Is keeping two schedules in a single planner overkill?
Maybe not.
Two Schedules - Not Too Much Planning
If you are a busy mom, you might need to see your spouse and your kids' schedules, but use your own schedule or daily docket for you.
A school teacher might have his daily schedule and his own personal daily page.
Lawyers have client and court schedules that might need to be separate from personal schedules. Others might need to separate work and personal life in their planners.
Why I Keep Two Schedules
On Monday, I embarked on a new path of homeschooling my 2nd grader. I really do need a separate schedule for him and for me.
I need a lesson plan for him, but I have my own work (I'm a work-at-home lawyer) and other obligations to contend with.
Keeping two schedules is probably really common, but people don't consider putting both in their planner.
Why not?
It makes sense to have everything together in one planner!
How to Coordinate Two Schedules
DIFFERENT LAYOUTS
To use two schedules, consider completely different layouts.
That way, a glance will tell you which schedule you are looking at and help you to not make mistakes.
Inserts pictured include a two-page-per-day spread (used for my homeschool lesson plan) and an AT-A-GLANCE planning notecard (used for my personal schedule).
BLOCK OUT TIMES
The first step in creating both schedules is to coordinate them with your monthly pages and block out times of events and appointments.
On the homeschool schedule (left in picture), I blocked out time for grocery shopping, carpool, and the occupational therapy appointment scheduled for that day. Then I did the same on my personal schedule.
NOTE THE SUPPLEMENTAL SCHEDULE ON THE MAIN SCHEDULE
My personal schedule is the one that I work from all the time. It is my daily docket and my lifeline.
If I need to refer to the supplemental schedule (in this case, a homeschool schedule, but a client schedule or work schedule would also be supplemental), I note that {in brackets} on my personal main schedule.
Let us know in the comments if you keep two schedules in one planner.
Etcetera.
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2 comments:
Last year I had three schedules in my planner: personal/family, my teaching schedule, and my daughter's class schedule. I needed all three. First, I had to track doctor's appointments, grocery deliveries, dinner and weekend get-togethers. I also needed to see my class schedule, which varied by day of the week and I never could memorize it. Those two were on facing sheets - personal left, school right, so that I could see both at a glance. Behind a tab, easy to retrieve but not in constant view, was my daughter's class schedule, which also varied by day and which I never could memorize. I needed it so I could see what clothes to set out for the next day (uniform, free dress, gym clothes), if library books needed to go back on library day, etc.
This year I'm not teaching, so I only have the two schedules (and DO2P instead of DO4P). I can't manage without them.
When I've had to do this, it's just been my schedule (including kids) in detail, and the other was just noting times, not much else. So it wasn't very intense. I do need to keep track of it all in one place, though. Even if I know that something is happening every Monday, I might double book if it's not written where I see it when I'm considering the next thing.
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