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Dear Marta,
I'm a graduate student who is having trouble managing his time. Could you
ask some of the faculty at UCSD how they make efficient use of their time
and balance the demands of research, teaching, and administration while
still maintaining a personal life?
Finitely yours,
Too much to do
Dear too much to do,
Modern day life and certainly our profession is such that most us
feel that we have more things to do than time to do them - i.e., that
"we feel pressed for time always". And, sad to say, this perception is
valid; "this seems to be the nature of the job". WE DO NOT HAVE
ENOUGH TIME. Thus, we do have to (learn to) manage it...now and forever.
As with the answer to so many questions, individual differences matter.
What works for one person may or may not work for another. One must
know oneself and one's goals and priorities when deciding what to do,
what not to do, and with what speed, with what quality, and by when
whatever the official deadlines, if any. That said as requested I
asked various faculty how they managed their time and have taken the
liberty of combining and editing some of their tips with my own for
your consideration. In no particular order:
- Accept the fact there is never enough time.
- Read Steven Covey's First Things First. It's got very good
advice about time management even if it is a self-help book.
- Make lists and prioritize rather than keeping it all in your
head and if you like to cross things out as they get done. Better
on paper than in your head and better still on a calendar or some
other consistent planner.
- But don't just make lists of priorities, make schedules. A list
lets you know what needs to be done but not when you are going to do
any of them. If long term projects with deadlines that may be years
away (e.g., dissertations) always get low priorities relative to
short term projects with closer deadlines, stuff toward the bottom
of the list never gets done. So while it is ok to start with a list,
it is essential to plan *when* each item will be done.
- Be reasonable in your scheduling -- there are only so many
minutes/hours/days/weeks/months you have available to schedule and
only so much you can do in the time available. Neither ambition nor
wishing creates time. Literally tally exactly how much time you have to
schedule to do whatever it is you aim to achieve whether in a day,
a week, a month, a quarter, a year, or a graduate career (e.g., for a week,
take a calendar, cross out time for sleeping, eating, personal hygiene,
moving from one location to another assuming it takes all your attention,
etc. - i.e., all the time that is not available for scheduling); then plan.
Don't just estimate and don't just work it out in your head! This should
be an eye-opener on the path to setting reasonable goals, and better
time allocation.
- Schedule items from your list as if they were appointments (you have
to pay for) or classes you have to teach (TA), flights you have to take
(i.e., commitments). Include not only activities that can be done in
one sitting, but things that may take weeks (e.g., writing a paper,
working on a grant, reviewing papers). Allocate time for thinking and
creativity as well as for doing. Then resist the temptation to schedule
over them if something comes up later: they need to be treated as if they
were just as real any other obligation. The natural tendency is to meet easy
or pleasant, short term goals often for others and to make excuses for
harder, longer-term often personal goals. This may make you more popular
and appreciated, but it will not help you achieve your goals (unless
that's all they are).
At least one faculty member "also tries to NOT schedule at least one
or two days a week... then (to) use those days as "free form days" to
catch up on things (including student-generated prose and particularly
personal matters) that I let slide, because teaching and administration
always seem more imminently important/crucial."
- Respect yourself and your time. "The list should include things
that are for your personal life. Those are just as important (if not
more) than anything else. " One faculty member said: " I put family
time first. I didn't do this when I was young and ambitious, but I do
it now. I am willing to think about my research any time, but I really
try to keep teaching and especially administration away from my home.
By design I am not able to access my university email account from
home." In fact, all faculty who responded believe in some form of the
"maxim that all work and no play makes John/Joan a dull boy/girl, not to
mention making you impossible for others to deal with: colleagues,
superiors, students, and loved ones. Therefore, best to make sure that
your basic sanity is intact before you take on yet one more thing to do.
That said, you DO have to expect to spend significant portions of your
weekends and your evenings catching up on work at least some of the time,"
so if you have a partner who can't handle that, troubled times are ahead.
- "Distinguish what's important from what's urgent".
It's very easy to get side-tracked and loose time because you're responding to
things that seem urgent - a telephone call, a knock at the door, an
incoming email. But what's urgent isn't always important. You have to
write a dissertation. That's important. But is it urgent? No... you
may work on it over several years. Consider letting voice mail take
the call, not answering a knock, turning off your email messages and/or
letting people know you only read email at certain times of the day.
"Many urgent things can be ignored, particularly if you're working on
something that's important but non-urgent."
- Assume things will NOT go smoothly. Schedule some time for the unknown
and unexpected; they are greedy creatures with voracious appetites.
So, whenever possible set a deadline for yourself that is earlier than
the actual one.
- Create your own incentives rather than depending on externally-imposed
deadlines.
- Learn to know when things are finished; everything can always be better,
but at some point you must be able to stop. Everything need not be perfect.
- Consider no amount of time as too short to accomplish something.
Always be ready to use whatever time you have available. "Prior to
(having a baby), I thought I could only write if I had a big unbroken
chunk of hours ahead of me. Now I can work on a paper if I have 15
minutes between meetings. There is no secret here, I just open the
document, go back to where I left off, and just do what I know I have to
do (note: if you're new at this, it works best for methods and results,
less well for conceptual aspects like the intro and conclusion).
- "Organize -- take time for organization" so you spend your time doing
rather than searching for things or trying to figure out what needs to be done.
- "Stop dithering, stop complaining, just do it!" Going somewhere to
work where there will be no interruptions is a strategy that sometimes
helps to get into the just-do-it mode. "I've found that a large part of
my problem is simply worrying. When I take the worrying portion of the
problem out and simply do the tasks that need to be done somehow there
is always time. " Well, I can't promise that's the case, but worrying
less will save some time! So, be focussed and force yourself to get started
and continue to do what was planned "... during the scheduled time to build
good habits." That said, if you find that you really cannot get anywhere
on some scheduled task and feel
that you are spinning wheels, and you do have some slack in your schedule,
then do not bang your head against a wall, switch tasks. Get something
done; all days are not the same.
- Be in the moment and be effective. Whatever it is you are doing,
do it with all your mind and make sure you have what you need to do
it right. "I find it really useful to compartmentalize my time..(to)
allocate certain periods for administration or for teaching preparation,
and try hard not to think about those things when I am doing other things.
I try to work effectively. Don Norman advised me, "Never pick up a
piece of paper more than once." That means, if you are going to read
your mail, set aside time and be in a place where you can do something
about it. To read it once to see what's there and another time because
you have to do something about it is a waste of effort." That said, I
often take a quick look at a paper I need to review in order to decide
how much time it will take since quality of writing and topic matter
are more important for the estimate than its length. However, whenever
possible do do the "easy" tasks immediately - whether it is reviewing
a paper, answering email, writing a letter of recommendation - for if
everything you need is there and you can just do it, you save time
that you would spend bookkeeping, dealing with reminders, fretting,
and mental and/or physical reloading of the materials.
- Ultimately, you will have to decide what is important to you and
hand in hand with that learn to say no (wisely and respectfully) -- to
yourself and to others. "It is important to think about the big picture
and use that when making decisions about what to do. I get dozens of
invitations to go to workshops, contribute papers, write recommendations,
review papers and proposals etc. I could not possibly do all of
the things I am invited to do. So I have grown picky over the years.
I only accept invitations that will be useful to me or to the field, or
that somehow move things in a direction that matters to me. I also try
to make those decisions promptly..(rather than) waste time dithering.
I try to be writing about the ideas that interest me all of the time.
I used to accept a commission to write a paper for a book or a special
issue of a journal and use that pressure to force myself to write. That
...is not fun, and the product that emerges is often not excellent.
Now, I try to keep several writing projects going. I'm not so worried
about how many publications I have as I am concerned about writing really
excellent stuff. I generally have a nearly complete draft of a paper
before I start thinking about where it should be published."
- Don't regret time spent, rather learn from the consequences of
your choices about how you spent your time, what you accomplished,
how long things took, how you feel, etc. Time management is a skill
one learns and can fine tune.
- Keep asking others how they manage their time and share what
you learn with colleagues (write in if you have hints).
- Assume responsibility for your choices. It is your life. It is your
time. But do "cut yourself a break -- when you can't make a deadline
or keep a promise, be honest with yourself and others and move on;
just don't let it become a habit."
Special thanks to Andrea Chiba, Liz Bates, Jeff Elman, Kara Federmeier,
Ed Hutchins, David Kirsh, Robert Kluender, Jaime Pineda
and Yaacov Schul for their very helpful, insightful, and prompt
comments and suggestions.
back to top
In this section of Cognitive Science Online, UCSD Professor
Marta Kutas answers questions from our readers. If you have any
questions you'd like to ask Marta, please
contact the
editors. While personal questions relating to life in academia or graduate
school may be appropriate, please keep in mind that this column mainly serves to provide advice and
guidance on professional matters such as teaching and academic
issues. Also keep in mind that this is an advice column and neither Dr. Kutas
nor the journal will assume any responsibility regarding the consequences of
following or disregarding the advice provided. Take advice responsibly!
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