During the school year I create an ideal weekly schedule for myself for my working hours. There are actually two versions of it. Version 1 is a fully fleshed out version where every working hour is accounted for. For example, if I think I need to spend 6 hours a week on lesson planning, then I have those six hours blocked off. I tend to create this version in excel.
Version 2 is a schedule that lists my major commitments (appointments) but has lots of blank slots to be filled in during my weekly meeting (see other post). For example, during the school year it would include class meeting times, office hours, and standing faculty meetings. But it would also include things that are important but not appointments with other people, but still very important to prioritize. This includes things like exercise and writing.
A note – at the time of writing this I have one school-aged child and one toddler. I am fortunate to have safe and consistent daycare for my toddler daughter so that I can focus on my work during working hours. I am privileged to have a spouse who works from home with a flexible enough employer so he is available when our son gets off the school bus at 4pm.
Why make an ideal schedule?
By ideal schedule I don’t mean fantasy schedule. For example, Monday should not be “sit on the beach and drink margaritas with your best friends” (unless you are retired and live somewhere tropical and have financial means, lucky you). It means ideally how you would spend your time to take care of your obligations, make progress on your goals, and take care of your health.
Living document
I tend to mostly use version 2. Version 2 lives as a word doc which I print out each week. During my weekly meeting I fill in the blank time slots with priority tasks. Version 2 also allows me to be flexible. Let’s say I think I need to spend 6 hours on lesson planning, but I can decide when to schedule those 6 hours.
Weekly checklist
In fact, I have also been experimenting with a weekly checklist for work. I learned this from a training from Megan Sumrell. Many tasks need to get done each week, but it doesn’t particularly matter when they get done. So during my weekly meeting I will look at my weekly checklist and pencil in time to get those important tasks done. So my work checklist might include 1 hour for grading and 1 hour for committee work.
Just-in-case time
Another tip I have picked up from Megan Sumrell is to schedule “just-in-case” time. I will add 1-2 hours of this each week during my weekly planning. This means I don’t over-schedule my week, I have set aside some time just in case something comes up at the last minute. If nothing comes up, then I can just go back to my task manager and find something else that needs doing. Of course, there is always more to do in my line of work!
Benefits of this system
One of the major benefits of having an ideal schedule and doing time blocking is that I have to make fewer decisions about how to spend my time. I reduce decision fatigue. I know what to work on next, and I can relax knowing that that task is aligned with my larger goals.
Links
Ali Abdaal has a good video about creating an ideal schedule: Abdaal – trident method