Must-Haves Calendar
Reserve time for priorities before lesser demands consume it
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 95%
The Must-Haves Calendar treats time allocation as evidence of priority. First, reduce the list to the work, relationships, practices, and causes that genuinely matter; Finkelstein says he keeps few nice-to-haves. Then place those must-haves directly in the calendar, including activities people often leave informal, such as meditation, walking with a spouse, time with children, or a recurring mentor conversation. Honour those appointments rather than hoping they fit around work. The mechanism is commitment before contention: reserving time in advance prevents lower-value demands from consuming every open space. A recurring review compares the calendar with the priorities you claim. The method should remain flexible where health, care, or emergencies make a rigid diary unrealistic.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01Important activities need explicit calendar space
- 02Personal commitments deserve the same scheduling discipline as meetings
- 03A small set of must-haves is easier to protect than many nice-to-haves
- 04Repeated relationships and practices can use recurring appointments
How to run it
- 1
Define the must-haves
Choose the few professional and personal commitments that matter most. Distinguish them from activities that would merely be nice to include.
Pro tip A shorter list makes trade-offs visible.
- 2
Put them in the diary
Reserve concrete time for each priority instead of leaving it to chance. Include personal and relationship commitments, not only formal meetings.
Pro tip Use recurring events for mentors, family rituals, and regular practices.
- 3
Protect the commitment
Treat the appointment as a real decision about time. Decline or move lesser demands when they conflict.
Watch out Do not turn the calendar into a measure of personal worth when circumstances force a change.
- 4
Audit calendar against values
Review whether the people and activities described as important actually received time. Adjust the next period when the diary and priorities diverge.
In the wild
Finkelstein says his calendar includes meditation, walks with his wife Lindsay, time skiing with his children, coffee, and recurring conversations with mentors. He attributes his ability to prioritize partly to diarizing and keeping these commitments.
→ Personal priorities receive protected time rather than being fitted around the remaining gaps.
Common mistakes
Scheduling only other people's demands
A calendar filled only with calls and meetings can exclude the relationships and practices you say matter most.
Calling everything essential
If every activity is a must-have, the calendar cannot express meaningful priority.
Is it for you?
Best for
Busy people whose work meetings crowd out relationships, health practices, mentoring, or focused priorities.
Not ideal for
Unpredictable caring, health, or emergency contexts where rigid scheduling would create additional strain.
From the transcript
“the things that I really really care about I diarize and I stick to that diarization”
“there's very few things that are like nice to haves in my life”
From the episode
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