Life Management as School Begins

This week I begin teaching again. I have had a nice three month hiatus from daily work, and I can honestly say that I loved every minute of it. Teaching, however, is not the only school that is beginning for me this month. I am beginning my second bachelor’s degree by studying web development. This degree will hopefully take me less than two years to add to my dossier. The real challenge to me right now is balancing a full-time job, and life as a full-time student (14 credit hours). Since it is just beginning, I have no idea how I’m going to do. I do, however, have a few time management tricks up my sleeve. Here is how I’m planning on accomplishing these two things, as well as end up having time to invest in my wife:

• I’m going to stick religiously to my to-do list. I have read that 5 minutes spent each day prioritizing what you want to accomplish will amount to incalculable increase in productivity.
• I’m implementing David Allen’s Getting Things Done. It is basically a system of organizing incoming information, and handling information in an orderly fashion.
• My commute to work and school will be spent as time to reduce stress. I will either listen to calming music, enjoy a podcast that I enjoy, or drive in silence to organize my thoughts. My cell phone has a memo capability, so I will speak ideas into my phone, to write down when I get home. I will also take the route with the least traffic, even if it is a little out of the way.
• I’m going to try to get 8 hours of sleep each night, not allowing television or piddling around distract me from a preset bedtime. Of course there will be legitimate things that might keep me up, but I’ll try to be more conscience of my bedtime. I also will be trying to eat well and throw in some quick weight training when I have time. I believe that maintaining good physical health will help me to stay energized throughout the day, getting more done.
• Finally, I need to remember that my relationship with my wife is more important to me than my career or education. I should make sure that if her emotional needs are not being met, school will just have to wait, and I need to be okay about that. There will be small times to spend together, just sitting on the same couch while I study, or taking walks with her in order to talk, and get some stress-reducing exercise at the same time. Besides, there will always be weekends, where a date or two will be in order.

I know that this is going to be difficult, time-consuming, and possibly stress-inducing. We don’t yet have children, which will make it easier. I’m sure I’ll be posting more of my progress as time goes on.