2nd September 2008
Groshan Fabiola

If you take on freelance work on the side, or if that's your main source of income, you must have felt how few the hours are in a day; especially if you've got overlapping deadlines. To do manage your work, play, and rest hours, you simply need an appointment book. It doesn't have to be a fancy PDA, it could be just an appointment calendar you can buy at office supply shops. The aim is to clear your head of worries and to see the blocks of days in a week, maybe on a folder-sized appointment calendar, or a big one on the wall above your computer.

Chances are you already have one of those flip-over calendars on your work table, or one of those pull-down-today's-date calendars on your wall. The problem with them is that either you can't write on the blocks of days (the space is too small), or they only tell you the date today. You need space to write on your appointment book.

So, you have to get the kind that displays the calendar days in blocks, with space roomy enough to accommodate your handwriting. That way, you can see the blocks of days to come, and the days when you've been swamped with work, but you finished them. It's a visual source of accomplishment to have a good appointment book.

If you hold on to a nine-to-five job, and afterwards do some side jobs, not only do you have reduced time for rest and family, but you feel bad about the extra work you're not, but should be, doing. An appointment calendar on your wall can reduce your stress.

One way to get your worries out of your head is to write them on paper, in different sheets of paper, divided into categories. Like 'home,' 'hobby,' 'Amanda (client's name), and so on. That way you can pick up a piece and immediately you just focus on thoughts and worries connected with that category, with that piece of paper you're holding.

You can then write down your actionable items on that paper, and when you think you can do them. The when and that paper's name tag is crucial, because if that 'Amanda' client tag is going into your appointment calendar in the form of a neon yellow post it, you had better have that 'Amanda' piece of paper with your plans.

Do you see how this getting stuff done is possible with an appointment book, or an appointment calendar? If you can write deadlines on the blocks of days, you can mentally judge (because you can see the sequence of days and the load of work contained) when to adjust or reallocate hours (or if you have to ask the client for an extension). Also, since you have sheets of papers with category tags, you just have to synch up the contents of the papers and the dates when you devote time for them. With an organized appointment book, you’re ahead of your work and deadlines. This way, you won’t get as stressed as when you simply sat down and worried about deadlines.