Work Tool: Weekly Schedule

Think well on the week ahead.

I create a weekly work schedule. Using a large sheet of paper, I write hourly increments of each work day, Monday to Friday. Each hour has a task to be accomplished. If necessary, I subdivide into half-hours.

I usually start by looking at my Outlook calendar and enter any known meetings. Then, I fill in the rest of the blanks. If needed, I jot down a jumble of important tasks on a separate piece of paper beforehand, rank them, and add them by importance (to be covered in more detail in a later post).

I give myself wiggle room by penning in [open time] to account for projects taking longer or assignments that come up within the week. I also typically mark completed tasks with a highlighter and ~~cross out~~ and then update tasks when higher demands announce themselves.

This method helps me to stay productive and make progress on important tasks. It is especially important for large, multifaceted tasks that can take several days or weeks. And it is the natural compliment of my other writing tool, the previously mentioned Daily Journal.

Figure 1: December 2021 Examples. Individuals' names are black out for privacy, not because the author has an obscenity problem.

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