Week Three – Day Three
Working in Waves – Weekly Schedule
Yesterday, we looked at your ideal workday. Today, we are going to ask how this might fit with your week as a whole. The principle is the same: balancing focus and relaxation; effort and recovery. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by these changes, don’t worry, it is okay to take your time. Your schedule will evolve over time. All we’re doing is finding a place to start, an initial blue-print that can be adapted as you go along.
The purpose of creating these schedules isn’t to create a rigid plan you have to adhere to. The purpose of creating these schedules is to create awareness around how you are currently using your days, and how you might want to arrange your workday. Writing these schedules out in minute detail will help you generate ideas around how you’d like to change the way you work. Create a workday and a workweek that feels good. That’s the aim: creating a workday that works for you. Don’t stress out over getting everything right. It will probably take some time to develop new working habits and that’s okay. Go easy, go gently, and keep going.
To start where we left off yesterday:
Daily Schedule
A daily schedule should answer the following questions:
- When do you work best?
- How long are your optimal work sessions? 90 minutes? 45 minutes? 25 minutes?
- How many of these sessions do you want to incorporate in a given workday? Make sure you do not exceed 6 hours of work. Less is more.
- How many breaks are you going to take, and what are you going to do during these breaks? Go for a walk? Listen to music? Chat with a friend? Go for a coffee? Have a short dance break? Do a ten-minute meditation? Do push-ups and sit-ups?
- How can you eliminate distractions?
- When is it time to stop?
- When are you going to exercise, and what are you going to do? Make it easy and enjoyable.
- When are you going to meditate and for how long?
This was my personal daily schedule when I was finishing my PhD, as shared with you yesterday, to give you an idea of what this might look like:
Morning
10:00 – 10:45 First work session. No email. No internet. No phone.
10:45 – 11:00 Cup of tea
11:00 – 11:45 Second work session. No email. No internet. No phone.
11:45 – 12:00 Tea break.
12:00 – 12:45 Third work session. No email. No internet. No phone.
That is most of my work for the day done.
12.45 – 13:00 check email and favourite sites
13.00 lunch
Afternoon
13.30 – 15.00 Fourth work session (longer, less intense chunk, for more routine tasks.) No phone, internet OK.
15.00 DONE. Time to chill out.
16.00 – 17.00 Exercise. Jog/dance to music for 20 minutes, or go to a yoga class
21:30 – 22:00 Meditation
Weekly Schedule
A weekly schedule should answer the following questions:
- What is the rhythm of my week? Do I have teaching obligations this semester or other recurring events I need to take into account?
- When is my non-negotiable time to do focused work?
- When am I going to exercise and what am I going to do?
- When am I going to meditate?
- When am I going to relax?
My own workweeks when I was finishing my PhD were pretty straightforward, as I didn’t have any teaching or other obligations, and looked something like this (in reality I only worked four days a week due to energy constraints, but I scheduled five days below to show you what my ideal workweek would have looked like):
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Weekend |
|
Work: 10:00 – 15:00 in 45 minute intervals |
Work: 10:00 – 15:00 in 45 minute intervals |
Work: 10:00 – 15:00 in 45 minute intervals |
Work: 10:00 – 15:00 in 45 minute intervals |
Work: 10:00 – 15:00 in 45 minute intervals |
Chill Out |
|
Exercise: 20-30 minutes jogging or dancing to music directly after work |
Exercise: yoga class |
Exercise: 20-30 minutes jogging or dancing to music directly after work |
Exercise: 20-30 minutes jogging or dancing to music directly after work |
||
|
Meditation: 20-30 minutes, in the evening before bed |
Meditation: 20-30 minutes, in the evening before bed |
Meditation: 20-30 minutes, in the evening before bed |
Meditation: 20-30 minutes, in the evening before bed |
Meditation: 20-30 minutes, in the evening before bed |
The weekly schedule is an anchor for your self-care on a weekly basis. Just to repeat what I said above: the point is not to create a rigid schedule filled with even more tasks for you to do. The point is to create a framework to support you. It should feel good.
The same goes for the other activities in your schedule: allow them to feel good. If you dislike going to the gym, don’t go to the gym! Instead, find another way to get your 20-30 minutes of exercise in. The same goes for meditation. Find a time of the day when you enjoy retreating and having some time for yourself.
Assignment
Design your daily and weekly schedules using the questions above. Allow these schedules to provide structure in your workweek.