Maybe Events

When deciding whether you can do something on a given day, you have to
look at not just what you have to do, but what you might want to do that's
going on that day. This is tricky if you adopt, as I have, the GTD notion
that your calendar should be used only to block off time that you're
actually committed to, like for meetings and classes etc, thus defining
hard edges to the landscape of your flexible time (that is available to be
managed). I discovered creating "no time" calendar events on the days
where something is going on is really useful for this. I prefix these
"Maybe Events" with an "ii" (the easiest letters to enter on a palm
pilot). That's to distinguish them from other no time notes, like when I
have library books due. Now when I see a poster or get a facebook invite
to something coming up, like a concert or talk or party I'm not sure
about, I add it to that day as a maybe event, making sure to include the
address, time, and cost - all factors that could influence whether I
decide to go for it. To plan my weekday or weekend, I look at the entry
for that day, with all the maybe events stacked up at the top (7 for this
weekend alone) and sort it out.