I was listening to a business guru recently and she said, “A Calendar is relationship.”
I don’t think she even knew she said it, but the idea took my breath away.
I’d never thought of it that way.
A few years ago, I started taking responsibility for what was on my calendar.
I started being mindful about what was on my schedule.
But this is next level.
And you know, just like in any relationship, with your calendar there is:
- Happiness and joy
- Forgetfulness
- Even bitterness and resentment
- But if you play it right, there ultimately there can be forgiveness and reconciliation
And how do you keep a good relationship? There are many ways, but some ideas are to:
- Create healthy boundaries
- Check in occasionally
- Communicate expectations
- Basically, prioritizing communication in general
- Reassess when needs and expectations change.
Same with a calendar.
How crazy is that?
Recently business guru Seth Godin wrote a blog post called “Don’t Waste the Good Days”, where he said:
The calendar belongs to everyone else. Their schedule isn’t your schedule unless it helps you get where you’re going.
And he’s right.
At least That’s my new way of looking at it.
My calendar is in a relationship with ME. I’m working hard to make sure other people are not in charge of it because THAT’S when stress creeps in.
The thing is: In these days of being over-scheduled and over-obligated, we think that the calendar came from Sephora or Amazon or the Hallmark store with all those little boxes filled in.
We think SOMEONE ELSE filled them in.
Uh-uh. Nope. No way.
It was us.
WE filled them in.
And you know what?
We can UNFILL them in.
The key is to know what you want, be intentional about your relationship with your calendar, stay vigilant about what obligations serve you and what obligations don’t, and to be honest with yourself and others about what should be ON the calendar.
In any other relationship, we wouldn’t just power through, always assuming things were okay and never checking in, never communicating what you want, never setting healthy bound—
Okay, maybe we would.
But it’s a choice. It’s up to you.
A calendar is a relationship.
Make it a good one. TZT