12 Days of Google Tips: Tip 11 - Using Focus Time in Google Calendar

Tis the season of giving and I've been inspired by my PLN and a certain holiday song 😉 to share some Google Workspace Tips that I've either discovered or rediscovered in 2021. To be precise, the plan is two share 12 Google tips in addition to any other posts I am inspired to complete during the month of December. I will link other 12 Days of Google posts at the end of each post for your reference. 

Today I wanted to share my 11th tip connected to a feature in Google Calendar that has helped me quite a bit to wrap up 2021. Did you know you can set a "Focus time" in Google Calendar?

I've struggled a bit this year keeping up with my goal to grow as a teacher and learner. A big part of that is reading some of the awesome books written for educators by educators. (Have you ever checked out my Recommended Book Site?) 

 

In November I started using the "Focus time" feature in Google Calendars to remind myself to take at least 20 minutes to read. I set this at a time between classes when I don't typically have meetings. I don't always read at the time I set, but having the reminder usually helps me to find the time to read. 

The "Focus time" feature is built into Google Calendar when a user creates an event. Right now, I believe it is only available in the upgraded Google workspace editions, so I apologize if you can't see this, but you could still use the idea in any version of Google Calendar and just label the event as focus time.  You might also want to explore "Google Tasks" if you can't access the focus option. 

If you've never seen this before here is a quick step by step tutorial to get you started.

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Click on Create.
3. Choose "Focus time" and set any other details such as reminders or if you want the time to be set as public or private. 
4. You can also set it up as a "recurring time" event to set reminders for specific days and times. 

This help page has all the additional details: Use focus time in Google Calendar

Bonus

Did you know that you can also use the Google Calendar App to create goals?

Create goals in Google Calendar - You can make time for the important things in your life by creating goals in Google Calendar.

All the 12 Days of of Google Posts

• Tip 1: Quickly Create Text Hyperlinks in Docs and Slides
• Tip 2: Organizing Chrome with Bookmark Folders and Bookmark Editor
• Tip 3:Linking Directly to a Word, Phrase, or Place on a Webpage
• Tip 4: Google / Chrome Omnibox Search Tools
• Tip 5: Google Chrome Reading Lists
• Tip 6: Google Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts
• Tip 7: Customize New Tab Page in Chrome
• Tip 8: Google Docs the @menu (Smart Chips)
• Tip 9: Searching Chrome Tabs
• Tip 10: Organizing Files and Folders in Google Drive
• Tip 11: Using Focus Time in Google Calendar
• Tip 12: Updated Table Properties in Google Documents

Please let me know if you have any questions. #HappyLearning