Today Angela Watson teaches us how to maximize our summer. If you like her ideas, take this quiz ย to see if her 40-hour workweek program is right for you.
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Join the 40-Hour Workweek Club
Today's show is sponsored by Angela Watson's 40 Hour Workweek Club. I'm an affiliate. You can join until Friday, July 7.
And remember that most of us set our goal for higher than 40 hours, although some people set and make that goal. I reduced my time from 60-70 hours a week to 50-60 hours a week — and saved about 10 hours a week! That is worth it to me to join!
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Full Bio As Submitted
[endorsement photo=”https://www.coolcatteacher.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Angela-Watson-high-res.jpg” cite=”Angela Watson” byline=”National Board Certified Teacher”]Angela Watson is National Board Certified Teacher currently working as an instructional coach and educational consultant based in Brooklyn, New York. She has published four books for teachers and has maintained The Cornerstone For Teachers blog since 2003. Angela is the creator of the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club , an online professional development program that has supported teachers with productivity in over 10,000 schools. Her Sunday podcast called Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers is entering its 6th season, providing motivation and encouragement to teachers on a weekly basis.[/endorsement]
Transcript for this episode
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[Recording starts 0:00:00]
At the end of the show, Iโll tell you about a resource that will help you join Angela Watsonโs 40 Hour Workweek Club at no cost to you. https://40htw.com/join/club/ref/coolcat/
This is five ways to maximize your summer. And I am so excited. We have reached Episode 100.
The Ten-minute Teacher podcast with Vicki Davis. Every week day youโll learn powerful practical ways to be a more remarkable teacher today.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Happy Five Idea Friday. This is our last episode of season one. And weโre talking with Angela Watson about five ways to maximize your summer. I also want you to check out the show notes because weโll have a link to her 40 Hour Workweek Club that is opening up, that I recommend it will help you so much. So, Angela, how do we maximize our summer?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย Iโm so excited to talk about this topic with you, Vicki. I mean, I think every teacher struggles with this. We think have this, like, endless summer ahead of time, and we put up all the tasks until break, thinking, oh, Iโll do that in summer; oh, Iโll do that in summer. And then what happens every time is it flies by so quickly. Itโs gone before you know it.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย It is.
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย So the first thing that you want to do, if you really want to maximize your summer, is to have a really clear vision for what you want your life to look like when summer is over. So, a lot of times, when we start talking about these kinds of things, people want to skip right to the actionable steps. But we canโt do that until you have a good vision in place, because your vision is what keeps you pushing through even when you feel like being busy or you have interruptions and obstacles and other things keeping you from accomplishing your goals. If all you have is this mile-long to-do list of things that you have to get done over the summer, thereโs nothing thatโs going to motivate you to press through. So you have to be clear on your vision, on your why, before you start to take action.
[00:02:00]
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย So set your vision. And be really realistic about how much you can accomplish in just a few short weeks with your current energy levels, and with your current commitments.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And you have to also know, who do I want to be before I make my to-dos, because your to-be should really impact your to-dos.
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย Oh, I love that so much. Yes. Yes, exactly. What kind of person do I want to be at the end of the summer? Thatโs so good. And remember; itโs always better to under-plan and feel good about achieving above and beyond your goal than it is to over-plan, because then youโre going to feel like you werenโt successful. So think about those to-bes. I love that. Think about your to-bes. Think about your what. What is it that you want to have done this summer? You need to have devoted an entire week to not even thinking about work so you can totally reset your mind, right?
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Yeah, for sure. Okay, whatโs your second one?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย So get clear on your vision, and then list out your priorities. Rather than creating a mile-long to-do list, section off your list by high, medium and low priorities. So the high priority goals are the things that are going to make that end-of-summer vision a reality. These are the things that must get done before school starts, and that you are committed to doing no matter. And donโt add to many here, because remember you have a limited amount of time. So get those high priority things on your list first, and then add on other things that you have planned or that you would like to do in the lower priority sections. So medium priority items are the things that you want to get done before school starts, and low priority things are the things that you would like to get done if you have time. And then you can keep adding to that list whenever you think of new things throughout the summer, and that includes family time, rest, relaxation, if thereโs a book youโve been wanting to read; anything that is important to you, not just work-related task. Because we all know; if we donโt write it down and schedule it, itโs not going to get done. So if itโs important to you, if you want to have that experience, that fun experience or that family time this summer, write it down on your priory list.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย For sure. And I even go on Sundays and say, oh, I am on a vacation at home today, even if Iโm not travelling.
[00:04:00]
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Like, no point if itโs no nothing. Okay, whatโs our third?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย Love it. So once you have your priorities listed out, then youโre going to write the non-negotiable dates on your calendar. In that way, you can see your busy times at a glance. So any trips or appointments or any kind of set-in-stone event should be written on a calendar. And thatโs going to prevent you from realizing on the last of summer break that you never got around to something that was very important. Itโs also going to keep you from being overwhelmed because you scheduled too many time-consuming tasks too close together. So the calendar will help with those things. And it will help you ensure that you have that time for rest and relaxation in-between your most demanding productive days. You want to be able to see it all at a glance; what are my big commitments this summer, when am I going to be out of town, whatโs going on. So you have that big picture.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And when do I need to cancel things, which is my problem. Okay, whatโs our fourth?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย So once you have that done, youโre going to choose a theme or a focus for each week of summer. And thatโs going to be based on your higher summer priorities. So if you know that youโre taking a trip to visit extended family, letโs say, July 12th to 15th, why not just take that whole week off, why not just make that a family time, where thatโs just your focus for the whole week? Youโre taking a true break from work and errands and all that kind of stuff, and just enjoy your time with family, just enjoy your summer that week. Similarly, if you have a doctorโs appointment; letโs say, thereโs a doctorโs appointment on July 27th, and you have the garage door replacement scheduled for July 28th, why not make that your focus for the week? Just do all your appointment and repairs that week. Youโre going to feel such a sense of accomplishment instead of feeling like youโre constantly having contractors down and running all around. Try to batch those things. Make that your theme week, and try to schedule similar tasks in there. So you can have more than one focus each week if you need to. The idea is just batching similar tasks so that you can get yourself in that appropriate mindset and focus on them without feeling like you need to be doing 100 different things.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And that feeling of drowning and feeling like you have too much to do is not good to have all summer.
[00:06:00]
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And it can happen. Okay, whatโs our last one?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย So thatโs the only thing that you need to do in advance. And then what youโll do at the start of each week in the summer is youโll just look at your focus. Youโll think about your vision, look at those long-term priority list, look at that calendar; and thatโs when youโll create your to-do list for the week ahead. So if your focus for the upcoming week is, letโs say, back-to-school prep, then break that large project down into actionable steps. Decide what youโre going to do each day so that youโre not taking on too much at once. Write those tasks and your to-do list for the week ahead. That way, theyโre scheduled into specific slots. Monday, Iโm going to do this; Tuesday, this; Wednesday, this. And be looking at that list of summer priorities to make sure youโre moving yourself toward that end-of-summer vision.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Angela, as Iโm listening to all of this, what do you think the biggest mistake teachers make with their summers?
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย Probably overscheduling. Assuming that you will have more energy in the summer just because youโre not working, so you can just cram everything in. And for some reason, it just doesnโt work that way. You have to leave margins so that you donโt get stressed out when the unexpected happens. Because just like we have things crop up during the school year that throw us off schedule, the same thing is going to happen in the summer. So we donโt want to have too much planned; we want to have that margin, that little bit of buffer time in there, so that when the unexpected does come up, we can handle it and it doesnโt completely throw us off track.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Yes. And, you know, I think that for me in the summers, Iโm healing in some way. I mean, we donโt tell people who have a baby, I hope you enjoyed your vacation. Theyโre not taking a vacation; theyโre healing. And we just had a school year. And to me, having a school year is as difficult as having a baby. Itโs hard, and we accomplished a lot. But we have to heal or else we just wonโt be able to make it in the fall, you know.
ANGELA:ย ย ย ย Yes. Vicki, that is so good. You had a school year. You need to have time to rest and heal from that. I love that.
VICKI:ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย So, teachers, I just hope that you get so much out of your summer. Youโve gotten so many great ideas. And Iโm sitting here just taking notes of, oh, I need to do that, I need to do that, I need to do this.
[00:08:00]
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And, very soon, the 40 Hour Workweek will be opening up. coolcatteacher.com/join ย So I do hope youโll follow the links. And follow what Angela does. Sheโs really helped me be more productive and, believe it or not, work less but get more done. And for me, that says a lot. Because, honestly, we wonโt even be doing this podcast if I hadnโt been a part of the 40 Hour Workweek, because I would just be at school all the time and I couldnโt even record the show. So there you go. I hope you have a great summer.
Angela Watsonโs 40 Hour Workweek Club has helped me become more productive as a teacher. Now, there are only two times a year that you can sing up. But today, Iโm going to give you a link that will give you some ideas for how you can join the 40 Hour Workweek Club completely free to you. Just go to coolcatteacher.com/join for information on some options for you and so you can take an interactive quiz to make sure that the 40 Hour Workweek Club is right for you. That is, coolcatteacher.com/join. Have an awesome summer. And stay tuned for some special encore episodes of some of the most popular of the first season of the Ten-Minute Teacher. And also, Iโll have some bonus summer episodes from ISTE, the International Society of Technology Educators. Iโll be going. I hope to see you there.
Thank you for listening to the Ten-minute Teacher Podcast. You can download the show notes and see the archive at coolcatteacher.com/podcast. Never stop learning.
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