2021 – Spring (Academic Calendar) Plan – Deep Reset

As a reader of many productivity systems, and one who has adopted and modified much of what Cal Newport suggests, I go into 2021 with a plan for the Spring semester (detailed below) instead of a quarterly plan as I’m both a PhD student and an Instructional Designer at a tier 1 research university. My planning is broken into academic semester for larger goals, weekly plans for the most immediate or important work, and daily plans using Cal’s time block planner. My capture is done mainly in the time block planner. I’ve moved configure back to a combo of Evernote and Trello for configure as I found I was more productive with these than with the integrated approach of Notion.

In addition to those, and things like Google Drive and the Microsoft Office suite, I also use a monthly paper calendar and yearly dry erase calendar on my wall for specific items. The paper calendar I’m current using is a desktop calendar that I take down once a month and fill in definite scheduled items (such as my running and workout schedule, church small group meetings, household items like changing filters, and any deadlines for work or school related items). I also write down each book I finish on the day it’s completed. The four lines per box make it easy to control things at a slightly bigger picture while integrating both personal and professional seamlessly.

My yearly calendar is the Jon Acuff Finish Calendar. I chose the dry erase version to adjust more easily as goals/plans change. This gets used primarily to record anything longer term (like the nights I have to stay up late to attend Zoom class with my PhD cohort in Hawaii), large scale fitness goal dates, work projects beyond the current month, car and house care, etc) while also capturing things like the distance ran on my jogging days and books read to give me an overview of what’s been accomplished during the year. I prefer this calendar largely because the months aren’t separated, but they flow into each other so that in 2021 the days of March 31 and April 1 are right next to each other instead of being separated into different month boxes.

I even use a color coding scheme across both calendars to differentiate specific areas.

• Black = PhD/Hawaii
• Blue = Books
• Red = Fitness
• Green = Personal
• Pink = Work

Deep Reset – Spring 2021 Objectives & Strategies

As many do, I make plans according to the academic calendar (roughly) instead of quarterly since it’s what almost all of my personal and professional life revolve around. I use the idea of Objectives and Strategies that Cal lays out in Deep Work, where once the objectives are determined then specific strategies to accomplish them are chosen. Over the past year I’ve chosen five key areas to focus on, and developed both annual and semester goals for each, with strategies to accomplish them and metrics to track. For Spring 2021, here are the objectives and strategies I have for Spiritual, Fitness, Writing, Reading, and Finance.

Spiritual

Objective – Read Bible 5 times per week (yearly goal is entire Bible)

• Strategy – Use church reading plan
• Strategy – Read M-F before work (typically between 7-8 am)
• Strategy – Review on weekends and catch up if necessary

Objective – Memorize Galatians (yearly goal is 4 epistles)

• Strategy – Use Andrew Davis memorization plan booklet
• Strategy – Learn 9 verses per week (149 verses in 116 days, starting 1/4)
• Strategy – Consider writing it out weekly in addition to saying it daily

Fitness

Objective – Run 200 miles (yearly goal is 750)

• Strategy – Continue current 4 day schedule (will reach 215+ with current averages)
• Strategy – Increase “speed day” Ladder Run to 1-2-3-2-1
• Strategy – Lower pace to lower average heart rate under 160 for better aerobic base

Objective – Reduce weight to 205 lbs (yearly goal is 175)

• Strategy – Smoothie for breakfast every day
• Strategy – Workout on non-running days (except Sunday)
• Strategy – Salad for lunch or dinner at least 2x per week
• Strategy – No meat other than chicken/fish

Writing (Blog & Dissertation)

Objective – Finish literature review & Chapter 1 (yearly goal is approved proposal)

• Strategy – Read 1 paper M, T, Th, F evenings with annotated bibliography
• Strategy – Synthesize and write on Saturday
• Strategy – Read and annotate extra papers as time allows
• Strategy – Write reasons for reading paper at top of it before starting

Objective – Blog 8 times (yearly goal is 24)

• Strategy – Post on 1st and 15th of each month (except January)
• Strategy – Brainstorm blog topic ideas each Saturday – focus on applying learning design theory to practical aspects of life
• Strategy – Use Evernote to organize writing ideas and Trello to schedule
• Strategy – Write blog posts/drafts on Sundays (figure out time/place – Tova after 1?)

Reading

Objective – Read 10 books (yearly goal is 30)

• Strategy – Read minimum of 2 chapters or 50 pages per day
• Strategy – Read at least 2 books at all times
• Strategy – Read every night in bed (9-10 pm) plus other times/locations

Finance

Objective – Pay off Citi card before 0% APR runs out in 5/21 (yearly goal is 1 month emergency fund in addition to already funded long term envelopes/buckets)

• Strategy – Minimum $200 monthly payment (balance over $1200)
• Strategy – Extra if other budget envelopes/buckets are fully funded
• Strategy – If stimulus check and/or tax refund covers total, use extra to fund new denture then add to other envelopes/buckets