I had to share this blog post. Time management is a huge hurtle for me, and it seems to get worse every year. Anyone who knows me knows that my ADHD son is the apple to my tree. I am very easily scattered, my brain goes in 20 different directions. Without my morning dose of pharmaceuticals, I am a MESS, and even then it's hard to put the puppy back on the papers (potty training metaphor - sorry if that's too obscure). I am constantly trying to better myself, but always seem to get bogged down with too...much...and I'm overwhelemed and I shut down. I need structure, but I also need simplicity. I need KISS - Keep It Simple, Sweetie!

I ran into this blog post on my Bloglovin' feed. (QUICK ASIDE: If you haven't found out about Bloglovin', I just did this summer, and it is wonderful. It's akin to an RSS feed, but strictly for blogs. There are a TON of blogs out there on whatever topic you want/need. I highly encourage you to look into it. There's also a Chrome extension that you can download that puts an icon at the upper right-hand side of your URL bar

that will tell you when your favorite blogs have been updated. Just go to the Chrome Web Store and search for "bloglovin'" on the left.)

Anyway, I subscribe to the Edutopia RSS feed through Bloglovin', and came across the post "7-Step Prep: Make a Weekly Plan for YOU!" by Maia Heyck-Merlin. Basically, she talked with 3 colleagues on how they organize themselves weekly. One did it using a totally blank weekly sheet, writing in events by hand, one did it totally digitally (it looked like she used Google Calendar, which would drive me absolutely gobsmacking NUTS - a far cry from my KISS scenario), and then there's Drew's way. AH...lovely Drew, who, in the midst of getting married, developed this best-of-both-world's weekly planning sheet that used technology to make the form (and put in some repeating tasks, to keep down the onerous task of handwriting), but leaving a boatload of blank lines for handwriting those tasks that crop up from week-to-week, day-to-day that would make either of the other forms too much for me (I'm just speaking for myself - if that works for you, I don't judge; Go for it sister [or brother]!). I'm not going to post a picture of his, or of the one I developed from his, because I want you to go to the post and read it and look at it yourself. But, here's the real kicker for me with Drew's weekly planning sheet.

He takes it with him. Everywhere. Brilliant.

Really, it is. It will seem like a pain at first, and I can see me leaving it many places until I get used to it (or maybe I never will, and my colleagues will just have to get used to seeing it and carting it back to me. The whole apple-tree-thing again.) But, taking that sheet with me will make sure that I am accountable when my admin stops me in the hall on the way to lunch to ask me to do something, or a teacher reminds me of something I need to do when I'm on the way to the bathroom, or I remember I'm supposed to be somewhere while taking my kids to special area.

I have a mini clip-board that I bought somewhere because I thought it was cute (sigh), but didn't have a specific use for it. I think I might have a use for it now - I could fold up the weekly plan (writing on the outside for ease of reading) and put it on that clipboard. Then, put it in my kangaroo pouch (a 3-pocket waist apron waiters use) ...

...and VOILA! I might have something here. <squeal>