Move the sliders. The map shows where your week goes right now, and what's left when it's all spoken for.
Work, the commute, practices, dinner, the email that pops up at 9 p.m. Every Applied Instructional Design Academy (AIDA) student started with a full week too, and most give AIDA about 15 hours a week.
Be honest with the sliders. The map is only useful if it looks like your actual Tuesday.
Most AIDA students give it about 15 hours a week. The glowing squares show where those hours would sit in your week.
The hours come from a trade you make for a season. Three places the hours usually hide.
Two hours a night of TV and scrolling is 14 hours a week. Keep half. The other half is five hours of build time, and you still get your shows.
An hour before the house wakes up, Monday through Friday. Coffee, laptop, one lesson or one piece of your portfolio. Five hours by Friday.
Saturday or Sunday, 8 to 1. One longer block a week is where the bigger pieces get built, because a storyboard rarely fits in 45-minute slices.
Time is often energy in disguise. An hour at 9 p.m. after a full day isn't the same hour as one at 6 a.m. with coffee, so pick hours you'll actually have something left for.
The hours you move today come back when you finish. It's a busy stretch for a season, and the goal on the other side is a workday that ends when you close the laptop. Give it what you can actually sustain and keep the number honest. A slower pace you keep beats a fast one you quit.
Neither of them had empty hours either. Here's where theirs came from.
High school science teacher, three kids under six
From 5 a.m., a couple of hours before work
“I would wake up every morning at 5 a.m. and do a couple of hours before work. Then I would come home and sneak in any time I could.”
Former English teacher, caretaker for her grandmother
After work, with energy left for her family
“I have more energy after work to interact with my family. I’m also a caretaker for my grandmother.”Read Kirah's story →
Jill Davidian is the founder of Learning Strategy & Design and creator of the Applied ID Portfolio Method. 20+ years in instructional design, including time as a hiring manager. 1,200+ AIDA graduates. More about Jill
Last updated: November 2026
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