How a Calendar Audit Can Unlock Surprising Insights
IN A HURRY? HERE’S THE BOTTOM LINE
I recently reviewed my 2023 calendar week by week and categorized each of my activities as “Worth the time, money, and energy”, “Waste of time, money, and energy”, or “Self-care and happiness.” The results provided surprising insights into how I spent my time and where I can improve in 2024. I invite you to try this exercise for yourself!
GOT A MINUTE? HERE ARE THE DETAILS TO CONSIDER
Two of my strengths as a business owner are time management and productivity. I’m a planner at heart and enjoy spending hours organizing information, strategizing, and outlining action plans. (That’s one reason why I’m so passionate about leading VIP Strategy Sessions with my clients!)
But I’m always looking for fresh ways to analyze information, so I tuned into an episode of the Rachel Hollis Podcast. In this episode, she outlined her process for completing an annual “calendar audit.” I followed her steps and… WOW. The exercise was extremely insightful!
How to Complete a Calendar Audit
As Rachel instructed, I started by reviewing my 2023 calendar week by week. When it came to each activity, I added them to one of the following categories:
Worth the time, money, and energy
Waste of time, money, and energy
Self-care and happiness
*Tip - when doing this exercise, be brutally honest with yourself. No one needs to see this list but you. I’m happy to share part of mine, however!
Results of My Calendar Audit
As my lists started to take shape, I quickly noticed a few trends. Each category revealed the following Top 3:
Worth the time, money, and energy
Working with my business, health, and life coaches. The changes and results I’ve experienced have been total game-changers.
Nurturing relationships with collaborators and referral partners. I’m blessed to be surrounded by talented entrepreneurs who are authentic and genuinely want my business to succeed, and I feel the same about theirs.
Taking myself on a business retreat. This time was valuable for implementing the strategic initiatives, which I outlined with my business coaches, for the upcoming year.
Waste of time, money, and energy
Meeting with, and sometimes onboarding, clients and team members who were not a fit to work with our team.
Creating informational content about working with Virtual Assistants. While this may be helpful for website SEO and answering FAQs, the data show my audience strongly prefers behind-the-scenes and CEO-focused content.
Attending events that didn’t result in quality connections, typically because the attendees were not my ideal clients or what I would consider to be in my peer group.
Self-Care and Happiness
Spending more time with friends, such as getting together for coffee, meals, or wine, or taking girls’ trips.
Trying new experiences, such as barre and royal icing cookie decorating classes.
Prioritizing physical and mental wellness, including movement, nutrition, relaxation, and sleep.
After I thoroughly reviewed all three of my lists, I made a list of adjustments for 2024. To make sure these changes get implemented, I edited the time blocks on my calendar and added tasks to Asana, our team’s project management system, to ensure I keep my priorities top-of-mind all year long.
What Will Your Calendar Reveal?
I’d love to hear about your own results of this exercise! Auditing our calendars is a powerful practice, as it can show us where we spend our time and how that aligns with our larger goals.
After reviewing your calendar, if you find that there are activities that don’t align with how you want to spend your time, and yet they’re still necessary to the success of your business, reach out to me about outsourcing. I have a professional, highly trained team of virtual assistants and specialized service providers, ready to help you better align your priorities in 2024!