Save 45 Minutes with a 30-Second Reminder

I ran into a simple mess that stole 45 minutes. In this email, I show how a tiny reminder can stop that from happening and how to set it up fast.

Small Slip, Big Cost

I planned a quick handoff meeting with someone and they forgot. That small miss turned into extra driving and lost focus.

This was a good reminder for me. A lot of wasted time comes from missed cues between people, not broken tools.

I don’t want to babysit. But I do want to protect our shared time with one small nudge.

The 30-Second Fix

I use a simple rule: schedule the plan, then schedule the reminder. A short “See you in 15” heads off most misses.

Here’s what I do now. Add the event to my calendar and include their email or phone in the notes.

Turn on reminders 15–30 minutes before. Email, text, or a calendar pop-up all work.

For booked calls, tools like Calendly send auto reminders. I keep both a day-before and an hour-before notice.

If it’s important, I automate a text. Calendar → Zapier → SMS to both of us.

No tools handy? I set a phone reminder to send a quick text 10–15 minutes before. Short and friendly wins. It might be manual, but the time savings from one saved misconnection can be pretty big.

One quick question 👋

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P.S. Looking for resources to improve your productivity? Check out the tools I use right here.