In today's post I'm sharing 5 weekly planning strategies that I've benefitted from during my time as a tenure track faculty member. In general, holding a weekly planning session has helped me achieve my goals and kept the feelings of overwhelm to a minimum. In addition to the general process of planning out my week, there are 5 strategies that I've used throughout my time as a faculty member (and grad student) that have greatly enhanced my weekly planning sessions.
Read MoreOne key aspect of my weekly planning process involves identifying what I plan to accomplish for the week, aka my weekly goals. Yes, these goals may change as things come up during the week, but I always set them and they help guide my weekly flow. This week’s post walks through a few strategies that make weekly goal setting easier, as well as outlines the current steps I use to set goals each week.
Read MoreI’m picking back up with my weekly planning series posts that I started in the summer of 2020 (the last post in the series focused on organizing your to-do list if you’re interested in checking it out). Today’s post focuses on some of the things that I think are important to include in your calendar as an academic.
Read MoreToday’s post focuses on the general process I follow for organizing my tasks across all the academic areas of my life (e.g., research, teaching, service), as well as my personal life. Below you’ll find 6 steps you can take if your to do list is feeling a little (or a lot) chaotic.
Read MoreA conversation about weekly planning wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of the tech/tools used to do said planning. As someone who thoroughly enjoys talking all things planning, I've definitely heard a lot about the different tools that faculty and graduate students are using. In this post, I’ll highlight a few popular tools that can help you get your weekly planning done.
Read MoreThis post delves into some of the key activities that faculty and grad students might engage in during their weekly planning sessions. Before I go into my list, remember that all the things that are written below won't necessarily work for you and your needs. You've got to find processes that work for you. Like I've mentioned before, experimentation is a really important part of the planning process. Try things out, see what works, leave behind what doesn't.
Read MoreThis post delves into some common misconceptions I often hear floating around in the academic community about planning for the week (or just planning in general).
Read MoreWhether you're in the first year of your PhD program or you're a tenured faculty member, chances are you've come across (and most likely engaged in) weekly planning. For me, my weekly planning process is the glue that holds everything together. In this post I'm highlighting 6 reasons why weekly planning is super important for people in academic spaces, from grad students to tenured faculty and everywhere in between.
Read MoreI’m ending the planning series with a look at how I plan out each day. Here are all the links to the previous posts from this series: my yearly intention, yearly goals, quarter planning, to do list, and weekly planning. Usually each day of my work week is highly structured and I leave the weekends open (other than events that are scheduled for specific times). Since I’ve already done the work to schedule tasks for each day during my weekly planning session, I don’t actually have that much to do for daily planning besides reviewing my schedule and adjusting as needed (e.g., if something else comes up that needs to get done or I finish something quicker than expected).
Read MoreSo far I’ve talked about my yearly intention, yearly goals, quarter planning, and to do list. These are all pretty high level endeavors. Weekly (and daily) planning are where the work actually happens. Ideally, I plan for the upcoming week on Friday at the end of the day. In reality, I’m often so exhausted by that time that I don’t have it in me. Occasionally I’ll do it on Sunday, but usually I don’t want work to intrude on weekend decompression. More often than not, I plan for the week on Monday morning. Here’s what my process currently looks like.
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