A little AI can turn a chore into something far more enjoyable.

The Original Video Project

Last year, I created a tutorial video for schools planning their calendars using Google Calendar. Schools face a common problem: they have the same holidays and activities each year, but the dates change annually. This makes it impossible to set up simple recurring events.

My solution? I showed how to create events in a spreadsheet, export them, and import them into Google Calendar. With this method, schools just need to update dates once a year, export to CSV, and import into Google Calendar.

The video became popular! But two issues made me want to remake it:

1. The image quality wasn’t good enough
2. A viewer asked an excellent question I hadn’t covered

The comment read:

“This was so helpful! Thank you! Question. When I have to add more dates, do I need to make a new sheet every time? Meaning, will the current info I have already imported on the spreadsheet double up if I add dates to the spreadsheet and ‘re-import’ it to Google Calendar? Should I delete the dates that have already been imported?”

I remade the video last week and linked it in this blog post.

Minimizing Work When Remaking Videos

How can you save time when remaking videos? Let me show you my process.

I always write a script first. This prevents rambling and gives viewers the best info in the shortest time. For the update, I wanted to use last year’s content as my starting point.

Did you know you can download any YouTube video’s transcript? Here’s how:

1. Click in the video description section to find the transcript link
2. The transcript displays with time stamps for each line
3. Click the three-dot menu and select “hide the time stamps”
4. Copy the entire text

But I hit a snag. The transcript appeared as short lines with random breaks between each segment. I needed clean, flowing text without those breaks.

AI to the Rescue!

I turned to ChatGPT with this prompt: “I’ll give you the transcript from a YouTube video. Please eliminate the unnecessary line breaks. Break into paragraphs. Insert headings and subheadings as appropriate.”

After pasting the YouTube transcript, ChatGPT returned beautifully formatted text.

Now I just needed to add content addressing the viewer’s question about adding new events. Since I hadn’t considered this possibility and didn’t know the answer, I turned to AI again.

I asked Google Gemini: “Someone asked this question: When I have to add more dates, do I need to make a new sheet every time? Meaning, will the current info I have already imported on the spreadsheet double up if I add dates to the spreadsheet and ‘re-import’ it to Google Calendar? Should I delete the dates that have already been imported? How would you answer that question?”

Gemini provided the perfect answer:

That’s a great question, and a common one when working with data imports! Here’s how I’d answer it, focusing on clarity and helpfulness for your viewer:

“Great question!  You don’t need to create a new sheet every time you add more dates.  The key is to understand how the import process works and how to manage your data.

Here’s the breakdown:  When you ‘re-import’ from your spreadsheet to Google Calendar, it won’t automatically create duplicates of existing events if the data in your spreadsheet hasn’t changed for those events.  The import process usually matches events based on some unique identifier (often the event title and/or time).  If an event with the same title and time already exists in your calendar, it generally won’t create a second one.

However, here’s what you should do to avoid any potential issues:

1. Don’t delete already imported dates from the spreadsheet unless you also want to delete them from your calendar.  The spreadsheet is your source of truth. If you delete a row from the spreadsheet and then re-import, the corresponding event in your calendar will likely be deleted.
2. When adding new dates, simply add them as new rows in your existing spreadsheet.  Make sure the formatting is consistent with your previously imported data (especially the date and time columns).
3. Re-importing will only add the new dates.  It won’t duplicate the old ones (assuming the old data hasn’t changed).
4. If you do accidentally create duplicates:  Google Calendar has a search function. You can search for the event title to find duplicates and delete them manually.  This is less efficient than managing your spreadsheet data correctly, but it’s a good backup.
5. Best practice: Consider adding a unique ID column to your spreadsheet. This can be a simple auto-incrementing number. This gives the import process an absolute way to identify events, minimizing the risk of duplicates even if event titles or times change slightly.  When you re-import, the script could check for the unique ID. If it exists in the calendar, it updates; if it doesn’t, it adds it. This is a more advanced approach but makes the process much more robust.

In short, keep adding your new dates to the same spreadsheet.  Re-importing will update your calendar with the new information without duplicating existing events, as long as the existing event data in your spreadsheet remains the same.”

This answer covers the main points, offers solutions for potential problems, and even suggests a more advanced method for long-term data management.  It’s helpful, practical, and addresses the viewer’s concern directly.

Learning New Tools to Save Time

Few of us are AI experts. We’re learning a new tool that will keep evolving. But learning is what we do best.

Our information tools have changed dramatically over time:

• From encyclopedias to card catalogs
• To university libraries with periodical guides
• To internet search engines
• To Google’s dominance
• And now to generative AI like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot

Better tools emerge constantly. The small time we invest in learning them saves us hours in the long run.

Your AI Starting Line

Here’s my challenge to you: When you face a task that seems time-consuming and repetitive, pause. Ask if you could use AI to handle it in a fraction of the time.

Think about company CEOs who have staff. They don’t research everything themselves. They don’t write their own speeches. They have assistants who take their ideas and do the labor-intensive work. Then the boss reviews and requests revisions.

You now have that same staff through AI, and you can talk to it like you would another person. Only it never rolls its eyes or loses patience with you!

If you feel like you’re at the starting line with AI, that’s OK. We’re all there together.

On your mark. Get set. Go!

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