Author's Note: FYI–I "learned" this at the Practical Profits seminar in Las Vegas a couple of months ago from a guy named James Jones.

As business owners who conduct some or all of our business on the internet, we have become accustomed to using a lot of whiz-bang tools. We use browsers, office applications, PDF makers, automation tools, and the like. We use keyword tools, backlink tools (BST anyone?), and "niche finders."

Whatever the hell that is!

Often, we get stumped on the technology: Setting up databases and scripts, WordPress, static html sites, and what not.

At least I do. And I spent the last 15 years in tech! Some of this stuff is just ridiculous.

Allow me to present to you another internet marketing tool (hold your hat, this one's about to blow it off!) —

The calendar.

No, not Outlook's calendar. Nor your google online calendar. Nope. That paper kind. Allow me to explain.

I went down to the local OfficeMax the other day and picked up one of those 60-90-120 Day Planners. I use the 90 day view. It just works for me. I punched 3 holes in it, along the top: One on the far left, one in the middle, and one on the far right. I picked up some of those plastic hooks with the double-sided tape on it and hung the whole shebang on my wall, right in front of and over the top of my PC monitor.

Now, at a glance, I can see what I'm up to on any given day, week, month, or quarter.

But more than that, I use it to plan my days.

This is vitally important.

As busy business people, we are often a slave to the "urgent" matters. You know, the little fires that crop up that seize your day and leave you wondering what the hell happened to your day. You know exactly what I'm talking about!

However, if I plan my days, I simply don't have time to mess with stuff that doesn't matter. The little fires either put themselves out or they get bigger and draw more attention. Now, I'm not talking about ignoring an urgent request from a customer. No. What I'm talking about is not giving little details–often times they're technical in nature–more attention than they're worth.

Of course, if a customer's website is down, and you build and maintain it, you're on the hook.

Here's how I use my calendar, in a nutshell:

My "hard-coded" standing meetings are on there, like so: Event name and time.

I then fill in the days with those tasks (yes, tasks, this is tactical, not strategic. Conducting strategy sessions should be on the calendar, but now it's a task — as in, "Get 'er done!") that I have to accomplish.

For example, one of the best uses of a calendar of this nature is your email campaign (you have at least one, right?) — every day, you should be emailing your subscribers a message that provides value to them. Sprinkle in an occasional offer and you're golden.

NOT doing this leaves money on the table that some other marketer is going to take. Not steal. But take. Might as well be yours to take.

Here's another thought: Use your bigass calendar to concentrate on the thing you most want to accomplish in the next 30-60-90 days.

For example, I may want to build my list. So for the next 3 months, my calendar will be filled with various tasks that I will use to build my marketing list. I may want to create several small reports that I can use to entice blog visitors to become subscribers; I may put an opt-in form on my Facebook fan page; I may ask other bloggers and website owners if I can blog as a guest on their sites; or, I may change my signature on forums to point back to my opt-in page.

Of course, I could do all of the above (but wait!) and MORE! Essentially, I want to schedule tasks every single day  that will help me build my list.

I encourage you to use this method to really focus on a particular area that you want to improve. Let me know your thoughts in the Comments!