Stop the Scheduling Ping-Pong: How to Manage Your Calendar Like a Pro
We’ve all been there: endless back-and-forth emails trying to find a meeting time that works for everyone. It’s frustrating, time-consuming, and it clutters your inbox. But there’s a bigger impact too—each unnecessary email contributes to your digital carbon footprint.
By managing your calendar more effectively in Google Workspace, you can reduce scheduling chaos, cut down on email exchanges, and make a small but meaningful contribution to reducing digital waste. It’s a win-win for both you and the environment!
Here’s how to manage your Google Calendar like a pro and avoid scheduling headaches, all while reducing your digital footprint
1. Keep Your Calendar Current
The foundation of effective scheduling starts with keeping your calendar up to date. When your availability is accurate, others can schedule meetings without the need for constant back-and-forth emails.
How to do it:
- Regularly update your calendar with meetings, appointments, and important tasks.
- If your schedule changes, make sure to update it right away to avoid conflicts or unnecessary emails.
Keeping your calendar current and setting aside focus time creates a clear picture of when you’re available, helping others book meetings more efficiently and giving you room for uninterrupted work.
2. Set Your Working Hours
Setting your working hours ensures that people know when you’re available—and when you’re not. This way, colleagues won’t try to book you outside of your designated work time, and you can maintain a healthy work-life balance.
How to do it:
- Go to your Google Calendar settings.
- Scroll down to “Working hours & location.”
- Set your availability for each day.
Google Calendar will automatically block out times that fall outside your working hours when others try to schedule with you, minimizing the chance of after-hours requests.
3. Block Time for Focused Work and Meal Breaks
One of the best ways to prevent the back-and-forth of scheduling is to block out time for focused work. By reserving parts of your calendar for important tasks or quiet work, you avoid interruptions and show others that you’re unavailable for meetings during that time.
How to do it:
- Simply create a recurring event or “Focus Time” event and mark yourself as “Busy.”
- Include a description if necessary to let others know what the time is reserved for.
- Block off Meal Breaks
- Use Google Calendar’s Focus Time feature to reserve blocks of time for dedicated work. You can also mark yourself as “Busy” during these periods, preventing others from scheduling meetings.
Blocking time for focused work is essential for staying productive, but don’t go overboard—if you block out your entire day, no one will be able to schedule time with you and the email ping-pong game will begin. Aim for a balance that sets clear boundaries while still allowing for collaboration. This helps keep your day structured and ensures you have time for deep work without cutting yourself off from important meetings or team discussions.
4. Set Up Appointment Schedule (formerly called Appointment Slots)
Google Workspace’s Appointment Schedule feature is a game-changer for anyone who needs to offer up specific times for meetings, office hours, or calls. Instead of emailing back and forth to figure out times, you can create blocks of availability and let others pick the slot that works for them. This is great for one-on-ones or faculty office hours.
How to do it:
- Open Google Calendar and create an event.
- Choose “Appointment slots” in the event type.
- Set the date, time, and duration of each slot.
- Share the appointment page link with your colleagues or clients.
Now, they can pick a time that works for them, and your calendar updates automatically. It’s like magic.
Use "Find a Time" or "Suggested Times"
If you’re working with colleagues who are also using Google Calendar, you can take advantage of the Find a Time or Suggested Times features. When creating an event, these tools will show you the times when all attendees are available, saving you from guessing and checking each individual’s calendar.
How to do it:
- When you create an event, add your guests and click “Find a Time” (in the event creation window).
- Google will display when everyone is free. Select the time that works for all, and you’re good to go!
No more juggling multiple calendars—let Google do the heavy lifting.
Final Thought
Managing your Google Workspace calendar is key to eliminating scheduling ping-pong and regaining control of your time. With tools like appointment schedule, suggested times, and working hours, you can streamline the scheduling process, cut down on email back-and-forths, and make your workday more productive. Start using these tips today and say goodbye to scheduling chaos for good.