Cultivating Mental Silence

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Time off thinking about Time Management

Today's a great day, I'm happy to be alive! Here and now I'm thinking about…being grateful for having a holiday to go and do things that I like to do...writing in a public space being one of them. It's nice to get out and about...writing amongst people I really do not have a connection with...it's ambient noise in a way. This weekend I wrote for 3 hours...working on my book...a promise I made to myself earlier this past week. It was very rewarding and I'm really happy with the progress I've made with this project!Today's writing is different. Stream of consciousness...this is good to do from time to time...it keeps the "writing chops" strong.Here and now I'm thinking about…management of my day. On last week's episode of [Back to Work](http://5by5.tv/b2w/254) the hosts talked about a topic that I cannot read, listen to, or think about enough of...managing time. I've pretty much become a time management "self-proclaimed" expert...thanks largely in part to working on my PhD while working full time as a classroom teacher. That said...I'm always looking for ideas to tweak my process! One of the hosts, [Dan Benjamin](http://benjamin.org/dan/) mentioned an article he'd read recently about Jack Dorsey, how hewas recently asked how he does it...simultaneously guiding two companies.[A Guide to Jack Dorsey's 80-hour workweek](http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/13/technology/dorsey_techonomy/index.htm)Theming his days...I'm sure he gets a lot of support...allowing him to stay focused on his daily themes. How might this notion of theming comport to someone like me...a classroom teacher?I do not guide fast-growing tech companies but I do guide...students. A big part of my day...from 8:45-11:00, then 1:20-4:00 is already "themed" for me...I spend it teaching. However, I usually come to school around 7:15, 90 minutes before school starts. I do this because we are a "late" school...dismissing students at 4:10 pm. I personally do not have enough "gas in the tank" after school to do things for the following day. So, I'm wondering what would happen if I themed just that 90 minutes of time each morning? What could this look like?7:15-7:35-Daily prep (get computer and projector ready, look at lessons)7:35-7:55-Copies (for next day's...or more...lessons)7:55-8:15-Review student work from previous lessons8:15-8:25-Espresso break8:25-8:45-Check/respond to email and/or put grades into Gradebook...when neededI do a version of this already. Most days I go from one thing to the next...sometimes trying to do more than one thing at a time...which is not a good thing. Wondering how sticking to these themes...might help the morning flow more efficiently? One way to find out.