That is more than a little frustrating. Here are some tips and tricks to help.

• Choose a calendar that works with you, not against you. There are lots of choices, so choose with your particular needs in mind. Here are somethings to consider:

• Is portability important? Will you be going from meeting to meeting or traveling between clients? If so, you will need something that moves with you easily. Conversely, if you stay in one play for the majority of the time the size of the calendar may not be so critical.
  

• Is there plenty of room for you to enter all the information you need? You don't want to be trying to figure out what your abbreviations mean each time you are about to leave for an appointment.

• What layout will best your needs? Do you need to see only a day at time, or do you want to be able to scan a week or a month in one glance? Make sure the format you choose allows for a variety of views so you aren't left frustrated.

• Keep your calendar near by at all times. If it is out of reach you risk double booking yourself because you can't easily check for conflicts, and you will be less likely to enter new information.

• Write down or enter ALL appointments or tasks as soon as you learn of them, do it immediately, don't wait. Be sure to enter all recurring commitments as well.  You may think you will remember to do something regularly, but why leave anything to chance when you have a system that will do the remembering for you.

• Work your calendar for all it is worth. Use it jog your memory and help you prepare ahead of time for appointments. For instance, if you have a presentation to give in June, schedule prep time into the weeks leading up to the delivery date. If you have to travel to a conference in September that requires a plane ticket, make a note to purchase that ticket during July. Anything you have to do should be scheduled if you want to guarantee it gets done.

• Write with pencil or erasable ink if you are using a paper planner. Cross outs and rewrites are difficult to read, and can be very confusing.

• Learn how to use the functions if you use an electronic planner. A particularly useful one is the reminder alert. Setting an alert allows you to fully engage in a project without having to keep an eye on the clock. The alert can be set to sound a certain number of minutes ahead of your next scheduled appointment, giving you time to wrap up and get there on time.