In early 2015, I made a sign that still hangs above my primary monitors at work. It is an oversized banner plotter print that asks in big, bold letters, “Does your calendar reflect your priorities?” It has moved with me through four office relocations, each time rolled carefully and put into a packing box to be unfurled and carefully hung in my next digs. It is the ultimate reminder of intention. Unfortunately, most of my clear memories involving the sign are gazing up at it while woefully uttering “Nope.”
The question “Does your calendar reflect your priorities?” asks how time is allocated in alignment with what is most important. It is time to reevaluate if you look at your schedule and don’t see clear evidence of your top priorities. Your daily actions should be consistent with your long-term goals and values.
There are many underlying reasons your time might get hijacked. The demands of urgent but unimportant tasks such as phone calls, emails, unexpected visitors, and pop-up meetings (that almost always could have been an email) create a cycle of disruption. Overcommitment or an inability to say “no” can lead to a schedule packed with the needs of others rather than your own.
Sometimes, a lack of clarity about priorities can also contribute to calendar misalignment. If you aren’t clear about what truly matters, it is easy for a schedule to be filled with tasks and meetings that feel productive but don’t contribute meaningfully to long-term goals. Without a clear sense of direction, it’s easy to mistake activity for meaningful work. Sometimes, there might be a misalignment with values, creating a gap between intention and action.
“Does your calendar reflect your priorities?” can also apply to tennis. It’s easy to fill your time allocated to the sport with league play and social matches while neglecting core developmental activities like conditioning, stroke technique, or video review. The fundamentals that drive long-term improvement can be crowded out by routine play or commitments that are fun yet don’t propel you toward your aspirations in the sport. Without a conscious effort to block time for your tennis priorities, the calendar can become an unintended reflection of convenience rather than importance.
Aligning your calendar with your priorities, whether in tennis or life, starts with achieving clarity about your goals and values. When you’re clear on what matters most, the schedule becomes a strategic tool rather than a recurring imposition. Intentional planning is essential, including the ability to say “no” occasionally. While familiar patterns are comfortable, if they don’t always reflect your current priorities, it’s a problem. Regular reflection and an openness to change can transform your calendar into time that truly matters.
My battle with aligning my calendar to my priorities is an ongoing saga. It’s an imperfect process, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be fully in alignment between time and my goals. But maybe that’s okay. Without that ongoing tension, I would likely be convinced that I’m not pushing hard enough toward the myriad of things that I value. In the end I believe it is better to have a lot of that than none.
I will surely take that sign home when I retire from the day job.
