One of the things I have learned as not only an entrepreneur, but also as a mom and as a friend, is that my calendar is my number one tool. I’ve told people so many times, If it’s not on my calendar, it doesn’t exist.

It’s so true too. One time a girlfriend had text me on a Saturday morning and said, “Hey, I’m leaving the neighborhood around 10:30, want me to pick you up on the way?” My response was ??? Seriously, I was confused. Her reply reminded me that we bought comedy show tickets for an afternoon show and I immediately checked my calendar and I had forgotten to put it in there and because I didn’t see it, I had scheduled home showings with clients for that day. Sorry again, Jessica!

Last year I bought tickets for the Elton John: Last Tour concert when they were released, because why not, right?! A few months down the road my friend asks, “Hey, when is that Elton John concert you’re going to?” I panicked. Oh my goodness I forgot all about that! I did a quick Google search and saw that the September dates had just passed two weeks ago. I was livid with myself. Those weren’t cheap tickets. A couple of weeks later I passed a billboard that mentioned the show for September of NEXT year and my first thought was Well that “Last Tour” was some false advertisement bullshit. Then common sense kicked in to check my email and sure enough, the tickets I bought were for the following year, thank goodness! So at least that one I won’t miss because it’s now in my calendar!

When you’re busy with work, home life, kids’ schedules, and have a desire for a social life, it can get hectic to keep it all in one place. Specifically, as a business owner there can be so many roles and tasks required of you. Keeping yourself organized so you don’t forget the important tasks, dates, appointments, and so on has seemed to be key. Then you have to add in your kids’ schedule for their sports practices and games. Maybe parent-teacher conferences. Maybe your volunteer commitments. Wine dates with your friends. Book clubs. Oh, and there should be room left for date nights, right? See what I mean? It piles on so quickly.

I also want to add that one of the top calendar things I do when goal setting for the following year is sketching out my entire year's worth of vacation time. I think it's imperative that you do this in advance so you can be intentional in actually living life for those moments and to also be prepared to work around them. It's now even more important for me to do that now that I share some weekends with my ex-husband.

I used to get frustrated at times when I felt like I wasn’t leaving any room for flexibility or spontaneous activities. Until I realized that life isn’t about doing the maximum amount of things I could do in a day. In fact, that white space that I now leave for myself is done in such an intentional manner that I look at it with gratitude. When I see it on my calendar, I thank myself for taking care of me too. In a culture that wants you to go, go, go, you can be quick to be hard on yourself for not “achieving” every hour of your day. However, we know that can lead to burnout. You can’t show up 100% for your tasks, your responsibilities, your people or yourself if you are running on empty.

So I thought I’d share with you some of the top things I’ve learned over the years how to best manage your schedule so you can create more of a balance and life by design. By no means am I saying that I’m a master of this 100% of the time, and you shouldn’t expect to be either. It’s about creating the intention and setting the intention to follow it the best that you can. If that’s 70-80% of the time, then that is a win! It takes regular practice and even some redirect at times.