Students: Set Up Google Calendar to make life EASIER

Hey, what’s up? It’s me, Seth with sethperler.com. I’m making this video for you students today to make your life easier with Google Calendar.

In this video—students, middle school, high school, college students, parents, and teachers—you might like this too. But I’m specifically going to teach students how to set up your Google Calendar initially, the way I teach students to do it. They love it because it makes their life easier, gives them more freedom, more fun, and less stress.

I’m going to show you exactly how I set it up and why, so you can take these ideas if you like them.

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The first thing that’s going to happen when you log into your Gmail account—yes, you can use other tools for your calendar, but this is how we do it with Gmail—is that you’ll see your Google Calendar.

When you first log in, go up to the three dots. You can rearrange the order of these items, and I like to put Google Calendar first.

Next, you’ll see that the calendar is set to “Week” view by default. I do *not* like the week view. About 95% of my students switch to “Month” view, because with ADHD and executive function challenges, we tend to do better when we can see the big picture.

The month view gives you that big-picture perspective. You can always click into things for more detail, but seeing the full month helps prevent forgetting things, missing deadlines, or getting overwhelmed.

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Next, go to the corner and click the three lines. This will open up your calendar sidebar with categories.

At first, you’ll see your Gmail name, along with “Reminders” and “Tasks.” But we’re going to add custom categories.

The categories I recommend are:

* School
* Wellness
* Family
* Fun
* Important

I’ll explain each one.

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First, create “School.”

Why should school be first? Because it’s usually the area where students struggle the most—missing assignments, forgetting to turn things in, etc.

Click the three dots, go into “Settings and Sharing,” and change the calendar name to “SCHOOL” (all caps if you want it to stand out).

Then, click the three dots again next to it and change the color to red. Red is an alert color—like a stop sign. Your brain naturally pays attention to it, so it’s perfect for school-related tasks.

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Next is “Wellness.”

This includes anything related to your health and well-being—sports practice, gym, doctor appointments, dentist visits, mental health, nutrition, and so on. It’s a great category to keep everything health-related in one place.

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Then comes “Family.”

This is a powerful one because you can share this calendar with your family. They can add events for you—like travel plans, appointments, or schedules—which saves you time and mental energy.

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Next is “Fun.”

A lot of students only use their calendar for school or responsibilities. But you should also schedule fun.

Even your free time can go on your calendar. Some students say, “I don’t do anything for fun,” but they actually do—they just don’t notice it. Putting it in your calendar helps you recognize and prioritize it.

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Finally, “Important.”

This category is for things that don’t fit elsewhere—like getting a driver’s license, working on college applications, or other major life tasks.

You can also create additional categories for passions or hobbies—like music, sports, or creative work.

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Here’s a pro tip:

Let’s say you have a math assignment in your “School” category, and it’s colored red. Once you complete and turn it in, change it to green.

Why? Because green signals completion. If your teacher says you didn’t turn something in, you can confidently say you did—because you marked it green after submitting it.

Building this habit is incredibly helpful.

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So to recap:

Set up your calendar in Month view.
Create categories like School (red), Wellness, Family, Fun, and Important.
Use colors intentionally.
And build habits like marking tasks complete.

These simple systems will make your life so much easier as you get better at planning and organizing.

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Again, my name is Seth with sethperler.com.

If you like what I’m doing, go ahead and share it with someone. Like, comment, subscribe—all that.

But most importantly, I’d love to hear from you:
Do you have any pro tips for using Google Calendar? Any cool ideas we didn’t cover?

Leave them in the comments and help others make their lives easier.

Have a fantastic day. I hope you have peace in your heart, joy, and connection with people you care about.

Take care.