How do you visualize calendar time?

Question

I often have difficulty keeping track of upcoming dates and effectively understanding where the current day fits in relative to previous and future dates. One recent symptom of this is when it didn't occur to me during the last week of February that my March 2 plans were for the following week. Some time ago I started using a wall calendar instead of just a digital calendar and that's been a noticeable improvement in my time tracking, but since I only see one month at time, it still failed to prevent that Feb - March issue. Shortly after that happened, I bought a second wall calendar so I could see two months at once.One thing I've noticed with the physical wall calendars is that it allows me to associate a date with a location (eg. third row down on the calendar). This makes it easier to mentally anticipate upcoming events since I have a general sense of where today falls on the calendar and what I've thought about for the time associated with the nearby area. Thinking about events that aren't in the current or following month though puts me back at square one. I don't have a place to visualize them and I'm not aware of approaching them unless I look ahead on the calendar or until the event falls on the following month.Something I'm considering is trying to apply the method of loci memorization technique to the calendar for a year. That way I could visualize a real or imaginary linear landscape where each location is associated with a month and day. I'm not great at visualizing things though and have always found the method of loci difficult to implement, so I'm skeptical of how well I could get this to work for myself.In thinking about this, I'm reminded of the recent post on HN about how someone visualizes numbers [1]. I imagine people with more active or capable visualization abilities might have a similarly effective approach to conceptualizing time.How do you visualize calendar time?[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30539292

snisarenko · Accepted Answer

Just FYIGoogle Calendar web does allow you to shift your calendar view 1 week at a time (i.e. you can see 2 weeks from feb, 2 weeks for march). The UX for it is just super hidden and cumbersome.In the top left, there is a date selector. Click it, and then select a date in the middle of the month

kderbyma · Answer

I tend to use a circle as a representation with June and July floating around the 6PM position.
New years is 12 o clock, but it goes counter clockwise not clockwise.
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however, cards could work well for weeks. you give each a suit and a value.
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also for weekdays I think of it like a queue of slots which run like an assembly line shunting one at a time. with the weekend acting like a bigger bucket with a flexible divider.

tra3 · Answer

Are you sure this is worth the mental load?Whenever I have something that requires advanced preparation I set a reminder for weeks in advance. It doesn't always work, but trying to remember upcoming events is untenable, at least for me.

p0d · Answer

I have a printout of the next few months of my calender sitting under my keyboard.

How do you visualize calendar time?

Just FYI
Google Calendar web does allow you to shift your calendar view 1 week at a time (i.e. you can see 2 weeks from feb, 2 weeks for march). The UX for it is just super hidden and cumbersome.
In the top left, there is a date selector. Click it, and then select a date in the middle of the month

Are you sure this is worth the mental load?
Whenever I have something that requires advanced preparation I set a reminder for weeks in advance. It doesn't always work, but trying to remember upcoming events is untenable, at least for me.

I have a printout of the next few months of my calender sitting under my keyboard.