It isn’t hard to accidently overload your schedule. A sudden meeting, an unexpected visitor, or an important assignment, things often come up unexpectedly at work, leaving us stressed and with little time to work on tasks at hand. But don’t worry! Google Calendar comes to your rescue, making it a lot easier for you to plan effectively and avoid the stress of over-scheduling.

Here are five things you can do with Google Calendar to keep your schedule under check:

Schedule effectively

Google Calendar is not only to help you schedule meetings, upcoming events, and travel dates. It is also a great tool to schedule just about anything. So, whether it is your 20 minutes lunch break, 10 minutes of free time or a dinner date with your spouse, put down everything on your Google Calendar to keep a tab on work that needs to be done before you end your day. This will relieve you of the stress of rescheduling your favorite activities.

Schedule time for self-development

Your daily schedule might look overstuffed with work that tends to consume most of your time, but does that mean you should not leave room for self-development? Whether it’s about mastering a particular skill set, learn an instrument or a time slot for gym, it should all be put on your Google Calendar. It will not only help you nurture your out-of-work interests, but also boost your creativity. 

Always give yourself some extra time

Do you think your meeting will take only 30 minutes to get over? Better give yourself 45 minutes. This will give you some extra time to avoid last minute rush. Also, you’ll be able to finish tasks well before the deadline and will get some bonus time at hand.

Never overbook yourself

Multi-tasking is good, but overstuffing yourself with work could be strenuous. Therefore, it is always advisable to focus on one thing at a time and dedicate your time exclusively for that activity. Double-booking your slots will only contribute to calendaring stress.

Choose wisely

Back-to-back meetings and events can consume most of your productive time. Well, a simple ‘No’ button on your Google Calendar can help you stay sorted. Take a look at your week’s calendar to figure out meetings and events that can be easily replaced with an email or a phone call. This way, you can put your time to better use and avoid overstressing yourself.

Google Calendar is a great way to organize and de-clutter your schedule. So, whether you are a novice or a power user, it can help you spend less time planning your day and more time enjoying it.