Oh how easily the best laid plans go awry. I’m only three weeks into the semester and I’ve already realized that my schedule isn’t working for me. I’m facing a choice: (A) continue pressing through with the plan that I set up two months ago; or (B) change the plan to adapt to my current reality. It’s time to reset.

My weekly schedule template began about six years ago as an exercise to figure out how to fit in everything I needed to do in a week. After a year of breast cancer treatment, I was ready to start writing again and wanted to protect my writing time. I was committed to actively recovering from my cancer diagnosis and treatment. I had a ton of complementary and alternative healthcare appointments and classes, not to mention thrice weekly YMCA swims and workouts. And I was trying to do that while navigating a full teaching schedule, office hours, meetings, an institutional reaccreditation process, and developing an online degree program.

Doing all that required more than a to-do list. It required thinking carefully about how I spent my time each day. Voila! The template was born.

A sample weekly schedule template

Just before each semester, I create a chart that details my planned workflow for each weekday (I use Excel for this). I start by listing the responsibilities that are set in stone: classes, faculty and committee meetings, and chapel. Next I schedule the high priority tasks that need protected, regular time: writing and office hours. Then I add in everything else. All the while, I do a lot of reflecting: What kind of rhythms work for me? What’s realistic given my self-care needs and energy limitations? How much time do certain tasks really need? Where is space for self-care?

The process takes days. When it’s done, I have a nice color-coded chart. I print three copies, posting one in my campus office, one in my home office, and one in my actual planner. Each Sunday afternoon, I plan my week ahead by consulting my template.

I admit: I got a bit ahead of myself this semester. I suspected that I needed to hold off on putting my template together until I began to get a better feel for the demands of starting a new job in the midst of a pandemic. But I’m a planner. I had to have a plan. So I developed one.

Just three weeks into the semester, it’s clear my plan isn’t working. I’ve spent too many afternoons feeling fidgety and/or exhausted in my campus office. I can’t seem to do work that requires creative output (like writing). Maybe it’s the weirdness of pandemic campus energy. Maybe three years of sabbatical, medical leave, and virtual teaching have eroded my endurance for working on campus. Who knows? All I know is that it’s not working. It’s time to reset.

That’s easier said than done. After all, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my schedule template for this semester. I set office hours based on it and communicated those hours to students. They’re on the syllabus, for God’s sake! How could I possibly change course mid-stream?

But it’s either change course mid-stream or continue fighting against the current. Quite frankly, I’m not that strong a swimmer. As much as I hate to do it, it’s time to reset, again.

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