Is the calendar the best productivity tool ever invented?

A Productivity Tool Older Then Jesus

There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of productivity tools available today. AI code assistants can now create personalized to-do list software just for you in minutes. But what’s the point? The single greatest productivity tool ever invented has been around since ~10,000 BCE.

This tool is the calendar. Digital or paper, the medium you choose does not matter, the tool is equally effective. How can something so old still be the best tool for productivity?

The calendar is a great productivity tool because it correctly measures the most important factor in productivity. Time. You cannot get anything done if you do not have the time to do it.

You might be screaming into your phone or computer right now that this is the most obvious thing you have ever read. I agree. It’s obvious, but still we continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

All of the fancy new productivity tools allow you to infinitely add items and tasks. However, these tools are disconnected from the fact that time is not infinite. You only have 24 hours a day, and most of us are asleep for 7 to 8 hours, leaving us with about 16 waking hours to get stuff done.

This is why the calendar is so powerful. It does not allow for a disconnect between time available, aka reality, and what you wish you could get done.

Productivity in the Real World

As a real world example of this disconnect, let’s say you have to write a memo for your team. You open up your fancy new productivity tool and enter the task “write memo.”

Ok. You have captured the work that needs to be done. That is the good news. Unfortunately, you have not set a time to get it done.

You know from experience that writing this type of memo typically takes you about an hour. In your todo app, you might have this task as the highest priority or sitting on the top of your queue. It’s important so you will get to it as soon as some time opens up.

You are a knowledge worker and have a bunch of calls lined up during the day. In between calls you are clearing your inbox and chatting with teammates about other projects and responsibilities. Constantly busy, the pending memo is always top of mind.

You hit the end of the day, but you haven’t had a chance to start on the memo. You know it is going to take you an hour, but you haven’t made the time to get it done.

Fixed Time Productivity Tool for a Fixed Time Reality

If you were working with a fixed time productivity tool, like the calendar, you would set a block of an hour to get the memo done. If you cannot find an hour anywhere in the next few days, you know you have a problem. You might have to rearrange other meetings, or cancel them so you can make the time to get this memo done.

In the first scenario, you’ve moved throughout your day with limited intention and your time was occupied by everyone else. In the second scenario, you made the time and got your work done by making the time to get it done.

This is the true power of the calendar. It is connected to the real time finite world. People often ask me, “am I supposed to put my own time in the calendar?”

Yes!

You should absolutely being making entries for yourself into your calendar. Your calendar should house all of the requests on your time, not only the requests that other people are making.

Oddly, some of us feel more comfortable putting other people’s requests on our time over our own. If this describes you. Please consider your responsibilities and start treating your time accordingly.

Choose the Calendar

The next time you are looking for a new productivity tool, remember you already have access to the best one around. The calendar.

To do lists are great, but if you are not making time to get stuff done, you are sacrificing your potential. So if you want to keep your to do list, you can do so, but please, consider making time in your calendar to actually get the tasks done.

If you have never blocked out your time before, it will only feel silly the first few times. The greatest benefit for me is that it removed indecision from my day. I was no longer finishing up a task and wondering what I was going to do next. Instead, I knew exactly what to do next, because I had told myself earlier. A little weird, sure, but way better than losing focus on getting stuff done.

If you’ve made the calendar your main productivity tool and want to start improving how you use your time even further, you should consider signing up for time audit. Keep track of how you spend your time, grade how you use it and keep notes for continual improvement.

31 Days of Time Tracking Challenge

Starting December 1, and through December 31 of 2024, I tracked every single minute I was awake. I learned a bunch.

What I learned is so valuable that I started teaching others, and they love it also. If you want to change your life by starting to track your time, check it out.