As educators, we make thousands of decisions daily and answer that many questions, too, perhaps. We allow our schedule to control us and by the end of the day we are exhausted and running on E. Yet, many of have responsibilities outside the school day - our own children to raise, our own parents to care for, our own bills to pay, and house to clean. We can easily become trapped in our own world of expectations. Allow me to challenge your chalk-full schedule with three simple ideas.
1. Write your goals.
Wake up 15 minutes early and record your goals for the day. Write them down, record them in your phone, or put them on a sticky note. But, record your 3-4 goals. They can be simple, but should be measurable. Such as:
- Grade two class periods of the short stories written in my 11th grade English class.
- Create the three stations for next week's Guided Math/Math Workshop.
- Build next week's course objectives and formative assessments.
Yes, I said it. And I mean it (I started with And for emphasis!). Give yourself 30 minutes to read something enjoyable, be on Pinterest, watch a show. It can be 30 minutes all at once or in chunks. Make this guilt free time. Your brain needs this down time. You also will be more productive in your work time because you aren't distracting yourself with Pinterest, Social Media, or other distractions.
3. Schedule your Day.
I know this just sounds exhausting just thinking about it. But, if you plan out your minutes you WILL be more successful. We all get 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds. How we use this time creates the ability to succeed, feel dread, or be successful. When you prioritize your minutes to be spent on tasks you deem important, you feel success.
Easier said than done, I know. But, try one of these ideas. Besides time, what else do you have to lose?
