Monthly Archives: December 2020

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Here’s everything I know about time management.

Okay, not everything. Some of the most important things I know about time management are highly personal, abstract, and difficult to put into words. Maybe I’ll attempt a post about those sometime. But today, I want to share some of the practical “tips and tricks” about time management that I’ve accumulated over several years of reading magazines and productivity books and teaching courses that I didn’t write and that have a time management element.

This is on my mind because next week is likely going to be my busiest grading week since I wrapped up teaching on-campus classes back in the spring. I’ve made a rough outline of which class I’ll need to tackle on each day, but I haven’t come up with a specific plan yet, and in the back of my mind, I’m starting to panic a little bit. But in the other side of the back of my mind, I’m reminding myself of all these tools that I can use, modify, or drop as I see fit, and I know I’ll be okay. So I hope this pep talk to myself will be useful to you as well.

The Pomodoro Method. You can Google this well-known method to find out about the Italian guy who invented it and named it after his tomato-shaped timer. I’m sure you can also find hundreds of variations on it. I like this method–which simply involves working for a set time and then taking a break for a set time, then repeating–because it allows me to divide my tasks into discrete units of a definite length. When I’m grading big final papers as I will be next week, I spend one pomodoro (i.e. work period) on each paper. (I’m not going to tell you how long my pomodoros are because it opens up the perennial English-teacher can of worms of how much feedback is the right amount, which may be a topic for a later blog post.) It ensures that I’m giving the same amount of attention to each student (with exceptions allowed, of course), and it gives me a clear view of how much I have left to do. I use the Forest app (see my review) as a timer and incentive.

The Kanban System. This method, which you can also Google, was developed in Toyota factories back in the 1940s, and according to a student of mine who grew up in Japan, it’s still widely used in Japanese workplaces and schools. One of my online universities teaches it to students in their first course and reinforces it in the writing course I teach, so I learned about it alongside my students. Like the Pomodoro Method, it’s stunningly simple yet rewarding. You make three lists: To Do, Doing, and Done. Then you put each of your tasks on the appropriate list. There are apps for this, and I’ve seen people do it in Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, but the best way, in my opinion, is the lowest-tech way: with sticky notes on a wall or piece of posterboard. Many of my students have attested to the sheer joy of physically picking up one of those notes and moving it to the “Done” column. They say crossing items off a list gives you an actual chemical rush (endorphins or dopamine or whatever; I’m just an English teacher, but I can testify to the feeling!), and physically moving your sticky notes amps up that rush just a little. I don’t regularly use the Kanban System because I have a fantastic planner that makes it a bit redundant, but occasionally when I’m starting to freak out about the amount of work I’m facing, I’ll slap a sticky-note Kanban board on my wall to get a visual of what I have to do. I know of its effectiveness mainly through my students, many of whom find it revolutionary as they attempt to fit online education into their already busy lives.

I’m going to stop there and let you give those a try! Here are a couple of quick bonus suggestions:

Highlighters: I over-plan my week, so each morning, I highlight the tasks I actually want to focus on each day.

Email breaks: I read about this one in the latest issue of Real Simple, though I’ve seen variations of this suggestion elsewhere: Instead of keeping your email open throughout your workday, schedule a bit of time at the end of a focused work session to check it. That way, you keep up with it, but it’s not distracting you while you’re working. (Yes, this is a variation on the Pomodoro Method.)

I hope you find these helpful. Let me know whether you’ve tried them, whether you’re going to try them, and what time management methods work for you!

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Christmas anticipation–online professor style

When I taught on a university campus, the Christmas celebrations began as soon as the students arrived back from Thanksgiving break. (I should add that I taught at Christian universities, so the specific holiday of Christmas–not just a general air of festiveness–was celebrated loudly and proudly.) Everything had to happen early to get all the various departmental parties and campus traditions in before winter break. The maintenance crew had to start putting the lights up early (one of my universities meticulously outlined every tree on the main street of campus) so we could enjoy them for more than a day or two. Christmas music started floating out of various doorways, and colleagues started dropping cards and cookies on each other’s desks.

Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have been able to experience all of that this year, my first year teaching completely online. While I’m probably going to get more accomplished this December than ever before because I’m not getting interrupted for things like the faculty Christmas card photo and the office decorating competition, I miss the excitement of December on campus. So I’m making a list of ways that I can make these next few weeks special as I work from home, and I’m sharing that list with you in hopes that it will inspire you to add a little anticipation and jollity into your December, even if you’re not an online professor.

  1. Listen to Christmas music. This is obvious, but what if you’re tired of the cycle of the same 50-ish songs that gets played on every radio station? Also, what if, like me, you prefer to listen to instrumental music while you work? Good news: There’s a ton of wordless Christmas music out there, in a range of genres from classical to bluegrass. Just search “instrumental Christmas” on Spotify or Pandora. One of my favorite artists in this niche is Craig Duncan, who has released a whole series of Celtic and other folk-inspired Christmas albums over the years. Also, a fun activity for you classical fans is to repurpose pieces that aren’t normally considered Christmas music. For example, this morning I was listening to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on Greensleeves.” I listen to it year-round, but on December 1, it becomes “What Child Is This?,” like magic.
  2. Start your workday with an Advent reflection. You can take this in many different directions. I’ve never tried this, but I bet you could come up with readings for the whole month of December from Charles Dickens’s Christmas stories. For the past few years, I’ve been enjoying Biola University’s Advent Project: http://ccca.biola.edu/advent/2020/#. You can sign up for free by entering your email address, and every day from now until Epiphany (January 6), you’ll receive a multimedia devotional that includes two pieces of music to listen to, a work of art to look at, and a scripture passage, a poem, a reflection, and a prayer to read. Biola also does a Lent Project in the spring, and if you sign up once, you’ll get both series of devotionals every year. And they are very good about not sending junk emails; you’ll only receive the devotionals. I love this because it’s a moment of reflection and worship that comes right in the middle of my morning email check–a time when I very much need it!
  3. Upgrade everyday items. On December 1 or slightly earlier, I bring out my Christmas items. These are not just tree ornaments, though my husband and I do have three trees to decorate this evening! (That’s what happens when you get married after living alone for years and accumulating a lot of stuff.) I have Christmas mugs, Christmas coasters to put them on, Christmas socks, Christmas sweaters, Christmas earrings, Christmas candles, Christmas hand towels, Christmas notepads, Christmas soap and matching-scented room spray, a Christmas tablecloth, Christmas cookie cutters and tins, even a Christmas salt and pepper shaker set. I realize that to some people, bringing all this out every year and putting it away a month later probably sounds horribly stressful. But for me, a person who loves ritual and tradition, this is one of my most dearly anticipated activities every year. And you don’t have to go all out; even one or two special items can do the trick. Try it–a grading session is more fun (or at least more bearable) when you’re drinking tea out of a mug that says, “Have a cup of cheer.”
  4. Have your own office Christmas party. I haven’t tried this yet, but because my husband and I are both working from home right now, I’m hoping we can take some breaks during our workdays over the next few weeks to do something seasonal like watching a short Christmas movie, working on our cards, or taking a brisk walk in the frosty air (or the snow, if we ever get this lake effect snow shower they keep talking about). Our activities this year will not be centered on food because we’re doing the Whole 30 right now (great timing, right?), but if you’re working from home with someone else, you could have a cookie-baking party or re-create the classic office potluck (i.e., each of you searches the pantry and fridge and puts something yummy on a fancy plate). This is also a great time to listen to your favorite non-instrumental Christmas music.

I hope you got at least one idea from this post, and I hope you’ll share your ideas for making December special with me in the comments!