8 Calendar Mistakes to Avoid (for busy people)!
About this video
Jeff Su outlines eight calendar mistakes to avoid, saying he does not time-block his whole calendar but uses the Highlight method from the book Make Time: pick one task for the day using three questions about urgency, satisfaction and joy, and block only that. Tactically, he creates events via cal.new or an app launcher shortcut, attaches Docs/Sheets to events via the @ chip, and schedules from Gmail’s companion bar or ‘offer times’ instead of opening a new tab. He recommends tailoring settings: a custom 3-day view on the X shortcut, dimming past events, and enabling ‘modify event’ as the default guest permission. He also enables a secondary time zone and world clock, views Tasks full-screen, and for action reminders uses an email notification plus a Gmail filter that labels it ‘followup’. Finally, he keeps a recurring Monday checklist event and does a recurring meeting audit, listing past meetings and hours per quarter to decide what to keep or change cadence on.
Key takeaways
- Creator prefers the Highlight method from Make Time — block one daily highlight chosen by urgency, satisfaction and joy — over full time-blocking he says he could not maintain.
- Create events faster via cal.new or a launcher keyword, attach files with the @ chip, and schedule from Gmail without leaving the inbox.
- Customize Calendar: set a custom view (creator uses 3 days), dim past events, and default guest permission to ‘modify event’ to cut back-and-forth.
- For action-type reminders, pair an email notification with a Gmail filter/label so the reminder is visibly flagged for follow-up.
- Run a recurring meeting audit: total hours per meeting per quarter in a template, then keep, drop or change cadence, framing it as a time-saver for both parties.
Episode details: published December 26, 2023 · 8:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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