Here’s something I set up to remind me to reconfigure goals using Google Calendar and Gmail’s filters and labels. I imagine you could do something similar with other calendar and email apps.
- I have sub-calendars in Google Calendar, such as “Queensland Holidays” (a subscribed calendar) and “work events” (which is where I put my work holiday dates and training courses, both of which might require goal adjustments).
- I set those sub-calendars to send email notifications 8 days in advance for each event. The subscribed holiday calendar is also set to send me an email when an event is added.
- In Gmail, I use filters that contain the names of the sub-calendars, e.g.,
from:(calendar-notification@google.com) subject:(Queensland Holidays) - The filters apply a label called “CONSIDER_BEEMINDER_PAUSE”
- I have that label coloured with white text on bright red background so it’s really obvious when it appears in my inbox, and this reminds me to think about adding a break to my goals if the event requires it.
I’m actually in the process of stopping using Google Calendar because I’ve found it unreliable recently and using the Linux remind program instead, which is massively powerful and supports scripting. I used it years ago and never should have moved away from it. Once I get it a bit more set up, I’ll be experimenting with getting it to send me customised reminders of events that might need goal tweaks, and I’ll post here about it. If anyone’s already doing something like that using remind, I’d love to hear about it!