I must admit: I’m more than a little obsessed with keeping a schedule. When I started this website, my plan was to post semi-regularly, but with no specific frequency in mind. It took no less than two weeks for me to fall right into my old ways, landing a militaristic regimen of a Monday 7:00am MST posting schedule. So, is that a bad thing?
For me, the answer is decidedly no. There’s the old saying that I’ve used before:
“What gets measured gets improved”
Peter Drucker
A schedule is just another measuring tool, right? Before the times of smart phones, I used to religiously carry a crumpled paper to-do list in my pocket, along with a pen and what I deemed my survival kit: a pocket knife and a lighter. After a few too many forgetful TSA interactions at the airport — along with a corporate job and a concerned HR department — the pocket knife and lighter were eventually replaced with an iPhone.
My tools of the trade today are three smartphone applications: Google Calendar and iPhone Notes and Reminders.
Calendar: The Real Schedule
For example, below is a screenshot of my Google calendar from June. Does this look like neurotic behavior to you? Am I crazy? I might be, but I’d prefer a crazy-man’s calendar to some other monkey on my back. I have two separate calendars being displayed at the same time, my training and personal calendar.
Although this might look like a bizarre nightmare to the non-CC eye, there is some method to the madness. For climbing, I almost always train on Mondays and Wednesdays, with supplemental training on other days. I plan all my outdoor climbing for Friday and Sunday. Consistency in the schedule gets it done, and allows for regular repetition of what matters. I’m starting to sound like an engineer, aren’t I?
But…let’s assume I just waited around until Thursday afternoon to decide I want to climb Friday. What are my chances of lining up partners and achieving the goals that are important to me?
What are the chances of remembering to pay your mortgage or rent if it’s not on the calendar?
Did you start a Spotify 30-day free trial but want to remember to cancel before you get charged? Calendar.
Pesky things like work rarely interfere with life’s real priorities when you’ve taken the time to get the important stuff on the calendar.
Notes
My notes app is basically the mass dumping grounds of fleeting ideas that I’m sure to otherwise forget. I have a running page of blog post ideas, a perpetual grocery list shared with Mrs. CC, a long-term to-do list, pages of route-specific climbing beta (detailed move-by-move description of routes or boulder problems), and a climbing partner list.
I have lists of books I want to read, movies I want to see, and places I want to go.
When I forget my training journal, I temporarily document my workouts here for later transcription.
If you tell me your favorite restaurant, I’ll probably start a note for that.
Did you tell me a funny joke? I probably tapped it down, preparing to pretend I’m original on someone else.
Whenever some far-flung thought pops in my head, my notes are there for capturing what my feeble brain is sure to forget.
Reminders: to Stay on the Schedule
Do you ever have that task you intend to do but keep forgetting? Yeah, that’s the story of my life until I started using my reminder app.
I have an ear problem. My hearing diminished to a senile level in the late fall of 2017, and Mrs. CC refused to further withstand the car radio at 85 decibels. My doctor kindly explained to me, with great sensitivity, that I produce an “above-average volume of ear wax.” It’s good to be known for something, huh?
After removing two staggering ear wax plugs – providing me instant sound and great joy — he explained to me with somewhat alarming pride that those plugs were the biggest of his career. The suggestion for continued care and prevention is simple: use a mixture of warm water and hydrogen peroxide once or twice a week to soak in my ear and prevent “career-record” buildups.
I don’t like that task, which makes it easy to forget. So, there’s where my reminder app comes in. I do the deed, laying sideways on the couch for about 45 minutes, and then schedule a reminder to do it again in three or four days. PING: reminder pops up: “Ear.”
As you can see, I’m overdue. What’s that you say? Can you repeat?
Summary
That’s my spiel this week. Humans are terrible at being accountable without a schedule, so let the robots help you. They are your friends. The more you can automate, the more you get done, the more content you become. Rhyming!
But here’s the big reveal…
If you are reading this on Monday July 29, I’m on my way home from a four-day climbing trip to Spearfish Canyon, South Dakota. My brain can’t fathom the thought of not having a post ready to go, so I quickly wrote a post about missing a post, pre-scheduled that post, and posted it to keep everyone – but mostly me — happy. Isn’t this fun?!
Remember, the best laid plans mean nothing if you can’t take action today. Have questions? Need some feedback? Hit us up on the Contact page.
Thanks guys, see you next week.