🏗️ Creating Building Blocks
Think of your first year of teaching - it was likely chaotic. You probably felt pressure to have massive creative and teaching output with little time to create or build. I remember lamenting to my office mate after my emails had piled up and my schedule felt overwhelming, “I just don’t have time to create anything new.” I was looking for a final, finished, polished teaching product but was missing all I had created.
What I was doing in that first year was creating stepping stones along my path. And you likely do this to some degree intuitively. It is an idea similar to the article on Building a Project Plan article - in that you can create a list one time and then use it repeatedly.
In the book Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte describes these as Intermediate Packets - small sketches, designs, lists, notes, paragraphs, and charts (whatever you create) that can be used like Lego blocks to build something new with minimal effort.
For instance, a list of frequently used teaching strategies, a template for lesson planning, or a collection of research articles on a specific topic can all be considered intermediate packets.
Once I started intentionally creating and organizing 'intermediate packets' of information, I was able to streamline my work and save valuable time and mental energy.
💡 For example, imagine that you are preparing to teach a new theory course you have never taught before over the summer term. You can start fresh (not recommended!) or mindfully assemble the intermediate packets you have already created.
Examples of Intermediate Packets may include:
- Weekly announcements from previous courses - This is a quick and easy packet to create. Review your LMS and copy and paste your weekly announcements into a document. Moving forward, the next time you teach this class, you can use this language exactly or slightly modify it to fit the course you are teaching. This document can include welcome instructions and instructions for completing the course.
- Learning Activities - If you have already created a Fishbone Analysis activity for a medical/surgical course, it can be easily repurposed for a pharmacology course. This practical approach saves you from building something from scratch every time, instilling a sense of completion and confidence in your teaching abilities.
- LMS Courses - Creating a “master” course can save hours. Each semester, as you move through the course, make slight changes or updates, and then copy the “master” into your new course. If possible, consider sharing or collaborating with other instructors who teach the same course and share a “master” that everyone is responsible for updating.
If you are working on a writing project, these may include:
- A flowchart of your writing process - Having a sketched plan of ideation, rough draft, polishing, and review can allow you to move through the steps on an established timeline.
- Frequently referenced articles and citations - Quickly referencing articles, citations, and summaries is essential to a smooth writing process. When you are in a writing groove, nothing is more frustrating than looking for a source that you know is buried somewhere in your notes or a book. Keeping these in a quick file or a Notion database makes it easier to find what you need quickly.
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Using a checklist—Creating a repeatable checklist of tasks for every writing project saves you valuable mental bandwidth. You don’t have to think about what step is next; you just need to move down the list. I have a repeatable checklist for creating the active learning decks—each goes through the same process: idea, sketch, puzzles, illustration, testing, and production. I know exactly what to do next because I have created a system for myself.
- This type of checklist is easy to set up in Notion, and you can even monitor your progress with fun progress bars (see below).
🎨 Structure Promotes Creativity
When we work with a template, framework, or routine, our creativity can blossom. A simple outline allows your brain to channel practical ideas into creating a fantastic course full of valuable, innovative (maybe experimental?) learning activities rather than a haphazard, half-finished lesson that you start from scratch every term.
Many of us already make these types of packets, but the difference in Building a Second Brain is that we create them intentionally. We are systematizing these blocks so they are easy to use and reference for our future selves.
In the short term, it may feel insignificant. But as your library grows, as you build a system with intention, it becomes an indispensable tool for your career and personal growth. It is like accruing investment interest - if you check it daily, there is little change. But suddenly, you get that quarterly report and are totally inspired and motivated by the growth!
📝 Wrapping up
That’s a wrap on this series! Just a reminder, I will still see you for the next few weeks for the new series before I take an annual newsletter rest/reset over the summer. My last email will be on July 1st and I will return to your inbox on August 12th!
And if you are interested in creating your own second brain using Notion, check out the Nurse Educator Operating System! Click HERE to learn more. And as a thank you for reading my newsletter, you can get $20 off using coupon code NURSENOTION20.
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