Time management

Marc Cadotte, Oct. 2009

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A learned skill

• Time requirements can get out of control:– Stress– Anxiety– Depression– Leave grad school

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Need a sense of control over your time = sanity

Items for your planning:• Writing/outlining research questions• Training: courses• Teaching• Appointments with supervisor and committee• Design/set-up experiments/studies• Data collection• Analyzing data/reporting measurements• Writing papers/chapters/articles• Rewriting papers/chapters/articles• Meetings/presentations• Finding a publisher/lay out/submitting• Administrative duties• Holidays• The unexpected!

What matters at the end of the day…

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The people around you are happy (i.e., good collaborator/colleague, good with students, etc.)

Papers, papers, papers

The seven masters: tips for gaining time and sanity

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1) Live by the calendar; die by the calendar

• Add everything to your calendar.

• Allot time for timely things (e.g., analysis).

• Share your calendar with lab mates.

2) Leave!

• Go to your special place:– Library (back corner)– Coffee shop– Home

• Keep it a secret.

• Don’t bring e-mail.

3) Take a break

• Get up from the desk at a natural break.– Go for a walk– Grab a coffee– Have scheduled tea time– Play solitaire– Facebook witty comments on your friends’

posts.

4) Delagate

• Ask collaborators to do things.

• Recruit undergraduate volunteers or thesis students.

• Ask a friend for help.

5) Write it down or loose it!

• Write down thoughts/ideas, you will loose them.

• Lists! Create to-do lists, or else you put off things and stress about them.

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6) Enough is enough!

• It will NEVER be perfect.• More sophisticated

analyses are not going to change the P < 0.00001.

• Submit it -reviewers will ALWAYS have revisions.

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7) Have fun!

• If something is stressing you out, do something else (if possible).

• Pursue what interests you, research should not be tedious.

• Be OK with shelving things.

• Reward yourself.