Schedule Board Before the Vision Board

While vision boards are currently trending and provide a visual representation of a person’s future goals, the schedule board houses all the task items to complete in order to achieve those future goals. So, instead of putting the cart in front of the horse, I’ve opted to bring things in order and focus on completing the tasks that will make the vision a reality. Hence, the reason the schedule board must come before the vision board.

As promised, I wanted to reveal my weekly schedule board, which will be used throughout the school year. During school breaks and summer recess, my schedule will change. But, for the purposes of this blog post, the school year schedule is addressed because of its relevance.

Now, I copied over the following tips from my previous blog post, entitled Hourly & Block Scheduling Tips for a Productive Day. I’ve included pieces of my actual scheduling process (highlighted in red) to show how I was able to create my own schedule board. Please see the items below:

• Establish a wake-up time and a bedtime. These times should be consistent throughout the week and all other “actionable” items on the schedule will fit in between. (Your block of time for sleeping will be that “non-actionable” item that falls in between your bedtime and wake-up time.) My wake-up time is 4:15a and my bedtime is 10:30p; but I’m going to eventually get it down to 10:00p. These times are applicable Monday through Thursday. The weekend wake-up and bedtime hours will vary.
• Look at each day of the week individually and brainstorm all of the tasks that you must get done for a particular day. Write them out, according to the day of the week. You’ll start to see patterns of repeating tasks that occur several days throughout the week versus those that may occur only one time during the week. Once you get as comprehensive a list as you can think of (adjust the list as needed), you’ll be able to identify which days will go by the same hourly and block schedule and which days have a totally different routine with different tasks associated with them. (Remember: one day’s schedule size doesn’t necessarily fit all. Make sure to account for the oddities.) I went through this process of identifying the tasks by each day of the week to arrive at the daily schedules that make up my weekly schedule. I’ve depicted how the layout of activities will look on a weekly basis. See the completed schedule board below.
• Get the breakdown of your time slots (hourly and block) determined for each day of the week and start assigning your tasks to the appropriate time slots. (Remember: some items will go by the hourly part of your schedule and will need to be assigned to a specific time frame, such as 7:30a – 8:30a. And other items can be lumped together without assigning a specific time so long as the tasks are completed within the block of time established, such as 3:00p – 5:00p and 5:00p – 10:30p (what I refer to as my late afternoon and evening blocks). The order in which tasks are completed isn’t set in stone either. You have flexibility here as well. In my 3:00p – 5:00p block, I’ll complete administrative responsibilities such as answering emails, responding to comments, and doing business-related research to assist me in managing the daily demands of creative entrepreneurship. Furthermore, I’ve reserved 5:00p – 10:30p to get my evening block of tasks completed, such as dinner, family Bible study, helping youngest child with his homework, special projects, couple’s time (me and husband), and bedtime routine. 
• Use organizational tools to keep you on-time with the schedule. If you need a little assistance to stay on track, moving from one time period on your schedule to the next, religiously use sound devices such as timers or alarms to give you the slight nudge you need. And being a visual and more hands-on person, I rely heavily on physical planners/calendars to keep me on point with my non-recurring events like appointments and other important one-timers that need to be factored into the daily/weekly schedule. Oftentimes, I also use my planner/calendar to include any notes or details I need to recall that go along with these non-recurring events or other special reminders. I’ll predominantly use my phone alarm to move me from one task to another (not to use all the time or everyday). And, I’ll use my planner to record my appointments and other reminders, which will be transferred weekly to the index cards in the drawstring bags (on the schedule board). 

On to the actual schedule board construction:

So, there’s the before picture of the schedule board. The board consists of the following items:

• desk easel
• fine point sharpies
• ruled index cards (neon)
• little drawstring bags
• washi tape in various colors (You can’t see it very well, but the daily tasks are hand-written on each piece of washi tape on the board.)
• letter and number sticker book
• pair of scissors
• clothes pins
• apple-shaped cut-outs
• duct tape (accidentally left this out of the picture)

I treated my schedule board project as a hands-on artsy craftsy activity and it was absolutely fun to construct. Here’s the after picture of the schedule board.

I love, love, love looking at this board, because it’s something that came out of the old creative noggin. To me, it’s aesthetically pleasing to look at, has purpose and function, and should hold up quite nicely over the years (with a few updates to the activities listed on the washi tape, reminders on the index cards, and replacement of pieces of duct tape and number and letter stickers here and there). Otherwise, I think it’s a pretty durable contraption, if I do say so myself.

I did want to note a couple of side items about the contents of the drawstring bags.

• The “Block Schedule” bag will include the specific broken-down hourly and block time frames for Monday through Friday in case I need a reminder. The numbers across the top of the schedule board don’t give the exact time breakdowns, so I’ll keep a written record to help me memorize them. The cards will be updated accordingly. Furthermore, the times and tasks for 3:00p and on (not included on the schedule board) will be included here as well. Remember: for the two blocks at 3:00p – 5:00p and 5:00p – 10:30p, the tasks are divided based on block; and within their blocks, they have no particular time or order assigned to them. Those tasks just need to be completed within their respective block period.
• The “Daily Task Changes” bag will include any tasks that will change daily and will show what day of the week that particular task should be completed on. For example, cleaning items on Mondays through Wednesdays happen from 10:30a – 12:30p. I’ll do the regular picking/straightening up activities each day as part of my cleaning regimen. But, any special cleaning projects will need to be assigned a day of the week. These types of tasks will change daily (sometimes weekly), depending on the cleaning needs of the house. Examples of cleaning special projects might include: cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning out the shower tiles, sweeping and vacuuming all floors, doing the dishes (shared responsibility with the children), dusting all furniture, etc.
• The “Notes” bag will include any one-time, non-recurring appointments and oddball reminders for the week (transferred from items noted in my weekly planner).

Now that my schedule board has come to fruition, it’s time to implement it into my daily routine. I’ve managed to incorporate some of the items already, but the real test will occur once this winter break is over (first of the year). I plan on getting hardcore with it in order to see noticeable results in my productivity. Time will tell if this schedule works or not. A lot of its success relies on me doing my part. The schedule board can’t make me do the work; it just gives me a visual of what work I should be doing over the course of a day/week. I sense the GETTING THINGS DONE mentality permeating through the air. Vision board, here I come!