Managing Workload 1

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas.

The book is full of excellent ideas for how to manage your school workload more efficiently. This is something that I particularly struggle with and so I was keep to find out some ideas. Over a series of posts I will share my learning from the book.

There are five key steps to bringing greater balance and managing your workload more effectively:

"Evaluate now - evaluate the current position and plan regular review slots, celebrate your successes, plan your next steps."

I will be building a regular review into a weekly routine. I think this is a major part of managing my workload which I have failed to do.

"Choose your future - identify in detail what kind of balance you would like."

I need to consider what I believe 'balanced' looks like.

"Identify habits - identify the habits which waste time and energy, and replace with winning approaches."

I procrastinate too much at times. Could there be other things that hold me back and cause me to waste time and energy? I'm pretty sure there are.

"Plan your strategy - identify the strategies that will move you towards the future you wish for."

I will come up with a plan for how I can achieve a fairer work/life balance.

"Act now - take action now to start that process of change."

The start of the new school year seems like a good opportunity to get started with this. I've got lots to do at home during the summer but I need to manage this with my family time.

"With their dying breath, a teacher never says, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my school work'."