30 Days to Streamline Your Schedule — The Teacher Wellness Center

This week is all about prioritizing your schedule. This week will be especially helpful if you find you write super long to-do lists that you have no hope of finishing. Today's recommendation is to choose no more than 3 activities to focus on each day. If you still feel overwhelmed by those three, you need to break them down even more into smaller action steps. I recommend writing down everything on your mind and then circling the 3 that are the most urgent and the most important for that day. Everything else can wait. This helps you stay focused on the tasks at hand so you can complete them faster. It helps you save precious mental energy - You don't have to constantly remember a list of a million things to do. And it helps prevent overwhelm. 3 to-do's are achievable. Anything else that you do that day is a bonus. I know tomorrow is Sunday, but let's practice - What 3 to-do's will you focus on tomorrow? Share yours in our Facebook group!

When you write out your to-do list for the day the night BEFORE, you are able to wake up with clarity. You don't have to wake up with the stress of throwing together what you need to do that day. You already have clear exactly what is expected for you to accomplish.

Use this tip together with yesterday's tip of choosing just 3 to-dos.

So let us know - When will you commit to writing your to-do's?

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Day 1 explained how many action items you should have on your daily to-do list (3), and Day 2 explained when you should write your to-do list (the night before). Today, prioritize your to-do list even further by defining your #1 priority for the day. DO THAT THING FIRST.

At the beginning of the day you are fresh. You have the most mental and physical energy. Consider which to-do will take the most energy and tackle that first. This priority could be the most urgent and important on the list. It might also be the thing you dread the most because if you don't do it first, it will distract you the rest of the day. Remember, we're all about saving that precious mental energy to be more productive WITHOUT the overwhelm during this series. NOTE: Many of these tips are meant to be applied to your planning time. You often can't control your school schedule, but you can choose how to utilize your planning time and your time before and after school.

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Today's a mantra type of day!

Once you have prioritized your 3 to-do's for the day, stay confident that those 3 to-do's are exactly what you need to be doing. Worrying otherwise often only uses up precious mental energy.

Say, write, or meditate on this mantra during the day to help build that confidence

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By now, each night before bed you should be choosing the 3 most important things you want to do the next day, and select the #1 priority that you want to achieve first. If you struggle with still thinking about future to-do's - whether that be to-do's for tomorrow, or next week or next month - that's pretty normal at this point.

If you notice you are distracted by future or small to-do's, I recommend writing them all down on a piece of paper, and then setting that paper out of sight or even throwing it away. This exercise can get those tasks out of your subconscious so you can fully focus on the 3 most important tasks of the moment.

::TAKE ACTION:: When you notice you are getting distracted or stressed by future to-do's, do a brain dump of all your tasks and hide it away or throw it away, so you can get back to the crucial events of the day.

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I've known many teachers to label themselves as chronic to-do listers. And we've already talked about prioritizing that to-do list so it only includes the 3 MOST important tasks for the day. The next step is to place those tasks in your calendar as if they were an appointment. Look at your time before and after school, as well as your planning periods - In what slot can your insert each task?

When you know exactly when you are achieving each task it takes a lot of the pressure off. It helps relieve that stress of feeling like you should be doing something right now. Give it a try and see how it goes!

::TAKE ACTION:: Take your 3 to-do's for tomorrow and place them in the exact time slots you will achieve them in your physical or digital calendar.

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If you've ever felt overwhelmed by your schedule - it's not YOU that's the problem. Instead of blaming yourself for not being able to handle your schedule, blame the unrealistic schedule.

Use the tips from the last 7 days to start to pare that schedule down to the 3 most important things each day, and see what happens.

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Saturdays in this series are about reflecting on what's gone down so far.

And make sure you you check out this week's recap video if you haven't yet! https://www.facebook.com/hemmingson2/videos/10163180625220551/

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This week is all about being more productive with your work time. You will get a strategy each day to boost your productivity with the 3 action items of your day 💪

The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the 1980's by Francesco Cirillo and helps you stay focused on your tasks.

First choose what activity you want to do.
Set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on that task with no distractions.
After the timer goes off, give yourself a 3-5 minute break.
After 4 rounds of this take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.
Keep going until your top priorities for the day are completed.

This technique is designed to help minimize distractions and keep you focused so you can get your work done in less time.

::TAKE ACTION:: During your next planning session, try using the Pomodoro Technique. Notice if it helps you stay focused and get your work done in less time.

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You can accomplish a lot in 2 minutes.

This rule is especially helpful for small, mundane tasks that crop up on your to-do list. If you are still distracted by these small tasks (aka the tasks that aren't a priority) after last week's tips, try this idea out!

Give yourself two minutes to do those small tasks. Put that timer on and see how much you can accomplish in just two minutes.

If the task takes longer than two minutes, set the timer and start the task. Once you get the ball rolling, you'd be amazed what you can accomplish.

And if you spend two minutes on the same task each day (such as cleaning out a closet or writing a unit plan), imagine what you could accomplish cumulatively over a month!

::TAKE ACTION:: Use the 2-minute rule this week with a small task on your to-do list (such as doing a quick clean up). See how much you can achieve in those 2 minutes. And if you feel unmotivated for a big task, use the 2-minute rule to start the task.

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Your environment has a much bigger effect on your mental state than you may be conscious of.

Today take a moment to consider: Is your current work environment (during the school day and wherever you choose to plan and grade) helping you or hurting you?

Clutter can stress out the brain and can create distractions when trying to stay focused on a task. The more you can clean and organize the space you work out of, the more calm, centered and focused you are likely to feel.

::TAKE ACTION:: Look at where you usually work - Is the space neat and calming, or messy and chaotic? Evaluate if you need to make any changes to your current work environment, or if you want to move to a new space to do your work (lesson planning and grading) all together. Make the necessary shifts for a more productive work environment this week.

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Still aren't sure how to choose your three most crucial tasks for the day? Try The Eisenhower Method.

This method gets its name from a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower, stating "I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important".

That said, the goal of this method is to figure out what is both urgent and important on your to-do list - Whatever those items are, that's what you do first.

See an example of the Eisenhower Method box by scrolling across.

::TAKE ACTION:: Take a look at your to-do list for the week - Where does each of those tasks fit within the Eisenhower Method framework?

We've talked about narrowing down your to-do list to the most crucial 3 you need to complete that day.

But what happens when you complete all the tasks early?

I recommend REST. It is just important as trucking along with a long to-do list. The rest of your tasks can be saved for tomorrow where they belong.

Prioritizing rest when you finish your list for the day is a great strategy to manage stress and prevent burnout.

Use this mantra as a reminder that rest is important too

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Saturdays in this series are about reflecting on what's gone down so far.

And make sure you you check out this week's recap video if you haven't yet! https://www.facebook.com/hemmingson2/videos/10163221144040551/

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When you are in work mode, your phone should be away. Your notifications should be off. You shouldn't be getting email alerts.

I promise few things will be so urgent that they should cost you precious concentration time on your most urgent tasks. Most of the time those notifications are nothing more than distractions.

Also make sure to give yourself time to fully unplug from the day. The more of a break you can give yourself from screens the calmer and less stressed you will feel.

::TAKE ACTION:: Keep the phone away and notifications off during your deep concentration periods. Give yourself time at the end of the day to fully unplug from screens.

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Perfectionism is one of the enemies of productivity. If you stay so focused on one task it can prevent you from moving on to the next most important item on your list.

I recommend setting yourself a time limit for each activity you want to achieve and moving on at the end of that amount of time, no matter what the rough draft looks like.

If you have time at the end of the day, you can go back and revise.

Also, keep in mind which of your tasks actually need to be well-crafted and which can be a rough draft version for the next day.

::TAKE ACTION:: Give yourself an allotted time to do an activity. If it's not perfect at the end of the time, challenge yourself to move on. Revisit at the end of the day if you have time, or leave it as is if you are prioritizing other areas of life or have decided it's not a task worth revision.

What's a task you do that doesn't need to be done perfectly?

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A large part of the population works from 9 to 5 and then does not need to think about work again until the next day.

With lesson plans, grading and paperwork to do after school, not many teachers achieve the same. In fact, many teachers report that it's very difficult for them to turn off thoughts of school. Why? Because technically, you could always be working.

That's where today's activity comes in. As a teacher, it's time to get serious about setting your own working schedule. Maybe it's an hour before school starts and an hour or two after school. Maybe you incorporate your planning session during the day as part of your working hours.

Consider when you work best, when you are most productive, and consider setting strict working hours during that time.

The challenge? To complete your to-do's, even if imperfectly within those hours. Revisions can always be made later. And outside of those working hours? That's the time you make for all those other areas important to your life.

Setting strict hours is an especially helpful exercise for those who have trouble keeping their mind off of work.

::TAKE ACTION:: Look at your current schedule. When could you set strict working hours during your school week?

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Yesterday we talked about setting strict working hours. Maybe this idea resonated with you, and maybe it didn't.

If you didn't love the idea of setting strict hours for working, try flipping the idea and choosing which hours during the school week you will definitely NOT be working.

This time is reserved for rest, building relationships, and other responsibilities outside of school.

This exercise is helpful because you know you have a break coming up from your work, it also helps boost productivity because you know that you won't have all day to do your work.

Want an even bigger challenge? Try to make those hours a time where you limit thoughts of school and talk of school.

::TAKE ACTION:: Look at your current schedule. When could you set strict hours when you are taking a total rest from school work, thoughts of school, and talk of school?

::LET US KNOW BELOW:: Do you prefer setting strict work hours or strict non-working hours and why?

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The last few days we talked about getting strict about the hours that you work and that you don't. We even talked about limiting talk and thoughts of school during non-working hours.

Use this mantra when ever you feel like your schedule is controlling you to remind yourself: YOU are in control of your time and your life

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Saturdays in this series are about reflecting on what's gone down so far.

Stay tuned for February’s Webinar!

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The 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, can be applied in a variety of ways. Within productivity, this rule states that 80% of your productivity will be achieved by doing 20% of your tasks.

In other words, 80% of the RESULTS you see in the classroom are achieved by 20% of what you do.

Which of your daily actions actually get you and your students results? If productivity is your goal, make sure to focus on those activities.

::TAKE ACTION:: Take time today to analyze which of your daily tasks actually bring you productive results. Prioritize by focusing on doing that 20% first this week. The other 80% can be saved for if you have extra time at the end of the day.

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The main idea of GTD (developed by David Allen) is to get all of your tasks and ideas out and on paper and organized as quickly as possible so they're easy to manage and see.

All small tasks should be done quickly FIRST, so they are no longer distractions during the day. Big tasks should be broken down into smaller tasked and tackled that way.

You can also take tasks that are not urgent for the day and move them to your calendar. This strategy was created to help you avoid information overload or "brain freeze" which is likely to occur when there are lots of tasks and you don't know which task to start with.

::TAKE ACTION:: Jot down all ideas and tasks for the day that are in your mind. Then organize them quickly, break down big tasks into smaller tasks, and move items that don't need to be done today to a time slot on your calendar.

Today's a mantra type of day.

When you feel overwhelmed by your schedule, remember you can write everything down and tweak things to make the day feel more manageable.

Waking up already overwhelmed is a surefire way to reduce productivity during the day.

You are in control of how you manage your time

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POSEC stands for "Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing".

This strategy encourages you to set up your time considering your personal needs FIRST. By taking your personal needs into account first, you are better able to produce for whatever work you pursue.

Here are the steps:

Prioritize – Your time and define your life by goals.
Organize – Things you have to accomplish regularly to be successful (family and finances).
Streamline – Things you may not like to do, but must do (chores).
Economize – Things you should do or may even like to do, but they're not pressingly urgent.
Contribute – By paying attention to the few remaining things that make a difference (social obligations).

::TAKE ACTION:: Look through each of the steps of POSEC. How can you align your schedule with your life goals (P), how can you organize your life to include the things that fulfill you? (O), how can you make the things you do no want to do easier? (S), How can you budget your time to eventually do those tasks that aren't as pressing? (E) How can you contribute to society so you do feel like you are making a difference? (C)

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You have learned a lot of different time management strategies this month. Some may have really resonated with you, and some not as much. Remember that we are all different and our minds organize the world in a different way.

And maybe you really liked some of the strategies but are realizing...you aren't really using them. That's okay and normal at this stage.

Starting a time management strategy is the same as starting any habit. It takes effort to implement it at first, you may forget to use it, or you may find it difficult to maintain.

It's normal to mess up with any new habit because it's not fully a habit yet. Each day that you choose to implement one of these time management strategies is a step towards rewiring the brain so that you use the time management tips that work for you automatically.

So keep going, and be patient and kind with yourself in the process ❤️

::TAKE ACTION:: Look through all of the posts from this month - Which tips resonated with you the MOST? Choose around 2-3 that you didn't do before to focus on implementing this month. If you miss one day, just pick up and start again tomorrow.