


We post every single family event and deadline in the Kato-Pineda calendar: playdates, birthday parties, dentist appointments, date night, dinner party at home, Maki’s parents’ trip to Japan, when my older son doesn’t have school, when the nanny is on vacation, yada, yada. Maki and I set up a Kato-Pineda calendar in Google calendar. If you have a Gmail account, you have Google Calendar. With help and nudging from my husband, Maki, here is what I’ve done. Over the last year, I’ve been working to take back my calendar and task list.

Something had to give and I needed a better system. I was trying to manage tasks in my email, voice mail, company IMs (instant messages), company intranet and regular mail. I was getting emails from the school, from my son’s room parents, and from the cubmaster about upcoming events and deadlines. My work calendar was fine it was the school stuff that was out of hand. Like most busy working people and parents, I can get overwhelmed by the many people, tasks and appointments vying for my attention throughout the day.
