How can you combine your personal and professional calendars?

1 Why combine your calendars?

The main benefit of combining your personal and professional calendars is that you can have a clear and comprehensive view of your availability and priorities. This can help you avoid double-booking, scheduling conflicts, or missed appointments. It can also help you plan your work and personal activities more efficiently and realistically, as you can see how much time and energy you have for each. Additionally, combining your calendars can help you communicate better with your boss, clients, colleagues, and family, as you can share your status and expectations with them more easily.

2 How to choose a calendar platform?

There are many calendar platforms and apps available, but not all of them are suitable for combining your personal and professional calendars. You need to consider factors such as compatibility, functionality, security, and cost when choosing a calendar platform. Some of the most popular and versatile options are Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Apple Calendar, as they can sync with multiple devices and accounts, offer various features and integrations, and allow you to control your privacy and access settings. You can also use specialized calendar tools for specific purposes, such as Calendly for booking meetings, Trello for managing projects, or Cozi for organizing family events.

3 How to sync your calendars?

Once you have chosen a calendar platform, you need to sync your personal and professional calendars so that they can update automatically and display the same information. Depending on the platform, you can sync your calendars in different ways, such as importing, exporting, subscribing, or linking. For example, if you use Google Calendar, you can import your Outlook or Apple calendars to your Google account, or subscribe to them using their web addresses. Alternatively, you can link your Google account to your Outlook or Apple accounts, and choose which calendars to sync. You can also use third-party apps or services, such as SyncGene, to sync your calendars across different platforms.

4 How to share your calendars?

Another important step in combining your personal and professional calendars is to share them with the relevant people, such as your boss, clients, colleagues, or family. Sharing your calendars can help you coordinate your schedules, avoid misunderstandings, and show your availability and expectations. However, you also need to protect your privacy and boundaries, and avoid sharing too much or too little information. You can do this by adjusting your sharing settings and permissions, such as who can view, edit, or add events to your calendars, and what level of detail they can see. You can also create separate calendars for different categories or groups of people, and share them accordingly.

5 How to manage your calendars?

Finally, combining your personal and professional calendars requires some ongoing management and maintenance, to ensure that they are accurate, consistent, and useful. You need to check your calendars regularly, and update them as soon as possible when there are changes or cancellations. You also need to review your calendars periodically, and evaluate how well they reflect your goals, priorities, and balance. You can use some strategies and techniques to manage your calendars more effectively, such as color-coding, labeling, categorizing, or filtering your events, setting reminders and notifications, blocking time for specific tasks or breaks, and delegating or outsourcing some of your responsibilities.

Combining your personal and professional calendars can be a great way to improve your organization, efficiency, and communication as an administrative assistant. However, it also requires some planning, preparation, and practice, to make sure that you use the best tools and methods for your needs and preferences. By following these tips and suggestions, you can combine your calendars successfully, and enjoy the benefits of having a holistic and harmonious view of your life.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?