What does diary management actually mean?

February 20th 2025 – Written By Stephanie Sheargold

Ever found yourself wondering what to do with that spare hour in your working day?

No, us neither.

After all, as a small business owner, there’s rarely enough time in the day to complete everything on your to-do list. Time management techniques such as diary management won’t find you an extra hour in each day, but they will help you get on top of your commitments, and that can help you become more productive and efficient.

 

What is diary management?

Diary management is the act of controlling your working day by keeping track of all your commitments. This includes internal and external meetings, appointments, travel, breaks, reminders, and admin time. Good diary management helps you visualise your commitments so you can work more realistically without overcommitting yourself to additional phone calls or deadlines. It also helps you work in a more healthy and sustainable way.

Yet there’s a problem with diary management – you need to find time to do it. How ironic that the thing that can help you free up time actually takes time to implement.

The solution? Getting support from your virtual assistant.

 

How do you outsource your diary management?

Outsourcing your diary management means passing your diary management to someone else – your VA. Now, we agree that handing diary management to someone else can feel challenging – as if you’re relinquishing control of the one thing that’s truly yours – your time. But hear us out, it really works!

Here’s how to start outsourcing your diary management:

You’ll need an online calendar such as Google or Outlook that your VA can access. You’ll also need to give your VA access to your emails so they can stay in touch with your meeting requests and cancellations.

Start by defining your working hours and non-negotiables. Do you want to take a 30-minute lunch break? Need to stop at 3pm so you can collect your kids from school? Some people like to add a movement break into their diary to prevent aches and pains from setting in. Factor these essentials into each day as must-dos. Now, you can start populating your other commitments.

How much working time do you need? Cal Newport’s Deep Work tells us task blocking is the key to successfully completing your workload. How much time do you need per week to get through your to-do list? Be realistic! Add that to your schedule, preferably in blocks of two or three hours at a time.

Now, define your preferences around each type of meeting. Do you need time to prepare for a certain type of meeting? How do you feel about doing all your meetings on one day, one after the other? Perhaps you benefit from decompression time after hosting. Share this information with your VA; they can then consider this when booking or agreeing to a meeting on your behalf.

With this defined, your VA can now start handling your calendar for you.

 

The problem with diary management

The biggest drawback with diary management is… you. It’s so tempting to continue to put meetings in or edit entries yourself. However, with a VA in place, you don’t need to – all you’re doing is making more work for everyone! So long as your VA has all the information they need, you should be able to fire off any meeting request and know it is off your desk and onto someone else’s who will make all the arrangements for you.

Naturally, your diary can be managed remotely. You may find your assistant is the first person to react when your meeting attendee cancels at short notice or when someone needs an urgent phone call. Knowing you have an assistant on your side to juggle your arrangements means you can carry on with confidence. What seems chaotic to you is the kind of task your virtual assistant takes in their stride.

 

Diary management is more than booking meetings.

Diary management is more complex than simply adding meetings to your calendar. A good Virtual Assistant will also be able to confirm meetings with attendees, confirm details of new meeting venues and even organise pre-reading you might need. Need to arrange a meeting with several attendees, all of whom are in different time zones? It’s the kind of task your VA was born to do.

Wondering if diary management is right for you? Read more about our high quality diary management service, or request a callback so you can learn more about how we work.

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