How to Spring Clean Your Calendar

With signs of Spring and fresh new blooms on the horizon, you might already be planning your spring cleaning to-dos—dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing, and decluttering. Your physical space could use some love, and there’s a decent chance your calendar (and work life) could also use your time and attention. Many of us carry unnecessary excess on our calendars, wasting time unnecessarily and leaving our brains fuzzy.

Spring is the perfect time for a fresh start and a good time to reset your calendar habits. And while it might sound daunting and like more work to add to your never-ending to-do list, you’ll thank yourself later for the favor. 

Here’s how to cross “spring cleaning” off your to-do list, reclaim your workday, and enter the new season with better schedule hygiene.

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But first, what does a spring cleaning entail? 

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Spring cleaning your calendar involves:

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• Auditing meetings (especially recurring ones) 
• Assessing your Focus Time (and adjusting as needed)
• Blocking time for your daily must-haves (lunch, breaks, and more)
• (Bonus): Color-coding your calendar for quick schedule overviews

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Your role and daily work influence how deep your spring cleaning should go. You don’t have to tackle all these areas, but the more of them you have time for, the better! (It might be a big lift now, but you’ll reap the benefits for months to come—promise.) 

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4 benefits of spring cleaning your calendar

Dedicating time to improving your calendar hygiene and refreshing your workday practices offers tangible productivity benefits and mental clarity. Let us convince you why prioritizing spring cleaning your calendar is essential. The key benefits include: 

A workday calendar you don’t hate 

Your work schedule is a snapshot of how you prioritize your time, and more importantly, it tells you a lot about how your organization approaches productivity, connection, and flow states. The common saying is true: if you don’t decide how you are spending your time, someone else (or many of them) will choose for you. 

One of the significant benefits of spring cleaning your calendar is that you can gauge and assess what’s working and what isn’t from a meeting perspective so you can redirect and refocus for the rest of the year. Rather than go the entire calendar year without addressing meeting hangovers, unnecessary meetings, and poorly run recurring ones, spring cleaning allows you to adjust and turn bad meetings into good ones. 

Increased productivity and focus

Just like spring cleaning our homes and physical environments can boost happiness and productivity, a calendar spring cleaning can do the same. Susan Albers, PsyD, a psychologist with Cleveland Clinic, explained that “digital clutter is just as toxic to your mental health as physical clutter,” specifically about phones. If this is true of phones filled with apps, photos, texts, and emails, it’s unsurprising that a chaotic workday schedule does the same. Spending time assessing, reflecting, and eliminating calendar clutter, like double-bookings and fragmented meeting schedules, improves mental health and productivity.

More efficient communication and collaboration 

A calendar spring cleaning can uncover opportunities for you and your team to redefine and reestablish relationship dynamics and how best to work together. Reviewing your workflows and reducing distractions and notifications without sacrificing collaboration is a good practice. Prevent time-wasting calls and find new ways (maybe asynchronously) to work together. 

Prevention mechanisms against overworking and burnout

A clean and organized calendar that reflects your workday priorities and preferences will prevent overworking and unnecessary overload. When you have enough Focus Time, an appropriate amount of productive meetings, and healthy boundaries, you’re better equipped to maintain control of your workday and reserve energy and headspace for life outside of work. 

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Step-by-step tips to spring clean your calendar

Ready to get to cleaning? Here’s your checklist so you can enjoy a refreshed season ahead. 

Step 1: Audit your meetings 

Yes, all of them. Review all meetings you attended over the last three months, especially the recurring ones. 

Run through your meetings one by one and ask yourself: 

• Does this meeting work well for me? (For my team?)
• Does this meeting feel like a dreaded waste of time? If so, what’s painful about it?
• Would a meeting length or cadence adjustment be helpful? 
• Is there another way to accomplish the goal of this meeting? (i.e., Is email a better format? Shared documentation? Other asynchronous tools?) 

Auditing your meetings early in the year helps ensure you make the most of your time to avoid unnecessary and poorly run ones for the rest of the year. Your future self will thank you.

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Step 2: Assess your Focus Time (aka deep work)

How much Focus Time, or time for deep work, do you actually need each week? 

Now, compare that with the amount of Focus Time you average weekly. Do the numbers match up? If not, where can you adjust and create more deep work blocks throughout the workweek?

Focus Time is crucial for maximizing productivity and reserving enough time to do your job. If you’re a Clockwise user, revisit your Focus Time goals and flexibility settings to automate and protect your Focus Time. 

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Step 3: Block time for your daily must-haves

Are you taking enough breaks throughout the day? Protecting your calendar so you can eat lunch? 

Avoid hoping you’ll have time for these activities and block this time on your calendar instead. You can always adjust your holds (or use Clockwise and let us help you by setting your preferences in the Ideal Day tab).

With Clockwise, in addition to Focus Time, you can schedule holds for:

• Lunch
• Travel time 
• Breaks between consecutive meetings
• Recurring routines (such as going for a walk or submitting your expense report, and protecting time for personal commitments, like school pick up or a daily walk) 

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Step 4: Color-code your calendar

As a bonus, consider color-coding your calendar for easier visualization and high-level overviews of your schedule. 

Color-coding your calendar allows you to glance at your schedule quickly and understand how you are spending your time. You can also use color psychology to your advantage, aligning colors of different types of calendar holds with the emotion you associate with each event. (For example, consider using red for urgent meetings and important deadlines that require action and focus.) 

With Clockwise, you can enable automatic color-coding in the Ideal Day tab. 

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Spring clean your way to a better workday

Freshen up your calendar hygiene after the winter months with a spring cleaning that extends beyond your home. Establishing healthy calendar habits lays the foundation for a productive year without unnecessary excess and overwhelm.

For more calendar-specific refresh tips and advice, download our Calendar Cleanup Week guide with expert tips from seasoned experts, including Brian Elliott, Lorraine K. Lee, Manuela Bárcenas, and Clockwise CEO Matt Martin. 

Everyone deserves a calendar and workday that doesn’t suck. Take control and spring clean your way to a better workday today. 

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