While Sunday’s snow storm wasn’t quite as bad as advertised (I don’t see 20 inches of snow on the ground) it did snow a lot. And then we had freezing rain, which has made digging out harder. Maneuvering cars up and down the driveway has been a process. Yesterday I wound up digging a car out of a snowdrift.
The kids had virtual school Monday and Tuesday. I was sitting with the 6-year-old on Monday morning for virtual kindergarten and I was definitely having flash backs of Covid as the teachers were patiently reminding the children how to un-mute themselves. Fortunately they were back to normal school (not “fake school” as my 6-year-old put it) on Wednesday. Unfortunately: the temperature dropped to frigid levels. It’s been single digits every morning. So the snow isn’t going anywhere. I’ve been appreciating the difference between 10 degrees and 20 degrees. It feels significant.
Anyway, my “Vanderhack” this morning (over at Substack, partially behind the paywall) is about how to “Upgrade your monthly planning routine.” I did my usual weekly planning this morning, looking forward to the next week, and then tightening the weekend plan. However, I have been trying to at least think about the arc of each month, even if I don’t do detailed monthly planning, and I’ve been trying to both look back (on the previous month) and look forward.
January has been something. I woke up on January 1st on San Christobal island in the Galapagos, and then took a speed boat over to Santa Cruz. We got to see the giant tortoises that afternoon so that was definitely a memorable start to the year. The time tracking challenge was the big professional thing for the month. The snowstorm and its aftermath have shaped a lot of this last week.
Looking forward to the next month, there’s nothing big in terms of trips coming up, even though the kids have 3 days off for President’s Day weekend. Between the Galapagos and then spring break happening in late March I couldn’t plan anything else. But I have a few local things happening that long weekend that should be fun. I’m looking forward to watching the winter Olympics and the Super Bowl. It’s the rare month where the goal is to watch more TV, but this February that is my goal. Professionally I’d like to have a lot of the fodder for Golden Hours in hand by the end of the month, and I’m laying the groundwork for promoting Big Time (which will be out in May). In some ways it will be a quiet month, but that’s probably OK. The time will get filled.
Do you do monthly planning? How is February shaping up for you?
Hi Laura,
I enjoy reading your blogs and audiobooked “I know how she does it” last fall and participated in your fall time tracking challenge on the spreadsheet. This January I have been using an app, ATracker, which I like much more than Togl. It allows you to set hourly goals for different areas of time allotment. Additionally you can write comments each time you track one of your categories. Of course this is a work in progress and I am looking for the balance of using it as a tool, but not being on my phone more than I already average. I’m a full time teacher, new-ish mom (almost ten month old), gigging musician, and finishing my doctorate in music education. My time tracking this month demonstrated a lot of what you describe in “I know how she does it.” I see my kid a lot despite working full time teaching and my side hustle performing (68 hours teaching; almost 54 on preparing, email, meetings, etc; and 26.5 hours making music including practice rehearsals and performances). I’m also averaging close to 8 hours of sleep (still waking up and nursing overnight, but I’m not counting that so I’m just looking at the opportunity time I have to be asleep. Even with fragmented sleep I generally feel good with quantity helping even out quality ). I have had time to do a lot of things for me (a special restorative yoga class, attended a chamber music recital) done two dates with my husband, seen extended family and friends.
Here’s some more numbers for the month of January:
17 daytime hours pumping/nursing-excluding nighttime feeds
Almost 9 hour of time outside (mostly walks or skiing so this counts as exercise)
7.5 hours reading to my son
11 hours reading/audiobooks in the car when I’m by myself
All this feels pretty good considering we had multiple rounds of sickness in our house this month.
This coming month I’m hoping to have less exercise derailed by illness, finish another audiobook or two. I’m also looking forward to my birthday, two gigs with my band, an orchestra concert, skiing, a dessert and beer pairing for Valentines at a favorite brewery, and a trip to San Fransisco that will combine some fun sightseeing time with a music education conference. I’m bring baby boy along and my mom will come with to help with childcare so it’s bonus time with her as well.
@Kira- so glad you tracked your time! I’m glad that the month felt good despite multiple rounds of sickness. That’s one of my favorite things about time tracking — a reminder that life often is pretty good. Here’s hoping February will be even better!
I am mostly a weekly planner but I do like to think about the month horizon too. Being in a place with 4 distinct seasons I also put thing on a shopping list for future seasons for the in upcoming months and also some idea of the things from my 26 in 2026 list and how i can progress on those. I like the monthly view to see blocks of things. I can see my husband’s trip to his hometown to help his dad and my kid’s Scout’s camp.
We’ve also had a busy January which was great for making it go by fast and we’re enjoying winter which is coincidentally great since we’re having the coldest and snowiest one in quite a few years. But the reflection is that we are tired and managing energy is important. Both my husband and I noted that we are tired but we’ve also been doing more things. So that’s something to think about.
Side note: You would be proud – I went to the theatre in my city which is available to me basically all the time but I never do. I saw tickets for a show I wanted to see (& Juliet) and decided to just go on a weeknight. Because why not?? It would be late but i would be home and in my bed and really not a big diversion from my week. Adding fun and adventure to my week 😀
@Jen – good for you for having a weeknight adventure! I am proud. And yes, January has been cold and snowy – good to be busy in order not to focus on all the cold and snow!