists will get in touch.