Time to Plan
I don’t know what this city is trying to do to us. It’s like we’re all being trained to multi-task and set our social priorities, with a bunch of exciting events happening all at the same time in the past few weeks. My style for hitting as many events as possible is pretty simple. I definitely use my iPhone calendar and reminders to schedule EVERYTHING. There are emojis for events that I can’t miss, for events where a “Hi/ Bye” is acceptable, and events in the “only if I can make it” category. My goal is to make them all, but my reality is around the 80 percent mark.
I never thought there would be a time when someone asks me what my plans are and I have to look at my phone before answering.
That’s the kind of stuff only people running multibillion-dollar companies with four assistants need to do. Who the hell am I? I’m a working woman, that’s who — and I have three jobs and a charity to run. No wonder I don’t have a boyfriend. My Tinder account even has cobwebs. It’s the sacrifice I have made to have this life, and for now it is what’s making me happy.
For now.
With jobs where career bleeds into social bleeds into gigs, there is one app that is simply divine with keeping me on track when I don’t even have time to see if I’m actually on track.
Before I go on, I should tell you that I haven’t had any notifications set for social media since I got my iPhone two years ago. It was so distracting, and I was looking down at my phone way more than what’s probably socially acceptable. It felt OK for a little while because everyone was doing it, but after a meal out with six people and maybe 10 minutes of actual conversation between 45 minutes of face-in-phone, I decided to take a stand. No. More. Notifications. It’s actually a lot more fun to look at one time, when I’m ready. Then you see allllll the feedback in one giant clump of love.
Of course, there is the anxiety of being tagged in a terrible photo or someone leaving a NSFW comment on your Instagram, but there is a great weight lifted from your life once you decide to take these notifications out of your equation. The only alert that should be popping up on your phone is when you’re required (or desired) to be somewhere.
Anyway, the app for a busy life is Tempo Smart Calendar. It brings up an automatic map for driving directions to my next appointment, and I have the option to send “running late” texts or emails to meeting attendees. Of course, for that feature to work, you all need to be included in the same meeting request (aren’t people doing that by now though?).
I am able to connect the app to my work Outlook, as well as my Gmail, and the social areas of my life on Twitter and Facebook. Now the events I can’t miss are side-by-side automatically with the events I don’t want to miss. I can even get creepy and pull up detailed information about the person or company I’m about to meet with — thank you, LinkedIn and Google.
Scheduling is so important in keeping a balanced life. If you can get in the habit of scheduling all of it — work meetings, social functions, workouts, dates, farmers markets, reminders — then watch how easy your life will get.
@SUPERCW
Christa Wittmier is “SUPERCW” on all social media. Find her on Snapchat, Soundcloud, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. By night, she is known as DJ SuperCW. By day, she is known as senior marketing director for Young’s Market Company of Hawaii. Her nightlife blog SuperCity runs every Wednesday on HonoluluPulse.com.
