Time Management for PhD Students

Why do we care about time management as PhD students?

Time management is one of the hardest, least obvious, most elusive, and most important things to practice as a PhD student, IMO! I think it is key to productivity, but more importantly, good time management is key to maintaining your sanity in grad school. It’s extremely difficult because there is not time card to punch in and out of work, and there is a feeling of guilt that follows us everywhere when we’re not working. So maintaining good time management habits are key for keeping the work/life balance in check.

At the beginning of the week:

• Make concrete, reasonable goals for each week. I try to stick to making 3 or 4 goals each week.
• After you write down your goals, it’s all about the TIME CHUNKING, baby! Time chunking means breaking down larger tasks into smaller tasks that can be accomplished in 30-60 minutes or less. The credit for this goes to Dr. Glenda Russell with CAPS. She is amazing. When she first told me about it, I tried it and my life changed forever. Here is how I do it; adjust accordingly to your needs and personality type:
• First I make around 4 concrete goals per week. As an example, let’s say one of those goals is to “Organize field research from last semester.”
• Then I use the “Tasks” function in Google calendar, but you can use a pen and paper or any other cool app you might have found.
• Underneath the main task I write all of the little subtasks that this one goal is made up of. So it will look like this:
• Organize field research from last semester
• Sort pictures into topical folders
• Translate pictures of propaganda posters
• Code field notes from September
• Read and summarize one journal article
• Time chunking does two crucial things: first, it breaks up one, big formidable task into smaller, more manageable tasks. It plays tricks on your brain so something that seemed insurmountable, and thus an easy target for procrastination, becomes less intimidating. Second, chunking creates multiple tasks that you can check off your list, which feels good in and of itself, but also the act of checking things off a list catalyzes more productivity. Motivation breeds motivation, productivity breeds productivity.
• In addition to having weekly goals, I recommend the following pyramid scheme: Have a 5-year plan, 1-year plan, semester plan, monthly plan, and weekly plan with concrete goals and clear deadlines. They should be detailed accordingly. Edit them regularly.
• Make sure you have someone to hold you accountable for said deadlines. Nothing concentrates the mind like an impending execution, as my adviser is so fond of saying.
• Using the above yearly/monthly/weekly plans as a guideline, keep a really organized calendar with appointments, meetings, and deadlines. Google calendar is the best IMO.

During the week:

• Keep track of the time when you’re actually working. This is so key, my number one piece of advice for productivity, accountability, and stress relief. “Stress relief??” you might be thinking, “Keeping track of my time sounds like stressful way to add another app to my phone.” But YES, STRESS RELIEF. Because sometimes we stress ourselves out thinking, “OMG I didn’t work enough this week!” when in actuality we did 60 hours of work and it’s time for a break. Or sometimes we end the week exhausted, thinking to ourselves, “OMG I’m soooo over-worked!” when in reality we only did 30 hours of work, and we didn’t even realize it but we spent 20 hours organizing and reorganizing our inbox, reading BuzzFeed and stalking our ex on facebook. Time tracking is a fantastic reality check that makes sure you’re actually doing work and makes sure you're not over-working yourself either. Kind of like calorie counting your food. I use the software called Toggl. It is amazing. You can choose projects. If you are TAing or teaching, you should include the hours you spend teaching on here as well, that certainly counts as work! This will divide the time you spend working into different categories. I only have the clock running when I’m actually doing work-- not when I’m walking through campus, getting a cup of coffee, eating lunch, going to the bathroom, or talking with friends. Only when I’m actually doing work is the clock running.  I usually shoot for 40 hours of real work a week, and it will get to up to 60 hours a week during midterms and finals time, or during grant writing and publication deadlines time. For me, 40 hours of real work time usually translated into more than 60 hours in the office a week, but I only have the clock running while I’m actually working. Because I take regular breaks (plus usually have to run around campus for something), I’ll usually get 8 hours of work done for every 10 hours I spend at the office. After you do this for 1 week, you might be surprised by how much or by how little work you actually do during the week.

Here's what the app looks like on your phone:

• Keep track in writing of all your accomplishments during the week. Met with your adviser? Wrote a blog post? Organized your calendar? Read the introduction and conclusion a book (because let’s be real...who has time to read the whole book these days?) Wrote a chapter in your dissertation? Did your laundry? Write it down! I keep track of all my accomplishments for the week on a post-it note and then pin it to the bulletin board behind my computer at the end of the week. It feels good to look back at the end of the week/month/semester on what that I’ve accomplished. Sometimes at the end of the week there is a dreaded feeling: “Ugh, I did NOTHING this week.” But I always have at least one thing written on the post-it (but more often than not I have at least 10 things written down…)
• Keep a research journal where you write down everything that you’ve accomplished, but also are writing summaries of what you’re reading, and any other random thoughts and brilliant insights you have regarding your research topic or what you’ve been reading or thinking about.  
• Wake up at approximately the same time every day. I know, I know, it sounds crazy. But it helps. I don’t know if it’s psychological or physiological, but my brain likes waking up at the same time every morning. I’m not saying you have to wake up early and immediately do work or go to the office. I’ll wake up early on the weekend to read (sometimes even, dare I say it, FICTION! *gasp*), watch TV, or make breakfast. It’s nice having a slow morning to do whatever you want and enjoy yourself. You might feel better than if you sleep until noon. Sometimes I like being productive, and I might clean the house. Sometimes I like being active, and I’ll go exercise. Sometimes I like getting stuff done so I can enjoy the rest of my Saturday, and I’ll go into the office early in the morning on Saturday and do work, which allows me to enjoy a guilt-free afternoon in the sunshine.
• Turn off your phone! Sometimes I find myself getting really anxious and/or going slightly insane with the constant obsession to check my phone and urgent need to respond immediately to messages and email. I’ve noticed that it has helped my mental health and productivity to only check my phone and email 3 times a day: once in the morning, afternoon, and night. Yes, that’s right. Only check your phone 3 times a day. Don’t panic. You might be surprised by how much more productive and relaxed you find yourself to be. And turn off your “read receipts.” Talk about the most anxiety provoking technology ever invented for both parties involved!

At the end of the week:

• REWARD YOURSELF! This is so key. Do not deny pleasure! Rather, delay the pleasure until after you’ve accomplished one of your goals. This can include, depending on the size of the goal accomplished:
• Checking email (my friends laugh at me when I tell them I use checking email as a reward, but this actually works! I don’t let myself open my email until I’ve done 2 hours of writing in the morning, and this actually concentrates my mind and gets me motivated to write because I know I need to check my email ASAP)
• Social media-ing- I don’t let myself Facebook until I’ve accomplished something. I also have Chrome Nanny on my internet browser that won’t let me Facebook for more than 10-minutes a day.
• Playing on your phone- whether it’s playing games or chatting with friends, I use checking my phone or sending a friend a message as motivation to get work done
• Taking the day off
• Watching TV or a movie
• Sleeping in or taking a nap
• Hanging out with a friend
• Throwing a party
• Going hiking
• Taking yourself out to brunch
• Getting a manicure and/or pedicure
• Buying an expensive drink at Starbucks
• Taking your friend out for happy hour

TL;DR: So, to conclude, my formula for smart productivity and time management as a PhD student (aka how to get your work done while not going crazy and actually maybe even getting to enjoy your weekends):

1. Keep track of the time you actually spend working! Keep your time labeled and organized according to each project and what you’ve worked on each week: Toggl is a good tool for this. This will give you a reality check for how much time you’ve actually spent working and will give you a good excuse for some guilt-free relaxation time when you’ve hit your hourly goal for the week.
2. Set clear and attainable weekly goals and employ time chunking: write down concrete, manageable tasks for the week and employ time chunking to break up big tasks into smaller, more manageable and less intimidating tasks.
3. Turn off distractions, especially your phone, email, Facebook, and all other social media.
4. Reward yourself! This one is my favorites! Do this as often as you can.