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Emacs: managing schedule

Posted on October 27th, 2007 by Sacha Chua

If you spend a lot of time in Emacs—writing code, reading mail,
saving the world—then it makes sense to manage your schedule in Emacs
as well.

Here are some productivity tips for getting the most out of Emacs scheduling:

  • Make it easy to add to your schedule. Bind your appointment-creation functions to shortcut keys and practice using them until you’ve memorized where they are.
  • Make it easy to review your schedule for the day. The keybinding C-c s is handy for this. If you prefer not to use the Control key, then F9 s or any of the other function keys might work. Diary: Bind M-x diary to a shortcut key. Org: Bind org-agenda-list to a shortcut key. Planner: Bind planner-goto-today to a shortcut key.
  • Set up an automatic reminder system such as Appt. If you can trust that your reminder system will interrupt you even if you’re focusing on something else, you’ll worry less about missing appointments. You’ll find it easier to stay focused because you won’t need to check your schedule as often.
  • If you need to be reminded earlier than normal, create another, earlier appointment. For example, if the commute to a meeting takes half an hour, you don’t want to be reminded of the meeting only 10 minutes before it starts. Create another appointment that starts at least half an hour before so that you’ll be on your way. It might be a good idea to start even earlier.
  • Planning ahead helps you save time and avoid stress. Plan your day the night before, or in the morning if you need to. Spend a little time during the weekend to review your upcoming week, making sure to schedule in time for your important tasks. Diary: C-u 7 M-x diary. Org: org-agenda (bind this to C-c a), choose the agenda view (a), and switch to week (w). Planner: Use planner-appt and M-x planner-appt-forthcoming-display. To include this in your Planner page, create a section for forthcoming appointments. For example, on your Saturday and Sunday templates, you can add a section heading * Forthcoming Appointments. I’ll post code on how to have day-specific templates soon.

On Technorati:

Random Emacs symbol: custom-variable-p – Function: Return non-nil if VARIABLE is a custom variable.

More posts about: emacs // Add Comment »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/4423
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