And that’s where color-coded calendars can help. In other words, the first step to making something happen is to pay attention to it. There are no easy solutions to any of these issues, but there’s an old business saying that ‘what gets measured, gets managed.’ Anything from a new baby to a new home can be something that takes over your life. There was one point in my life when I was working really crazy hours for that reason.įamily, socialising, fun activities, hobbies and personal development can all lose out.īut it’s not just work that can be all-consuming. With no steady income stream, it’s easy to feel that you can’t turn down any work offered to you. Going freelance, or starting a business, is a classic example. There are probably few people in the world who haven’t had a time in their lives when they seem to do nothing but work. But I also use them to help me maintain a balanced life … Many people use color-coding to distinguish work and social events, as well as things like family calendars. But making the switch from a Filofax to a grayscale PDA did mean giving up one thing I didn’t get back until years later: color-coded calendars. It will surprise no-one to know that I was an early adopter of electronic calendars, starting with a Casio Digital Diary in the early 1990s, followed by a Psion 5mx in 1997.