Chaona Chen, University of Glasgow
At the beginning of my third year of my PhD, I was overwhelmed by how many things I had to finish each day. I was collecting data for my experiments, writing a paper, preparing my conference presentations, and running statistic workshops for undergraduate students. I felt worse every day as more and more things were ‘delayed’ on my to-do-list. I finally decided to take action before I would burn out.
In order to figure out how to solve this problem, I recorded how much time I spent on a task (just a rough number) and how I felt about the task (from one sentence up to as many words as I wished) on every task I did. I recorded my working diary for several weeks and realized that my problem was not about how many hours I sat in front of my computer, but how much time I was actually spending being productive.
By doing this, I was able to find a relatively clear working pattern for myself – I was most productive from 9am to 1pm. I was able to do some work after lunch, but much less efficiently. I also found that different tasks required me to take on different time management strategies. For example, I can do some writing during the times when I’m most productive, since writing requires a high level of concentration. In contrast, I can run experiments or respond to emails almost at any time during the day.
I realized that part of the problem was due to the mismatch between my working patterns and my tasks. For example, I would usually read though my emails at 9 am, get distracted for a while, and then run my experiments during the times when I’m most productive. Then, when it came time to write or program, I was already in the period of the day when my productivity was low.
Arrange your schedule so that you can focus on the most energy-consuming tasks during your most productive time of the day. However, it may take a while for you to figure out your own working patterns and to make some adjustments accordingly. That’s normal. Be patient with yourself.
I recommend starting a simple working diary (or a research diary for PhD students). It doesn’t need to anything complicated-- just something you can use to understand your own preferences and to get feedback for yourself when you makes changes to your schedule. Recording all of your success, no matter how small, is also a great way to encourage yourself.
Work hard. But more importantly, work smarter.