Balance is important. Work, family life, social life, volunteer work, personal projects, sleep—these are all important things. I'm a firm believer in using one calendar for all of them.
The reason to maintain one consolidated calendar (or merged calendar view) is that it helps prevent your work life from overrunning your nonwork life. When you are about to agree to work late, you can look at your calendar and verify that you are actually free.
I used to leave work and then realize that I had a party or something fun to go to. I would drive like a maniac to get there before it ended. When I did arrive, I was too angry with myself for being late or forgetful to really enjoy the party. Now if there is something fun after work, it's part of my daily plan. Being on time for a party is as important to me as finishing a project on deadline. I give my full effort during the day, but nighttime is my time.
Most PDA software lets you keep multiple calendars but merge them into one display. In fact, it can be useful to configure your PDA synchronization software to not sync personal items onto your work PC (and work items onto your personal PC). You might not want your party plans synced to your work computer.
Automated Reminders for PAA Users
Unlike a PDA, a PAA can't be programmed to beep when it's time to leave for an appointment. What can you do instead?
Program another system to beep or alert you about the day's appointments. Make it part of your morning routine. Keep your PAA as the master calendar but program some software-based system with today's appointments.
Some good reminder systems:
Windows and Mac users can use any of the various alarm clock programs that are out there. Search on Google for 'software alarm clock,' and you'll find many, ranging from free to medium priced.
Applications like Mac iCal, Windows Outlook, and open source tools like Evolution and KOrganizer can alert you when an appointment grows near (this is useful if you are always near the machine running said software).
Set some kind of alarm for your next appointment, either on your watch or cell phone.
Users of Unix systems such as Mac OS X, BSD, Debian Linux, and HP Tru64 Unix have the 'leave' command to alert them when to leave for an appointment.
Program a server to send a reminder to your cell phone or pager at the appropriate time. Unix/Linux users will find it useful to enable the 'at' service and use it to send email to your cell phone at a certain time: $ at 11:50 > echo Meet Bob for lunch | mail [email protected] > ^D
Remember, when setting an alarm, always set it to give yourself enough time to get to the appointment, whether that is two minutes to walk down the hall or two hours to drive to another location.
Repeating Tasks
History repeats itself. So do status and staff meetings, oil changes, El Nino, and a good burrito. A lot of the routines developed in the previous chapter become recurring events. One of the benefits of a PDA over a PAA is that recurring events can be scheduled once, and the PDA does the work of calculating all the subsequent dates.
Here are some of the things you might want to put into your calendar:
Weekly meetings.
Regular appointments.
Upcoming conferences.
Vacation plans.
Deadlines.
Party invites. (I record them when I RSVP. I even record them when I so that I don't accidentally repeat my rejection.)
Your kid's soccer schedule.
The date your company's quarterly report tends to come out.
Every single birthday you ever hear mentioned. (Include celebrities! It can be fun to point out, on April 20, that today is Tito Puente's birthday.)
