DIY Schedule Board: The Importance of Visual Flexibility
As we start to get closer to reopening our cities, it continues to look like many of us will be working from home for extended periods of time. Many of us are beginning to see the areas that we struggle with most. For many people, it seems to be work, movement, or self-care. Knowing what these goals are and having a structure is great , but sometimes we need a little more.
As we start to get closer to reopening our cities, it continues to look like many of us will be working from home for extended periods of time. Many of us are beginning to see the areas that we struggle with most. For many people, it seems to be work, movement, or self-care. Knowing what these goals are and having a structure is great , but sometimes we need a little more.
Many of us are visual, and may do our best when we have a visual representation of our goals. Using the schedule grid or the column method are very helpful in setting and meeting goals; however, for some of us, when we take pen to paper, it feels very permanent and set in stone. Using a more visually flexible planning method may be a more successful way to hit the goals you are setting for yourself. If you’re using flexible scheduling, that would mean, for example, that you are aiming to do a certain task two to four times a week and whenever it best fits your day instead of planning to do it six times a week at a specified time on certain days.
With visually flexible scheduling, you can move a task from one day to the next without having to keep a record of a crossed-out version, which could signify to your brain that you hadn’t met that goal that day, ultimately making you feel bad. Erasing and rewriting on a different day, or moving a post-it from one day to the next, is a good way to ensure the task gets done, without the negative feelings associated with rescheduling.
A chalkboard, a dry erase board, or a lot of post-it notes can be a good way to move things that didn’t happen one day to the next day, without sending a message to your brain that you didn’t accomplish what you needed to. However, many of us don’t have these at home, or we if do, they are small or are already otherwise in use.
If you’re like many people, having that visual flexibility may help you set and meet your goals and lessen feelings of stress and anxiety. I’ve created a how-to guide for you to create your own weekly accountability grid. The fun part about this is that you can make it using things around your home, and you can dress it up as much (or as little) as you want. Here’s what you’ll need:
Simple Version:
Cardboard box
Marker or any writing implement
Paper that is blank on one side
Tacks or Tape (see note below)
Scissors (optional)
Opaque tape, (medical, athletic, duct, painters, packaging… optional)
If you don’t have tape or post-it notes, you will need something to stick the paper to your board: thumbtacks, staples, stickers, or even band-aids.
Decorated version:
Cardboard box
Scissors or a box knife
Any fabric, (old scarf, t-shirt, pillowcase, sheet) or decorative paper (wrapping paper, tissue paper, gift bag, sheets of paper taped together, newspaper) to cover the front side of your board
Marker
Ribbon or strips of fabric from whatever you covered your board with), or opaque tape (medical, athletic, electrical, painters…) or shoelaces or hemp rope
Post-its or small pieces of paper
Colored writing implements (optional)
Thumbtacks
Step 1
Identify the largest flat side of your box. Using scissors or a box knife, cut away the excess cardboard. This should leave you with one flat rectangular sheet. If you don’t have scissors or a knife, dampen one of the box’s side-creases with water (using your fingers or a towel), and gently rip the box along the seam, discarding the excess cardboard. Be careful with blades and cautious of paper cuts!
Step 2
If you’re making the Simple version, skip to Step 3.
Lay your fabric or paper on the floor with the decorative side facing down. Place your cardboard on top of your fabric. If the cardboard has printing on one side, make sure the plain side is facing down. Now, wrap the edges of the fabric or paper around the cardboard as if you’re wrapping a gift. If you’re using a t-shirt or fabric with some stretch to it, try to pull the fabric tight as you wrap.
Tape or glue the edges. Hot glue is ideal for fabric, but if you use enough of it, athletic, medical, or duct tape can also work to hold the fabric in place. Scotch tape will work best for paper but won't be strong enough to hold fabric.
Step 3
Once the board has been wrapped, flip it over so you’re looking at the front. Now you’ll make columns for each day of the week.
If you’re using ribbon (or shoelaces or strips of contrasting fabric), wrap a length of ribbon horizontally around the board, a couple of inches from the top, and secure the ends to the back of your board using glue or tape. Then do the same thing vertically, making 7 Columns (you’ll need 6 pieces of ribbon.) If you don’t have ribbon, you can use contrasting opaque tape strips, or draw the columns with a marker or paint.
Step 4
Label the days of the week, you can write them in, or use paper and stick that on the board.
Step 5
If you don’t have post-its, cut any blank paper into squares. If you don’t have scissors, you can fold that paper, like a letter, and make a tight crease using your fingernail. Wet that crease using a little water, and then gently tear at the crease. Repeat as needed, so you end up with enough similarly-sized squares to write one task on each.
If you want to color code - I love color coding! - and don’t have colored paper, you can color the edges of the paper squares with markers or pencils or use different colored ink to write each different task.
Step 6
Put your tasks on the board in the columns for the days you’d like them to happen. If you didn’t have post-its or tacks, now is when you can be creative! Try: strips of any tape, stickers, band-aids, or the homemade.
Step 7
Let me know how it goes! Email me your finished projects!
by Nicole Borger, M.A., LMHC
Nicole is a licensed mental health counselor specializing in the treatment of anxiety and depression, and in professional development. A former adjunct professor of group dynamics and human service management at CUNY New York with BA and master’s degrees in psychology and counseling, she provides individual and group psychotherapy to a diverse population using cognitive behavioral case formulation and related techniques.