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Using a Strategic Calendar

This section teaches you how to quickly set up a strategic calendar—a time-map showing when you want to spend time in each area of your life. The Trog Bar will use your strategic calendar as a map to decide which tasks to show you at any moment. Your strategic calendar is an essential part of setting up the Trog Bar!

In the next 15 minutes, you will learn:

• How to create a strategic caledar
• How to block your time
• How to create recurring blocks of time

Creating a Basic Strategic Calendar

You will block out time in your week for different areas of your life. You will not select these blocks of time in your main calendar. You will plan them in a supplemental "Strategic Calendar" that is only a general framework for your time. Don't schedule appointments into your strategic calendar.

Step-by-step instructions for creating your strategic calendar:

1.	Go to Outlook's Calendar view by clicking the Calendar icon on the Trog Bar.
2.	In Outlook, click on File > New > Calendar (or "New Folder" in Outlook 2003)
3.	On the screen that says, "Create New Folder" --
	Click on the existing "Calendar" file.
	Type "Strategic Calendar" in the name field.
4.	Click "OK."

In the upper-left corner of Outlook, click on "Strategic Calendar". This will open your view to both your regular calendar and your strategic calendar. Uncheck the box next to your regular calendar so that only your strategic calendar is visible.

Change your calendar view to show half-hour blocks of time for the entire seven day week. (Outlook shows half-hour increments by default.)

	1.	Open the "Tools" menu and select "Options..."
	2.	Click the "Calendar Options" button

3.	Under the heading "Calendar Work Week," check the boxes for all seven days. This does not mean that you will be working seven days per week. This changes Outlook to always show you a full week.
4.	Click "OK" to exit the screen, and click "OK" to save your options.
5.	Open the "View" menu
6.	Select "Work Week" from the list. Your calendar should show all seven days.

Blocking Out Time

Block out time for the major areas of your life, like work and community responsibilities. (Follow specific directions below.) Anything that happens at a non-negotiable time, like work, church, or school, should just be handed their time-slots. Don't worry about blocking out lunch times and don't worry about getting the exact amount of time exactly right for everything. Add in time for other important areas, but don't worry about putting everything in or filling up all of your time. This won't cover everything, but it will serve as a guide for your tasks until you can complete a better one.

Make sure you schedule time for all the major areas of your life where you assign tasks. If you don't, things will slip through the cracks. You'll have tasks that don't really have any time scheduled for them. Don't put appointments in, just general time-outlines for where you will be spending your time.

Example: Every Sunday you attend church from 9 to 11 am. You also prepare an hour before church and tend to linger afterwards for nearly an hour. Schedule 8 to 12 as (Church). You are not scheduling the meeting. You are scheduling the time you will spend on church-related things.

Recurring in Your Strategic Calendar

Schedule blocks of time in you Strategic Calendar as appointments. Make sure that you schedule these times as recurring appointments so that they will appear on the calendar every week at the same time.

	1.	Pick a time for the "appointment to begin (Ex: a start time for work).
		Right-click on the time you want it to start. A menu will appear.
		Select "Recurring Appointment" on the menu.
	2.	In the window that pops up, set-
		The start time,
		Duration,
		Days of the week that you want to block appear.

3.	Name the recurring block of time according to the area of your life which it represents. Ex. Work, Family, Church, etc.
4.	Categorize the recurring block of time according to the area of your life it represents. Make sure that the category name you choose has the same name as the corresponding task category in Trog. This tells Trog to the kinds of tasks that are most likely to apply during this block of time.
	Categorize (Work) times in the calendar so that Trog emphasize (Work) tasks as your priority.
	Categorize (Personal) times in the calendar so that Trog will hide (Work) tasks during your personal time and show only (Personal) tasks.
5.	Continue adding appointments. Begin with the most rigid areas of you life, like work. Add important areas like school or personal fitness. Finish by adding any other areas to the remaining time.

The weekly/monthly plan doesn't have to be perfect the first time around. Every month, look at your strategic calendar and decide what changes you need to make. If you don't know how much time to give something, guess. You can tweak it later if you were wrong.

When you have your calendar set up, go to the options screen in Trog (the plus sign in the upper-right corner of the bar).

6.	Click on the button "Select Profile and Folder Options"
7.	If there is a (+) next to "Calendar" click it.
8.	Click on "Strategic Calendar"
9.	Open the drop-down menu to the right of the calendar name and select "Strategic Calendar." This tells Trog where to find the strategic calendar you just set up.
10.	Click "OK" at the top to confirm the change.

Trog will now show the most pertinent tasks around the correct time. At work, you will see and do your work. Your family will not be any less important--they have separate blocks of time which you will honor. In fact, because they have separate time, you won't have to worry about neglecting them. Simply honor your appointments (the time you have chosen to start and end work and other responsibilities), and you'll have time for everything that is important to you according to its priority.

Remember to schedule appointments and tasks in your regular calendar, not your strategic calendar!

• Setting Up Email Relief
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