Daniel and Tonya, of Hebrew and Greek Reader, have asked how Mandy and I manage our time. I will endeavor to have Mandy post her thoughts at some point in the near future–but for now, my thoughts will have to suffice.

First, our situation differs slightly from others in that we are both MA students at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. As a result of this, aside from us both being in school, we both have to work part-time. It’s a challenge, to say the least. This is how I try to make sense of the chaos.

At the beginning of each semester I plan out each day from 7am to 9pm in thirty minute blocks. I use a spreadsheet for this. I put everything on there, time to do school work, time to go to class, time for my job (this is a little difficult for me since I’m a part-time youth pastor, sometimes ministry intrudes, and my carefully planned week is thrown off, but what can one do?). For instance, this semester Monday’s look something like what follows:

8am-9am: Library time
9am-11am: Targumic Aramaic Translation
11am-12pm: Misc. Reading/Aramaic Vocab
12pm-12:30pm: Lunch
12:30pm-3pm: Reading for OT Poetical Books
3pm-5pm: Misc. paper research
5pm-6pm: Prepare and Eat Dinner
6pm-9pm: Read Epigraphic Hebrew Grammar (Gogel)

Mandy and I have a deal with each other, we always finish up school work by 9pm, 8:30 if possible. This allows us to spend some time before bed talking, watching movies, reading fiction, playing video games, or otherwise being together. Not all my days look like the above, and my schedule is frequently thrown off, but I’ve learned that I need to remain flexible. Some weeks there is less reading in a class than other weeks, so I adjust as needed. I also make use of Remember the Milk on my Google homepage, to keep track of upcoming due dates, reading requirements, and where I should be in my translations.

So, I stay organized by keeping each day of the week fairly organized. It changes each semester, because my classes change, but the overall strategy has worked for me.

Right now, it’s time for me to go read Zevit.