Thank you for this great video! I give it a try. But.. I confused with the bottleneck and critical... I don't know how to differentiate 🫠 I already read the pinned comment.. But still confused 🥲
Hi haha, I get where you’re coming from, it’s definitely the trickiest two to differentiate I think! But the difference between bottleneck and critical ultimately comes down to if something is a task that is BLOCKING something else… in fact I’ve thought the last few days of changing the name from “bottlenecks” to “blockers” because this is one of the most common questions … but for example… I designated doing Pilates as a “critical” task because I won’t get my dream figure without doing Pilates a few times a week… BUT if I don’t do Pilates one day, it doesn’t prevent me from doing anything else that’s supposed to happen! But a bottleneck would be something like “buying plane ticket.” If I don’t buy the ticket, I can’t go on the trip, I don’t know what to tell other people what time and day I’ll be arriving, I won’t know what reservations to make, etc lol. I don’t have to buy the ticket at a specific time, but the longer I wait to do it, the more everything else behind it gets held up! Whereas if I skip Pilates, it’s maybe not the best for accomplishing my health goal BUT there’s not a chain of tasks behind it relying on its completion… that’s why bottlenecks feel like they can go on critical, because they are, but they’re a tier above because they stand in the way of accomplishing other things if you don’t do them!
I just spent three hours trying to pretend I'm an adult and torturing myself through the process of learning different calendar techniques... Girl, you just saved my life. I felt an instant sense of ease just even half way through. So intuitive and natural and applicable. Thank you!
I hear you but that’s why I like the multiple calendars because if they don’t TRULY need to be done, you can toggle them off ! That sets me at ease somehow lol
I've been using a bullet journal for over a year now and this looks like a great way I can upgrade my system! I used to break things up into: must happen, will happen, and stretch goals. The naming you use to categorize everything is waaaayyyyy better! Love it!
The video is about a technique called "Time Blocking," where the creator explains a method for managing and organizing tasks using Google Calendar. The technique involves categorizing tasks and events into different tiers of priority and flexibility, which are represented by different colored calendars. The creator suggests five tiers: Appointments, Bottlenecks, Critical, Daily Routine, and Dream Self. Each tier represents different levels of importance and flexibility: 1. **Appointments**: These are tasks that must be done at specific times and cannot be easily rescheduled. They are represented in bright red and include events like doctor's appointments, meetings, and flights. 2. **Bottlenecks**: These are tasks or events that are critical to other important things in your life, even if they are not tied to a specific time. They are represented in a slightly less intense color and serve as precursors to more significant goals. 3. **Critical**: These tasks are essential to your main priorities or goals. They are represented in a bright color, similar to Bottlenecks. These tasks may be habits or activities critical to your success. 4. **Daily Routine**: These are the tasks you do daily to maintain your routine. They are represented in a regular color, and the creator suggests "graying out" completed tasks as a way of tracking your progress. 5. **Dream Self**: This tier represents tasks that your ideal self would do, even though they are not crucial to your day-to-day operations. They are more flexible and can be deleted if they don't get completed. The creator also mentions using additional calendars for specific purposes, such as alerts and awareness, capturing quick tasks, and as a catch-all for things that need further processing. The video appears to provide a detailed breakdown of how to implement this time-blocking technique, using Google Calendar to manage tasks and events based on their priority and flexibility. The goal is to help users create a more organized and structured approach to their time management while accommodating their individual needs and preferences.
@@72Reshu in a bullet journal or paper calender you can still categorize by the importance and color code it the same way she showed, but being able to move things around would be different, you'd have to either cross it out or have sections, I feel bullet journaling would need a different process since it's used in a different way than GC. For me, I make lists on paper and then sort it out by importance, and by when I need to do it
You know back when I used to bullet journal, I made this “time table spread” that looked how gcal looked and I loved a lot of things about it EXCEPT for needing to change things and having to erase and rewrite them … which is why I ultimately charged to digital- love the drag and drop aspect! But if you don’t care about rewriting you could do things the same in maybe different colors of erasable pen? OR if you’re not worried about things falling off, use those mint sticky notes and just move them around as things shift?💜
"If you treat them like appointments, you'll actually do them..." they say to me, who reschedules all appointments at least 5 times before actually going to them.
i like how rather than shaming yourself for not getting something done (and putting it in red or something) you just delete it so that you can’t fixate on it. i struggle with going into a self depreciation spiral when i forget or miss things i had to do. i may just have to switch up my calendar to this system, it seems really effective.
Thank you, I hope you do! The relief for me in this system is knowing that if I didn’t do it, I’ll get a reminder again soon., so it’s not just sitting on a perpetual to do list. Like I have “wash my car” occurring once a week… I’m lucky if I do it once a month lol. BUT if I just know it doesn’t reaaaally need to get done I can just forget about it for now until next week, at which point I can decide if I wanna do or delete again lol
ohhhhh this is such a lifesaver idea. I have adhd and autism, and i struggle with demand avoidance (/have a high need for autonomy), so setting a full rigid schedule always felt SO stifling to me. Categorizing these by "how much can i 'naaah-skip' this" feels so much more natural. If i get overwhelmed and feel stifled i can turn off calendars starting with lowest priority, and i can turn them on again according to how good of a day im having. It feels so nice to be able to make a schedule, and when i feel trapped just turn off everything but Appointments (and maybe bottlenecks) and be affirmed that "ahhh this technically all free time, im not trapped", while still being very clear on the least-negotiables.
Oooh I’ve never heard the term “demand avoidance” but danggg that resonates with me on a different level!! Love that and actually it explains so much in my life, thank you for teaching me something new today lol💜
hey@@daniellecolada ! Just curious how/when you keep track of the ideal self tasks that you may decided not to do one day, but you don't want them to totally fall of your radar? Do you just make sure to do a calendar review at the end of each day to see if there are any you want to push out a bit further?
@ashcontube hi ash, but yeah basically!! I try my best to keep my calendar current so I review it at least a little each day and move things around. A lot of my tasks are set up to recur, but if one isn’t and I can’t get it done, I’ll just scoot it over to the next day/week:)
I don't think I have ADHD, but my God - this video was so validating and entertaining!!! I created a calendar system similar to this and thought I was crazy. Thank you for putting this out here. It made me feel like I'm normal despite not wanting/being able to do everything on my calendar. Bless your channel
Thank you so much!! You’re not crazy haha, it feels like having a menu of tasks to complete with my “entrees” type tasks in bright attention grabbing colors and my “sides/desserts” in more subtle colors and I get to drag things around and eat dessert first if I want (as long as I have the time for such things lol)
I love this ‘doesn’t happen’ delete the block situation 😂✨ if it didn’t happen and doesn’t need to, it’s not the end of the world and no need to feel guilty that it didn’t get done (bc it *doesnt exist*). TY for this refreshing video!
Lol thank you for appreciating this🥰 yeah, no need to hold the worry in my mind of washing the car, I’ll get another reminder next week😂 it’ll take deleting it four times to really hit home that I actually need to lol but it’s effective without being draining😊
Legit just posted a thread about how there's no 'ADHD friendly' calendar or app that will make me actually do the things. This seems to be the most practical ADHD planning tutorial I've ever watched. This seems to keep it nice and simple and being on the regular Google calendar and not a whole new app is so much easier. I love how your identifying tasks and how it can all be on one calendar but you can toggle them off if you need to. Also, calling it a Hot Girl walk is so much more appealing than just a walk lol love it! Learning to allow myself to be flexible with what i do and when is so difficult but hearing people talking about not managing things and it being ok is validating and takes some weight off. Thanks for the video :D (also I have to say, your channel banner is such a great representation for ADHD I laughed when I saw it)
omigosh this comment make my heart so happy (especially after one I just got that was not as nice lol) and I’m just happy you were able to get so much from it. Yeah, I wonder if the “category” calendars are more neurotypical oriented or if we’ve all just accepted that that’s what we’re supposed to do to manage our schedules. ALSO idk who came up with Hot Girl Walk but it wasn’t me haha but I call it that in my calendar cuz it’s just an ounce more motivating than “WALK AROUND THE BLOCK” haha. but YES we have got to be more gentle with ourselves! I was just saying to someone else how I think that fact that we feel we HAVE to do everything we think of it because we’re afraid it’ll never come up again or we’ll forget about it… but like I’m ‘supposed’ to wash my car once a week but if I don’t do it, I just delete it… because with this system I know I’ll get another reminder next week. It feels GOOOOOD lol. And then your can notice patterns too. Like maybe after a couple weeks I realize i’m only gonna do it once a month, I can easily go into the calendar and change how often I’m reminded to do it. This is so customizable but like you said with it being GCal also structured! I hope it works for you!! Be easy on yourself dear, glad you’re here
Never mind me A - appointments (can't be reasonably fucked with) - tied to a time and changing the time inconveniences others - red B - Bottlenecks - this task is a precursor to something else is important. Eg planning sessions, writing this week's article - another bright color. (Can be shifted but if it isn't done other things aren't getting done) C - critical to your success and keeping things in order eg trash day, (think areas you want to focus on) so if it's health you're focusing on then gym becomes critical ,( they need to take some effort) D. - daily routine - stuff that needs to be done everyday eg morning routine. Things that don't roll over eg making your bed, showering F. Flexible ideal - things your dream self would do if it was an ideal day but even if you don't, no problem) - reminders of how you want to live A+ - alerts and awareness - reminders etc Your name - quick capture that you will process later. (Black) (You can try and turn things you've done grey and delete what you didn't do so when looking back at your week, you know what you did and what areas or times were blank - reflect on what you did in those times)
Oh yeah I think I already naturally do this. My colors are not based on any rigid type category. It's all vibes. Dark blues, purples, are chill. Green is like , it's healthy, self care.. Yellow is necessary but not urgent, say, groceries and yard work but You're not starving and it might be raining.. Orange and red are DO IT OR ELSE. Pink is like time sensitive, but fun, like say a movie or friends hangout dates.
YESSSSS I’ve done something like this! I put football games in my calendar last season so I knew not to schedule any dates with Gabe during that time lol
@@daniellecoladawould you think they could also be in Flexible Ideal? I have several "optional events" that in a perfect world I'd do but they never seem to happen so I wanted to move them off my appointments calendar.
girl straight up, you're a genius lol it is SOOOOO nice to get hacks like this from someone with adhd. ive always felt uncomfy with timeblocking because it felt so restrictive and i want the flexibility to be able to move things around, but this actually seems like something that could work for me 👀 gonna give it a shot!
YES I’m glad to hear that! I was talking to someone else about this in a previous comment but she was saying she almost felt the need to rebel against a schedule she had made for herself and I always felt THE SAME WAY! Now it feels like putting a puzzle together of how to best use my time and I like it wayyyy better. I wish I could change a few features from the GCAL end but so far it’s doing it’s job :)
Okay this is great an all but what happens when I start to do this and then lose interest, allow myself to live with a dumpster fire calendar, and then eventually just ignore all notifications and turn into an ADHD gremlin? asking for a friend.
Lol this does happen from time to time, and I recognize that I have to allow it… I have “backups” in place in a sense… but first, I only put notifications for things that reaaaaally need my attention like appointments so that I can’t become “intentionally deaf” to them because when I initially had notifs going off all day I found them annoying and started ignoring, so I have to be careful about that!! 2nd, when I have off days where I just don’t wanna use the calendar, I’ll go back and just delete delete delete unless I’m CERTAIN about something… maybe it’s silly but something as simple as giving myself that grace helps me in a way
Haha yay! Yeah I used to have that setting turned on where past events are lighter but it wasn’t dramatic enough to my brain… also it signaled time had passed but not that I’d actually completed the thing lol so this works better💜
Came here for the information, stayed for your personality! You're hilarious and your editing style is so complementary. This time-blocking technique is going to be a game-changer for me!
I have AuADHD and I've been struggling for years to find schedule that doesn't just burn me out and simultaneously make me feel like I'm not getting enough done. I'm gonna give this one a shot and come back with updates. Thanks for sharing! This video gave me a sense of ease, like I finally found something that makes sense.
This video was so ADHD and I love it 😂 ‘it’s a long time later. And I’m in my kitchen. In a bath robe… 🤷🏼♀️’ so relatable! I’m gonna try this calendar today! It definitely makes sense and hopefully helps me get my life together somewhat
I really like the idea of the "B" calendar as Bottlenecks/ Blockers. It could even come handy for vacations and events. Things like "Decide to go to Disney or to NYC for my Birthday". There are several things that I need to do for the trip, but I can't do any of them until I decide which kind of trip I want. I am brainstorming, but I think I'll test it out as A = Appointments, B = Blockers, C = Critical to my Quarterly Goals, D = Routine (Daily and Monthly stuff like changing A/C filters, book stuff) , F = Flexible. This video is gold. Instant subscribe! Thank you so much.
I genuinely love how this video was so detailed and yet so abruptly ended. Here's the intro, here's all the details, answered all the objectives now off you go. LOVE it :)
This is the most helpful method I've seen time blocking in how you described utilizing your time without getting stressed. I often would place things I think "should" be done (laundry, dishes, etc) in the same category as what really "needs" to be done (work, appointments, etc). The flexibility and grace you give yourself in the way you explained gave me such a sense of relief. I have tried a few color blocking methods from other RU-vidrs but omg there's no way I can make that work! I also love the idea of greying out the activities done like checking off a box. I know that will only encourage me tocontinue getting things done over time. Thank you so much for making this video!
YAY I’m happy to hear that and also I hear you! I struggle SOOOO much with prioritization in the moment that it’s better for “clear-headed” Danielle to kind of decide what’s important in advance so monkey brain Danielle doesn’t spend all day spinning her wheels you know? Because I too will spend all day on chores and realize I haven’t done anything that’s actually meaningful to me. And some days I wanna get the “quick wins” like dishes outta the way first thing in the morning and some days i wanna “eat a frog” first thing in the morning, but with the calendar I can budget out my time for how I’m feeling by dragging the stuff around and seeing how much time is left in the time budget…. If that makes sense lol
This feels very intuitive! When I was in college, I color coded my weekly paper planner for classes into just four highlighters: pink for tests, orange for presentation/project/term paper due dates, yellow for regular assignment due dates (and orange assignment milestones like picking a topic, checking books out at the library before everyone else gets all the good reference materials, etc.), and blue for reading assignments. It helped me be able to glance at my planner and know exactly what I needed to do first.
Yes love this!! The idea of pre-prioritizing, however you do it, just speaks more to me than “this color represents health, this one represents work” cuz I’m like YEAH BUT WHICH OF THOSE IS MORE IMPORTANT?💜✨
idk if this will work for me but this felt like you explained the secrets of the universe and the meaning of life to me. i've never been able to make calendars/planners work, mainly because i literally never understood how they could work but this i actually understand! thank you so much, i'll be trying it this week!
Hahaha the secrets of the universe !?! love that lol but GOOD, I’m glad! I was literally just responding to someone else about how it’s just more “intuitive” this way… great brains think alike amiright? 😉
I don't have ADHD (at least I don't think I do) but this was so, so helpful. I consider it as a very successful example of the curb-cut effect. I was starting to think of a method like this but couldn't manifest in this manner because I was still stuck with conventional ways of thinking about time management. This right here is an excellent balance. Also may I say, you are so pretty!
After watching this video last year, I started using this method religiously and it was SO helpful through my first year of college. I don't believe I have ADHD but I recommend this video to anyone who is trying to get organized! Thank you so much for sharing this.
honestly bestie idk if I have ADHD but I've been having the hardest time trying to ADULT and I sat with this for about a week thinking about doing this and today I finally did it. I feel so relieved. I've been thinking of doing my own videos too so if I ever get to it (hopefully now!) I want to be able to share this with you if it worked!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH
Awh YAY this made me very happy to hear, and DO IT!! I sat around for yearssss contemplating about this channel and even after I started it overthinking every video. You got this!💜
Thank you! Definitely gonna give it a try! It resonates with me so much more than neurotypical advices! I wanted to ask you to specify the difference between Bottlenecks and Critical but as I was writing this comment, I answered that question myself :D maybe some of will find it useful so I'll leave it here. I use my Google Calendar mostly for work tasks (I'm self-employed) and non-work-related appointments, sometimes other tasks like getting a car insurance or taking the trash out. Putting a daily routine etc on my GCal would be too much for me, I would get overwhelmed. I had an impression that your Critical were mostly non-work-related, they were more about your general goals. So in my work situation I would classify it like that: Appointments - obviously appointments but also some tasks that I have to do for the clients that specific day or maybe even hour, but also holidays, doctor's appointments etc. Bottlenecks - tasks for the clients, accounting, crucial business tasks etc, things that I can move around +/- 1-2 days if something comes up but it's better not to do that. Critical - some of my business goals that are not so much tied to a specific time. If I don't do it this week, I can do it next week but it's important for me and for my business so I want to have a specific time blocked for the task (for now I keep it in Tasks so I don't see any time blocked in my calendar, hence I never do it). Daily routine - that would be checking my email and other things I do everyday anyway but sometimes I forget it takes time :D Flexible ideal - business improvements, extra work I want to do for a client as a bonus but only if I have time for that, all those little things that would be nice to do one day but I will probably never do it :D
Oh my gosh I love this SO MUCH, thank you for sharing!! 💜and yes, exactly! I’m gonna see if I can pin this comment because that is just a helpful breakdown✨
I'm so glad you left this here because I'm in the same situation! I really struggle with knowing whether to put personal goals or work goals in my project management software, which is silly, but I feel like I need to keep them separate for some reason. And since I'm just getting started with my bookkeeping business I don't have a good grasp of how long things will take yet... I end up putting a week's worth of tasks on one day and then feeling bad about myself when I can't get it all done. I've always used a to-do list format before (multiple variations and software) but would inevitably run into issues with things taking longer than I thought and pushing everything else out. I tried to prevent important stuff from getting pushed by putting them at the top (ie "big rocks"), but a lot of times I feel like I can't settle into work mode without crushing through a few easy things first. I'm excited to try this method! Would you lump everything together into the priority categories, or would you keep them separate? Like "Work Critical" or "Personal Critical"?
@@abigailjackson2843 you definitely need some time to learn how much time the specific tasks take. I use Toggl Time Tracker and I recommend that app. You will forget to start or stop a timer many times before you form a habit but once you get used to it, you'll be able to see how much time to block for a task, what are the most profitable tasks, what takes too much time, etc. As for me, I tend to undermine my personal tasks and I just don't include them in my calendar, as long as they're not time-restricted appointments. So I guess it might be good to lump everything together to see that both categories (personal and work) are equally important... And you don't complicate your calendar with too many categories - that's the whole point of this technique I think :D
Hi Abigail! I’m so sorry but for some reason I just saw this! (I think cuz replies get lost easier than regular comments ) but tbh I do not separate the work and personal into separate calendars because that would end up creating too many calendars and be too confusing for me! Also in a way, I see it as- it might be separate “life arenas” but it’s all part of the same life… I can’t only be in one place doing one thing at one time… you know what I mean?? 💜
I've been calendar blocking for almost three years now and it's been a CLEAR before and after, especially internally for my own sense of accomplishment and self-worth. I do my calendars by categories but I'm going to give this method by flexibility a try because our brains seem to work in very similar ways. Thank you so much for sharing!
Of course!!! I’d hate to throw a spanner in your system if it’s already working for you but hopefully this improves upon what you’ve already got going on and makes it better, thank you for watching
@@amandasjoberg463 I have a general catch all for things like morning routine, breakfast, lunch and dinner, showering, me time in general; I have one for things outside the house (errands, appointments), one for videocalls with friends and family, one for work-related tasks like lesson prep and filling out paperwork, one for lessons (I'm an online teacher); one for chores; one for fitness so I can quickly visualise how much I'm exercising, and one for the time I dedicate to planning and budgeting because it's like a treat hehe I enjoy it so I like to see when I get to do it. It's a lot of categories objectively speaking but they've been working well enough for me so far.
I literally just found you and while I have not been diagnosed, I truly think I have adhd, listening to how you plan you cal made SO much sense to me, I did the colours, pink for personal, blue for appointments, red for must do and green for work, I always wanted to add tasks in the time blocking but couldn’t make it work, my brain hated at the little jagged steps 😂 I’m so going to try this and also ditch the other calendars I have, off to watch some more 😊 Thankyou
This is similar to how I do mine, I also have an activities calendar where I put in the schedule for things in the community such the swimming pool schedule, skating rink, etc things we like to do and if we have a free afternoon or whatever and want to do something we check that calendar to see whats available to go to. These schedules usually only change seasonally so it doesnt have to be updated often
YESSSS I put things like that on my Alerts & Awareness cal sometimes! Like last year after my husband got me into football I started putting game times on that calendar just so I’d have an awareness not to schedule date nights and things like that when there was a game on haha
I really like that the tiers colors, the acdf system, is divided by importancy/urgency/flexibility or lack there of, instead of being devided by topic like work, social, health. I always had problems with sorting by topic bc I felt like it wouldn't only just create a bunch of tasks and reminders and stuff, to me everything had the same level of urgency, therefore, was the most important, when not everything is that urgent or that important. I think this is great to really be able to discern what you want to do, how and when, while still being able to fit in everything instead of getting rid of unimportant things like a hobby or anything else we want to get done.
Awh thank you Felix! Yeah, like I said it would just get too confusing for me to do the “life area” calendars because of the overlap between so many things you know?? So I tried something else and it’s CRAZY how much better it worked lol! Thank you for being here
Do you have any tips on the mobile version? Like how to get motivated when everything is more “condensed” on your phone? Do you ever calendar block on your phone? This was so helpful!
Hi! 💜 so I do use my phone on the go. I definitelyyyy prefer to do “longer-term planning” (the week at a glance lol) on my laptop but my phone is actually how I actually “execute” the most. I keep it on the “day” setting normally just so I can see what I should be doing now and what’s coming up anddd I have a large widget on my home screen so I alwaysss see what’s going! AND I even have the first screen (the one you swipe left to when your iphone is locked) as a schedule so I can see the day ahead! I also tend to capture “appointments” on my phone because most of those things are made on the fly :) hope that helps a bit!
@@daniellecolada omg you’re a genius. So clever I love it. Your reply is perfect. I’d love a follow up video on what you just typed bc it would be neat to see it in action. Plus I love your personality and how you explain everything short and sweet
THANK YOU! My daughter (ADHD) was struggling in college and we watched your video over the summer and she took this to heart. Well, here she is, one month back on campus, and for the first time since she started college, she is on task for making it to classes, turning in all assignments, and working in stages on all projects and papers! The turnaround is ASTOUNDING! She has never accepted an online calendar until she saw this method and it just clicked in her brain. So, thank you for helping her! Also, I've had a Google calendar since she was a little girl and I had to coordinate the kids', my husband's and my activities. Now that it's just me on my own calendar (with the kids' college breaks), I took some of your tips and employed them. It's made a big difference with how I color code. So, thanks a bunch!!
I have read and watched so many guides on time management but this approach feels more natural for ADHD brains, ADHD productivity tips should always take into account what happens when shit hits the fan, nice video!
Thank you!😊 and totally!! It’s taken a while for me to get used to the idea of deleting things but the more I practice the easier it gets and the easier life gets lol
girl your bottleneck category may have just saved my life! calendars with too many "areas of life" based categories always fried my brain, but this really makes sense to me & makes organization feel so much more natural. love! 💌
This made SOOOO much more sense to me than ANY other video I’ve watched on time-blocking or Google calendars!!! Not sure yet how I will apply it for work tasks (colleagues see my calendar so they can book appointments with clients for me, or know whether I’m available to discuss something, or know what time I am working since my hours are flexible)… … but at least in the meantime, this will greatly help my personal/life calendars 😊
Heyyy that makes me so happy to hear!🥰 also others have commented that they’re kind of in this same dilemma, so the workaround we came up with is if you can only use one calendar, choose the colors from the default (the ones that come up when you right click an event) to represent the tiers in your mind and color code accordingly! Just a thought💜
I have ADHD and this resonates a lot with the way I think about my tasks. I also have a lot of tasks that are not externally scheduled by someone else, but they are critical to my goals. I used to make it ALL red (appointments, bottlenecks and critical) and obviously it would overwhelm me like crazy and I wouldn't do anything lol. Right now I also keep a separate list for appointments, and most other tasks are flexible to reschedule based on my mood. My system is a little different and I don't wanna shift things around, but I can def see this being useful for another ADHDer!
Thank you for this. So much better to know prioritization than just a checklist of to do's. And thank you for your sacrifices, so many great memories to look back on.
This... and your Hot girls don't have problems video... I love to see you speak from your experience, starting this channel to reflect the journey and all, makes me feel identified as a fellow ADHDer on my journey to make my way through life and see myself better everytime. Great content! This calendar technique is working for me (2 weeks in), feels unreal after trying so many that failed in days.
I just want to say a HUGE thank you! I don't have ADHD but this is such a simple and clever structure, I've struggled for years trying to plan calendars that are categorised by projects, social, health etc and so much crossed over! The planning generally went out the window, but this is amazing!! Sending so much appreciation!
Started this last night - got my calendars built, and already I can tell this is going to save me money on all those productivity ADHD apps that are basically a fancy calendar with AI. And I get to keep all my data without duplicating calendar entries - absolutely brilliant - thanks Danielle!
Hahaha thank you😊 I used to be shy about things like that for a long time but I think I’m entering into my “eff it” era so thank you for appreciating it lol💜✨
This video has made me realize I maayyyy have adhd, not a surprise and most people notice my anxious behavior. But this girl rlly made her adhd work with her to feel accomplished and that’s awesome. Makes me feel more comfortable and confident with my brain when sometimes I feel it working against me :)
YES! this is what I do for color coding in a traditional planner! I chose the darkest color to be the thing that's most important to get done. It's such a great revelation bc my brain doesn't separate things into different categories and it's nice to have level of importance on paper.
I am SUCH a fan of crossing off to-do items on paper but checking boxes digitally hasn't been as satisfying. I really love the idea of greying out stuff as I do it!!!
I most likely don’t have ADHD but this was wonderful advice. It seems now so common sense to not complicate calendar with variety but to make it more helpful for everyday usage. Thanks!
Im crying....it makes sense and it doesn't trigger me! 😢 FLEXIBILITY is HUGE!! I was also very focused on your video instead of reading comments per usual. That says a ton!! 😊
Awh this makes me so happy, and I totally agree… anything that’s a MUST usually ends up having this heavy emotional energy tied to it that weighs me down you know? And thank you!
YES! I'm 23 SECONDS into de video and I taught: FINALLY. The self-knowledge ADHD people need to have in order to not fall into false narratives and "tricks" that makes us ashamed because they just don't work for us
i have been using GC to organize my study time for university for a while, but i always felt i had to fight my way into following a strict schedule and i annoyed me so much i didn't even study out of spite for it, so i just started doing something pretty similar to this this past month and it's working wonders for me! I set tasks and study dedicated hours in a way that allows me to move them around as needed instead of forcing myself to stick to an unrealistic timetable; i set them up as an estimate just to know i need to do that, but only assign them a specific time AFTER i have gotten them done. the only unmovable stuff being classes, deadlines and exams! I have been binge watching google calendars videos and i had yet to find anyone who used it similar to the way I do. I love using checklists but I always get so stressed that I had to go back and forth from calendars to notion all the time when I want to see what I need to get done and how my daily routine could fit into my to-do lists. Incorporating them to GC it's just genius, I will be 100% trying out greying out done stuff!!
Yesss, we’re two peas in a pod haha. No demands, just vibes😊💜 and I’m glad you like the grey trick, that seems to be the game-changer for many wanting that dopamine hit😋
Very interesting video, I realized I've been doing something similar for years. I have three calendars setup: - Medical appointments - Exams and big due dates (when I was in university) - All my personal stuff (classes, gym, dates, etc, pretty much what I do on the daily). I also used Google tasks to add on the daily my pending studying and homework, but I still struggled to find the time to do finish those (med school is hard). I now realize I could've separated my school activities from my personal stuff (flexible from mostly inflexible activities). I will be trying this when I start my first job. So thanks for the idea!
This seems like a better alternative to other time blocking techniques, although I don't think I could ever do this. Putting anything on a calendar besides appointments makes me feel overwhelmed. I have todo lists for tasks. My main one is labeled workflow and is just organized with the most critical ones at the top.
Well thank you! 💜 I appreciate the comment even if you don’t feel this would work for you😊 I think I feel that way about traditional to-do lists lol, mine personally get sooooo long that they’re overwhelming and I’ll write the same thing 2 or 3 times on there and I just don’t know how to go from there without spinning my wheels
OMG! This is the first time I've ever seen Google Calendar used in a way that could actually work and help me! I'm so glad I found this video. I always see all these people ...like how you were describing in the begining... and they say to just do like they do and I NEVER could and always felt like a failure. This makes so much more sense to my brain. Thank you!!!
Yay I’m so glad you found it! But I totally feel you, there was way too much friction for me when I had a million calendars- this restriction is somehow so much more freeing lol💜
I really love this. Here’s what I’m planning on doing: A - appointments B - blockers (saw you mention that in another comment) C - central (this makes me think personal goal / central to myself, whereas critical makes me feel like it’s the end of the world if it gets missed) D - daily F - fancy (that which I want but cannot expect to always achieve)
I have recently been diagnosed with ADHD and I accessed the counselling service at my university to set up a study plan. It was so goddamn boring I followed it for half a day and then lost interest. This is SO MUCH BETTER FOR MY BRAIN!!! Adding some emotional attachment to tasks and also acknowledging that some tasks are for when I can be my "ideal self"! So smart! Previously I would have just felt guilty and like I'd failed if it was on the calendar and I didn't do it. This is so much more understanding of ADHD and the likelihood that we won't get through everything on the list! I freaking love this, thank you so much 🤩🤩
This is my first visit to your channel, and I loved this video! I've been using colors in GoogleC to try to code my activities and appointments, and I've tried to create a daily schedule, but never considered using a system like this. I also love that you use graying out something you did to signal to your mind that it's something you followed through on, and that the GoogleC maintains the record in a much more elegant fashion than a paper planner.
Oh hey, this is a really popular method in corporate programming. They usually use tickets (tasks) that have Priority and Story Points (Complexity). Then when you want to do something, you look at the Backlog (todo list) and go to the next thing that fits your complexity capability. Usually you order the todo by priority too.
Amazing!! Ive been fiddling with google calendar trying to make it work for me for MONTHS and the best i could do was basically having my appointments there but all the flexible stuff in a bullet journal. This video is giving me a big push to be able to use google calendar for more than just the "A"!
Yay I’m so glad!! Yeah tbh I LOVED the creativity aspect of a bullet journal but my time blindness is pretty bad so being able to “time budget” with the calendar has def helped:)
I absolutely love this system. So far I'm a week into using it. I think a very important aspect is the "ideal life" calendar. I try to fill a good portion of my calendar with the intention of having high energy days. The ideal life blocks are also break periods for low energy/focus days. My "bottlenecks" calendar is also my "don't delete" calendar. That way if I absolutely can't get to it, then it can roll over to the next day. I feel like I'm making the most of my time using this, thank you!!!!!
Holy shit. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I've taken productivity courses in real life and from places like skillshare. I've been a software engineer for over 10 years, and I've tried using that to build bespoke productivity tools for myself. Then I watched this video. Rarely have I felt so seen. I can take what you've put down here, and re-frame literally (and I do mean literally) every single one of those attempts in this context and their apparent usefulness just fucking skyrockets. THANK YOU!
This is VERY clever. It never occurred to me to have auxillary calendars that only i can see that help to navigate my day. The color coding is exactly what my ADHD brain needs. It adds a glimmer of creativity to the mundane. One tip I use is coding all the must do dumb, but necessary tasks in green because green means go and if I don't do them i won't get paid very well because they're essential to my day. I color meetings in yellow because they are with people, and emojis are yellow and they are fun so I trick myself into thinking meetings are fun. The gray to check off tasks in the calendar is a game changer. That is valuable to me!
I'm a habitual RU-vid watcher and have been trying to throw myself into productivity for the past few years and let me just say, this is such good advice, thank you!
Girl, this is an extremely useful tip. I changed everything on my agenda. Previously I felt that there was something wrong with my agenda it worked against me. Now I feel how I can manage all things. Thank you a lot!
Hiiii omg YAY! No I feel that, I haaaated my calendar when I used to time lock the traditional way lol. This takes some getting used to and working out the kinks a bit at first but it just feels way more manageable to me in the long run:)
I find it funny to delete the things that I couldn't get to do cuz I was on social media or whatever 😂😂, for some reason I find this idea freeing, usually when something doesn't get done I'd just leave it there but it keeps looking at me, haunting me, making me feel guilty about it, but deleting it totally frees up space on the calender and on my mind, Ofc I get it,this is for the minor tasks not the bottelnecks and stuff
YESSSS giving myself permission to NOT do things just because I think of them has been such a freeing thing, and tbh I’m still working on “letting go” but I think there’s something about the way they recur on the calendar that makes it easier to let go of you know what I mean? Like washing my car… ideally I do it every weekend but if I skip a weekend… I don’t have to worry about it… a reminder to do it will come around next weekend and everything will be just fine :)
This is such a good idea and it makes sense! This would give me way more structure than "all one color" and it gives you the inbox to process things. Thank you!
Totally! And just another thing I love about this system is that when I get that ADHD urge to change things about it, I’ll swap the colors out, just so I’m looking at something fresher! Like rn I have the pinks/purples/red going on but I’m thinking of doing shades of orange and yellow next… silly little thing but small tweaks help💜
@@daniellecolada yes!! ❤️ I totally get that, at some point swapping the color will keep it interesting, rather than fading to the background like everything else
This. is. insane. I was on notion, because everyone was like "omg, it's so much cooler than GC" and here I'm. Haven't opened it in a year. Made it pretty, didn't help. I know I can't have everything in my head, why do I torture myself so much. I'll follow this system, thank you!
Haha I feel you! I thought Notion would be EVERYTHING to me, especially after I made it all aesthetic, it’s still very useful to me… but in the steps BEFORE deciding how I’m gonna use my time. Until Notion’s calendar system is as visually representative of time as Google’s, I’m afraid my hands are tied and I must use both lol💜
Ahhh thank you so much🥹🥰 lowkey tearing up over here lol, thank you for coming along with me💜the last few days have felt so amazing being found by and connecting with you guys 🥹✨seriously I’m getting very excited and inspired!
Interesting angle to the classic time block! Might incorporate bits to this. There was a video from Elizabeth something about how she manages her days, weeks, months, semester based on energy/motivation as well. I time block and color code categories, but I am constantly fiddling with my calendar and moving things around all the time, I'm not always super tied to it though it gives me a base structure especially for some house work because otherwise I won't do it.
Oh yes, I know who you’re talking about, I’ve seen a few of her videos! Yeah, for me energy management is huge! And yes I def have to shift things around all the time based on how I’m feeling, but it helps me visualize how much time is already eaten up by other plans and as I shift things around d throughout the day and week, I start to feel the “time pressure” for lack of a better word that I don’t always feel because of the time blindness component of my adhd lol. But I hope whatever you take from this system ends up being useful for you💜💜PS I hope my comment made sense lol
Haha thank you!❤️ yeah I hear ya but I just don’t love the way the Tasks feature works in GCal unfortunately lol like I hate that no matter how much time a task will take the block doesn’t change size lol
Honestly as a daily task oriented person, and also as a person that doesn't really have a job, time blocking daily with tasks just makes sense. Also, I might have depression so the aesthetic colours of the different tasks just make me happy. I work with areas of my life instead of a system like this, but this sounds lovely!
Well I appreciate you adding to the conversation even if it’s not your vibe💜 I feel you about the nice colors tho, sometimes I have found myself grasping to the smallest of things during the worst of times but you gotta do what you gotta do yeah?
Great video. I would combine critical and bottleneck. I would suggest to do weekly planning on Thursday so that you can still move/reschedule things in case there is a conflict. I do not put routines - it makes it too messy and routines is something I try to develop via apps or notes above my desk. The most relaxing and energising thing for work is to see my schedule clean and almost empty.
totally! we're all different, and tbh having ADHD i even like to switch this system up from time to time just to keep things fresh while still abiding by those general principles, ya know? i don't always like to see my routines either so in that case i just toggle of the Daily Routine calendar and that's been helpful :) thanks for watching!
*GIRL* This is hands down one of the most helpful ADHD productivity videos I've seen, and it's DEFINITELY the most easily applicable to my life. I've been using gcal habitually for appointments etc. for a number of years but I've never been able to hack it for time-blocking so I was always trying to come up with external scheduling methods to manage my work but they never stick like gcal has. This way I can have all my tasks on my phone in a place that I already habitually look, and I can create recurring tasks and move things around without having to do it manually (like on a whiteboard calendar). 🤩 The visual component along with your consistent and clear breakdown of each category made it all click for me and left no room for interpretation *in the best way*; I struggle a lot with vague instruction and am very literal, so often times I wind up paralyzed by trying to make sense of a category (similar to what you described at the beginning). Anyway, THANK YOU. I can't wait to give this a go.
Also!!! The multi-calendar function means I can toggle visibility of certain ones on my phone so I don't feel overwhelmed looking at a long list! Ahhh I'm so excited
Amy, wow, I don’t even know how to react to this🥹 To hear how helpful this video was for you warmed my heart but you are the first person to ever donate directly to this channel and I’m so touched by this unexpected gesture that don’t even know how to express myself rn lol 🥰 please just know- I am beyond grateful l! For me this goes even beyond the contribution, it feels like a sign from the universe almost that I am headed in the right direction and that I will really be able to make this my life’s work someday. Seriously, thank you and good luck with the system🥰💜✨
THANK YOY so much for this video!! I have literally spent hours and hours and hours researching templates for google sheets or notion to try and find something that would work for me with my time management/blindness being self employed. Your approach resonates so much and I feel empowered now to design something starting with these elements. Big hugs and keep putting your authentic self out there. Must feel good to see and feel how impactful your ideas are!
Oh man I’m so glad you feel this way, that makes my heart so happy to hear! And yeah NGL it feels AMAZING, I really didn’t think too many people would even see this and I wasn’t sure if this was helpful for me only but hearing that it just makes more sense to you all feels wonderful! Thank you for being here and good luck with restructuring!!💜✨
as a fellow content creator with adhd, you *probably* abandoning the video idea altogether (didn't finish filming or didn't like it after filming) and continue the video months later is so real AHHAHHAHA thank you loved it!!
lololol you SEE ME GIRL! it was that i didn't finish filming!!! I wanted to change backgrounds and do the rest at a coffee shop or something but once i stopped filming the first part my brain just decided it was done for the day and that was that lol.... and a few months later i was like... 'you know, i should probably finish that video just to cross it off my list' and went as low effort as possible just to get it done 😂😅somehow it worked out
Thank you for this gift. Understanding how to create a schedule that actually works for me has been a long battle, I see a lot of hope here. The core idea makes complete sense. Thank you for sharing this with the world and I
Thank you!! And I just wanna show appreciation for YOUR appreciation of the core concept lol and seeing that even though everything might not be squarely applicable, you can adapt this to YOUR life💜 love
