Well, hiya everyone.

This is wild, eh? Hope you're all staying home, staying safe, and washing your hands.

Most of the last week was taken up with the mental and logistical labor of moving the next few weeks of teaching online, but I was able to put my mind to building a routine for the week last night, and to put it into practice today. This one is much more colorful!

I know from past experience with large swaths of unstructured time that routine helps, as does starting it as soon as possible.

I'm a fan of making to-do lists for each area in which I need to work (teaching, book work, house work, etc) in one place, then using those to create a weekly schedule. That way, I'm chunking my time in ways I can see (so I'm not constantly worried that I should be doing something else), and if for some reason I'm not sure what I'm doing with that time, I have a list to refer to. It also lets me follow my inclination to some degree--if I can't concentrate on reading for a class yet, I can set up discussion boards, grade, or do another task.

Despite what looks pretty rigid (above) it's important to listen to your mind and body and be willing to adjust as you go. For example, I moved my walk up an hour today and did some cleaning in the late afternoon when I hit a wall and couldn't concentrate. Doing that let me rest my brain and eyes a bit and made it easier to finish up later.

You'll see I've scheduled email time--I recommend this. Even more than normal it can be tempting to check your email constantly in this kind of situation. Don't! You'll spiral and spin your wheels.

Also, if you're spending even more time staring at screens than usual, set an alarm to remind you to look away and rest your eyes (I've heard 20 seconds every 20 minutes; I'm also a fan of longer breaks once an hour). You can also wear blue-blocker glasses, which are supposed to reduce eye strain and fatigue.

Anyhoo, totally unsolicited advice, I know, but it helps me process.

What are your tips and tricks?