Video summary

How I Manage My Time - The Trident Calendar System

Main summary

Key takeaways

Wellness and Self-Improvement

Key wellness, self-care, and productivity strategies (Trident Calendar System)

1) Annual planning: “Year at a glance” (macro/time visualization)

  • Use a bullet journal “year at a glance” style view (12 month columns + date rows) to see the entire year on one page/sheet.
  • Recreate it digitally in Google Sheets for easy reuse and duplication.
  • Use it in two main ways:
    • Zoom out planning: identify what’s coming in upcoming months (trips, retreats, big commitments).
    • Plan and then sync: after deciding on blocks, reflect updates in Google Calendar so the “real” calendar matches the annual plan.
  • Make monthly review easier by hiding columns after you’ve reviewed the full-year view.

Wellness angle: Enables intentional scheduling of restful/leisure time (e.g., retreats, adventure time, planned weekends) rather than leaving it to chance.

2) Weekly planning: “Ideal Week” (protect time by designing your routine containers)

Define an ideal ordinary week by allocating your weekly hours deliberately.

Planning approach

  • Create a fresh Google Calendar just for the “ideal week.”
  • Block time around fundamentals:
    • Sleep window (e.g., aim to be asleep by 11pm; prep around 10pm)
    • Morning routine (repeat daily)
    • Deep work / focused work blocks
    • Meetings (team meeting, content meeting, 1:1s, etc.)
    • Workday start/end structure
    • Meals (schedule lunch/dinner windows)
    • Exercise (gym sessions)
    • Relationship/personal time (date nights, family dinners, classes, social evenings)

Use “containers” for both

  • Work outputs (writing, filming, batching interruptible tasks)
  • Personal life commitments (so they don’t get overridden by daily chaos)

Build in flexibility

  • Follow the structure as defaults, but allow room for derailments (urgent meetings, unexpected events).
  • Adjust by moving/declining optional items while preserving “sacred” defaults (e.g., date night).

Wellness angle: Schedules consistent sleep, morning routine, gym sessions, and relationship/family time to reduce stress and decision fatigue.

3) Daily planning: Calendar-first + “three daily quests” (work/health/relationships)

  • Day management is mostly: follow the blocks already in the calendar.
  • Weekly/daily adjustments:
    • When things change (e.g., you skip badminton this week), decline the event and replace it with a new block (e.g., book time).
  • Add structure with three daily quests (one per key domain):
    • Work quest (e.g., film content)
    • Health quest (e.g., go to the gym)
    • Relationship quest (e.g., call grandma)
  • Keep quests visible and “non-optional” by:
    • Scheduling them directly in the calendar (tasks and blocks)
    • Checking the calendar multiple times per day

Wellness angle: Turns health and connection into planned, protected commitments, not leftover intentions.

Additional time-management / productivity tips mentioned

  • Use spreadsheets instead of fancy apps when a simpler tool works (Google Sheets for year view).
  • Batch interruptible tasks (e.g., email/Slack) so they don’t derail deep work.
  • Use calendar features to speed planning:
    • Duplicate events easily (the speaker mentions Fantastical for fast duplication).
  • Reduce overwhelm by reframing constraints:
    • If something doesn’t fit, it’s often because you’re choosing priorities, not because you “lack time.”

Presenters / sources

  • Presenter: Ali (name referenced in the video as Ali; email shown as Ali al.com)
  • Coach / source referenced: Eric Parako (CEO coach)
  • Apps/tools referenced: Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Fantastical
  • Sponsor/source referenced: Huel

Original video