In the past, every home used to have a physical calendar hanging on their walls. Some still do, but now most of the smartphones have Google Calendar hanging on their screens.

If you remember, at the beginning of the last year, I shared with you how I print and use a physical calendar for myself. Take a look at it and get your own 2025 calendar if you like the idea.
I also shared about generating "Add to calendar" link at the end of an invitation for the reader. Those links make it easy if you're used to telling people "pls add this event to your Calendar."
Looks like I have so much to share about calendars and organizers in general. So, why not include Google Calendar too?

As I said, Google Calendar is the modern-day wall-hanging calendar in every home, every office and every person's cubicle. So much so that people organize their day on Google Calendar and refer to it to check their availability.

Did you know there is a whole category of people sharing their Google Calendar screenshots to show off how occupied they are? My favourites come from this X handle @VCBrags. Look at this one:

VCs Congratulating Themselves 👏👏👏 @VCBrags Wow. You’ve been working very hard. We are all impressed. Thanks for sharing. https://twitter.com/sethbannon/status/1852736273976377674 Seth Bannon @sethbannon 48 meetings, 2 talks, time for rest 2:31 AM • Nov 3, 2024 484 Retweets 18312 Likes Read 131 replies

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In any case, let's talk about the multiple calendar option in Google Calendar.

What is a multiple calendar feature?

By default, Google Calendar allows us to create multiple calendars. For example, we can have different events listed on our screen for different settings: Work, Birthdays, Gym etc.
We can colour-code these events. That's why if you notice, many people's calendars have 2-3 different coloured event pills on them. Once you use it, you'll know.

Let's do this:

• Create a new calendar
• Add the event to your new calendar

Create a new calendar

Step-1

You need to log in to your Google account associated with Google Calendar and open the calendar.

Step-2

Go to settings by clicking on the gear icon in the right-hand corner.

Step-3

Find this option and click "Create new calendar"

Step-4

Provide a name to your calendar and hit the "Create calendar" button. It would take 10-15 seconds to create the calendar.

Step-5

You can find the newly created calendar on the same page in the left sidebar. You can see that I have a list of different calendars and the new calendar is added at the end. It has also received a different colour than the rest of the calendars.

Before adding this calendar, I had 5 calendars as you can see.

Add an event to the new calendar

Now, let's add an event to "The Friday Newsletter" calendar. Just go to the Calendar's homepage and create an event by pressing the plus sign. Everything remains the same, except, you have to select your preferred calendar's name from the dropdown.
In my case, I chose "The Friday Newsletter."
As you can see, we can also change the colour of this calendar's entry. I'm keeping it as it is.
Hit "Save".

Once saved, it is done!
You can see how it looks on my calendar.
The event is visible on 28th January in that specific colour.
Also note the public holiday calendar's light purple-coloured events. My January calendar has at least 4 different calendar events on it as evidenced by different colours.

Why use multiple calendars?

Using multiple calendars helps in several ways:

• Prioritize schedule
• Group events
• Add or remove events en-masse (you just need to hide or delete a specific calendar to remove a specific set of events)
• Separate work and family events, reminders etc.

Next week, we will see how to share our calendars with others or subscribe to other people's calendars. It is fascinating.

Do you use the multiple calendars feature? How do you manage your work and other commitments on a Google Calendar? Hit Reply and share your experience with me.

Also, if you think some of your colleagues need to learn and use these features, please forward this letter to them and invite to subscribe!

Reads of the week:

In this X post, ESR touches on some interesting points about the idea of an office. During the pandemic, WFH (Work From Home) became the norm among knowledge workers. And later on, the companies pushed for RTO (Return To Office).
I have benefitted immensely from WFH, I can't overstate the importance of not being disturbed and working on my own for hours. In my previous life, I enjoyed working from the office, but I haven't been THIS effective.

I hadn't given a thought to the idea of an office before reading this take from Eric. It makes sense. Open-floor offices are not offices.

Eric S. Raymond @esrtweet Today I'm here to rant about the hidden costs of return-to-office policies. No amount of management honking about fostering collaboration, building company culture, or professional development can obscure the fact that offices have become transcendently shitty places for anybody… https://x.com/i/web/status/1879644871415238899 3:10 AM • Jan 16, 2025 128 Retweets 876 Likes Read 75 replies

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