First, wow! You are all in this with me! I am so grateful for all the suggestions that came through last week - it was amazing! I have so many great ideas to build on for likely years of active learning decks, so thank you! 💜

So, last week, this new series was introduced. If you want to check out last week's email introduction, you can read it HERE.​

This week, we are going to dive into the planning process.

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🕸️Capture the Idea

In the book “Building a Second Brain,” Tiago Forte discusses the idea of capture. He outlines how we gather so much information daily and emphasizes that we need a system for “capturing” ideas, interesting notes, quotes, or images. Then, we must curate these ideas and keep them in a trusted place. This practice is evolving for me, but I have made considerable progress in managing my ideas and capturing what interests me.

The first step for this project was to capture all of the wonderful ideas you shared. I cannot act on every idea immediately, so I use a database to keep them until I am ready. Enter my “Knowledge Hub” in Notion.

In the knowledge hub, I have added all of the suggested topics to my database for Future Active Learning Card Decks. This type of system relaxes my brain and allows me to be creative. It is like having vast, unlimited space storage for my ideas. And because I am not worried I will “lose” the idea, it takes the pressure off to act on it immediately.

🕰️It reinforces a personal philosophy: I have time. I am not in a rush. There is no need to be frantic and hurry to get everything done. I have time. It has become a bit of a mantra for me.

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🏗️ Build a Project Plan

So, after I capture the idea, the next step is to create a “project.” I wrote a more in-depth description of what a “project’ is HERE and how you can think of each class, clinical, or workload demand as a project. Each deck we create will be its own project, and I will add them all to Notion.

I use a “burner” system for my prioritization. 🔥 So, I have three categories of projects - front, back, and idle. Like any good nurse, prioritizing is essential 😊 I can easily drag projects between burners based on the week (or my mood).

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If you could see the whole screen, you would also see a “no burner” category. This is where my “someday/maybe” projects live, projects I would love to work on one day, but right now, are not a priority. For example, my idea about creating a Netflix-style online exchange for sharing puzzles hangs out in the no-burner area. They are available when I am ready, but hidden for now.

One thing that I love about Notion is that I can create “templates.” Because all the decks follow the same setup from beginning to end, setting up a template is essential to save time and avoid rework. As an educator, you can use this to set up your theory course, manage your clinical tasks, or tackle weekly to-dos. You can create a template for anything with a hint of a repetitive nature, such as writing a case study or recording a lecture video. So, in my template, I create a simple bulleted list of each task for a deck.

I intentionally do not make this very specific because I want to be able to make changes based on the type of deck.

What you see in this video below is more of an advanced feature in Notion. If you are interested, I can make some short Notion videos about how to set this up. But I drag and drop these templated tasks into a connected “Actions” database and now have a list of tasks ready to go.​​

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So when I sit down at my computer, my tasks for this project are already “assigned” to me and the project that I created. It is like my past self instructing my future self what to work on.

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I use a “now/next/later’ system (it just works for my brain), but you can give yourself deadlines or add the tasks to a calendar. About once a week, I go through all of my tasks and arrange them according to this now/next/later setup, and then I know exactly what I want to work on.

😶‍🌫️ Plan to Free Your Creative Energy

Taking the time to plan has been incredibly helpful for me. There was a time when I was totally overwhelmed with a long list of to-dos. I had paper lists everywhere, none of my projects or notes were connected, and I had haphazard reference materials. Using Notion, I can limit what I see and, therefore, what I focus on. My tasks for the end of the semester are not intertwined with my present tasks. I can hide them from my squirrely brain and know they are safe and easily referenced.

What is your planning process like? Do you have a system for your to-dos and your projects? Do you use a virtual system like Notion or a paper system? I would love to hear from you about this one!

Next week, we will start creating the storylines for this project.