WEBVTT - Second Cup: Make your calendar your to-do list

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to make your calendar your to do list.

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<v Speaker 1>Many people make to do lists that have little to

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<v Speaker 1>do with reality. Tying your intended tasks to specific times

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<v Speaker 1>on the calendar forces you to figure out what is

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<v Speaker 1>reasonable and what isn't. Today's tip comes from Jamie Sears's

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<v Speaker 1>new book, How to Love Teaching Again. This productivity book

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<v Speaker 1>is specifically aimed at teachers who want to spend more

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<v Speaker 1>time helping kids and less time getting caught up in

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<v Speaker 1>administrative work, but there are tips that people in lots

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<v Speaker 1>of different professions can use. Jamie point out that for

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<v Speaker 1>many people, to do lists are not terribly effective. People

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<v Speaker 1>put down everything that they might like to do in life,

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<v Speaker 1>and much of it appears very vague. I mean they'll

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<v Speaker 1>put things like math grading for teachers, or maybe think

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<v Speaker 1>about new clients or staffing problems with a question mark

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<v Speaker 1>what does that even mean? Here is the real psychology

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<v Speaker 1>of to do lists, Jamie writes. The list becomes so

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<v Speaker 1>overwhelming that your brain decides there is no way that

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<v Speaker 1>it can complete everything. That's when you end up using

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<v Speaker 1>your plan time to gossip with your teacher bestie, or

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<v Speaker 1>you use your grading time to scroll through social media.

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<v Speaker 1>In other words, your to do list isn't a plan

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<v Speaker 1>for action. Instead, it's an excuse to procrastinate or set

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<v Speaker 1>yourself up to fail. Now, contrast a poorly constructed to

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<v Speaker 1>do list with a calendar. As Jamie notes, a calendar

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<v Speaker 1>is a list of things to do at a specific

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<v Speaker 1>hour or within a defined window of time on a

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<v Speaker 1>teacher's calendar. If it is time for teaching reading, the

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<v Speaker 1>teacher will teach reading. If it is time for a

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<v Speaker 1>meeting with a parent, the teacher will meet with a parent.

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<v Speaker 1>As a general rule, people do these things that are

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<v Speaker 1>on their calendars, whereas there is pretty good evidence that

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<v Speaker 1>people do not do a great many things that they

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<v Speaker 1>put on their to do lists. So why not use

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<v Speaker 1>your calendar as your to do list? Longtime listeners know

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<v Speaker 1>that I advocate carving out time on Friday for planning

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<v Speaker 1>the upcoming week. On Friday, you make your priority list

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<v Speaker 1>for the upcoming week. But then, rather than just saying

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<v Speaker 1>you want to research a potential client, you put it

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<v Speaker 1>on your calendar for eleven to twelve On Tuesday, rather

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<v Speaker 1>than saying you want to reach out to Bob, you

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<v Speaker 1>note that you will do that, along with a few

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<v Speaker 1>other exploratory emails, on Friday at one pm. This habit

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<v Speaker 1>does a few good things. One it acknowledges this truth. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>every task takes some amount of time, So if you

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<v Speaker 1>are not willing to give the task a specific time,

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<v Speaker 1>that is a pretty good indication that you aren't serious

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<v Speaker 1>about doing it. So you might migrate that to do

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<v Speaker 1>that you don't intend to actually do over to what

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<v Speaker 1>David Allen calls a someday maybe list. It is not

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<v Speaker 1>an active intention anymore. This also forces you to think

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<v Speaker 1>about how long things will take. If you have never

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<v Speaker 1>managed to write a certain report in less than two hours,

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<v Speaker 1>then you will need to give that task two hours now.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, at some point it might become challenging to

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<v Speaker 1>find spots for tasks amid the other things that are

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<v Speaker 1>on your calendar, like meetings, which turn out to be

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<v Speaker 1>tasks in and of themselves. If these aren't tasks that

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<v Speaker 1>you value, well, maybe take a good look and see

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<v Speaker 1>if they need to be there. Maybe they do, maybe

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<v Speaker 1>they don't. But using your calendar as your to do

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<v Speaker 1>list forces you to see that you cannot do eight

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<v Speaker 1>one hour tasks plus attend three one hour meetings. If

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<v Speaker 1>you arrive at work at nine and need to leave

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<v Speaker 1>at five pm for a daycare pickup. That is not

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<v Speaker 1>a matter of how motivated you are or how good

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<v Speaker 1>you are at your job. It is just a matter

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<v Speaker 1>of physics. Now to be sure, Jamie adds the caveat

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<v Speaker 1>that you are going to need to be somewhat flexible

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<v Speaker 1>here life happens. A teacher might plan to do something

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<v Speaker 1>before school, but a parent asks to meet about a

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<v Speaker 1>child who is floundering, and the teacher wants to take

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<v Speaker 1>the opportunity to brainstorm together. Or maybe the fire alarm

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<v Speaker 1>goes off during a planning period. People in any job

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<v Speaker 1>can experience the unexpected, So Jamie recommends building in a

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<v Speaker 1>few open slots on the calendar thirty minutes here and

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<v Speaker 1>there to absorb tasks that need to move or unexpected

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<v Speaker 1>ones that come up. She, like me, tries to leave

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<v Speaker 1>Friday's available slots as open as possible. I think this

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<v Speaker 1>idea can work for a great many people who have

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<v Speaker 1>fairly set schedules, like teachers, or many people in corporate

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<v Speaker 1>roles with a lot of meetings. It can also be

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<v Speaker 1>helpful for people in any sort of role who have

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<v Speaker 1>trouble making short to do lists. Now, if you are

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<v Speaker 1>a self employed podcaster who has more control over her

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<v Speaker 1>calendar and who has been tracking her time for eight

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<v Speaker 1>straight years, maybe you can do things a little differently.

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<v Speaker 1>But even if I don't calender my tasks, when I

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<v Speaker 1>make to do lists for a day, I never put

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<v Speaker 1>anything on there that I do not truly intend to

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<v Speaker 1>do and the hours I have. That is the point

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<v Speaker 1>of using your calendar as a to do list, and

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<v Speaker 1>so we are really all getting at the same thing.

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<v Speaker 1>If you try using your calendar as a to do list,

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<v Speaker 1>let me know how it goes. And if you are

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<v Speaker 1>a teacher or just like productivity strategies in general, please

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<v Speaker 1>check out Jamie Sears's book How To Love Teaching Again,

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<v Speaker 1>which is newly out this month. In the meantime, this

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<v Speaker 1>is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the

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<v Speaker 1>most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear

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<v Speaker 1>from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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<v Speaker 1>or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's b E. The

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<v Speaker 1>number four then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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<v Speaker 1>shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia

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<v Speaker 1>dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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