I’m writing this post during the COVID-19 lockdown mostly to help myself consider the ways in which I work and to think about new more effective strategies, but also to point out that you really DO NOT need to work crazy-hrs to be successful in science and academia.
Before I go into the specifics of how I manage my time and projects I wanted to touch on the work-life balance idea. Depending on your ‘academic-upbringing’ you may have wildly different views on what is the ‘right’ number of hours to be working and when to work etc.
I believe a PhD/postdoc/academic job should be treated as, just that, a job. One of the first things I remember my PhD boss saying to me was to treat the PhD as a job (although he hated being called the boss haha), work 40hrs a week, or thereabouts, and have a life! Whilst I felt he was an excellent example of a work-life balance, I personally struggled with this and I definitely over-worked (I also had a part-time job alongside the PhD, it’s a long story). Since starting my postdoc I have committed myself to the 9-5 and I am definitely so much more productive and happier. Honestly, it feels like I’m living the dream.
Working stupid-hrs a week does not improve your science! If you burn out or you’re constantly drained your science will suffer. You need to learn to be efficient and yes, science can mean weekend work / evening work (depending on experiments etc.) but you should claim back the time! Your mental health will benefit and so will your science. Below I will explain how I plan my time to fit my 40hr week, progressing both my research and my career.
Gantt charts are useful tools for planning projects and as an academic you will be expected to create meaningful gantt charts both during your PhD and for grant proposals later in your career. Here is a nice blog post explaining gantt charts further and why you would use one during your PhD.
I’m currently in my first postdoc position and I’ve found gantt charts super useful for planning and visualising all of the different projects going on. Below is the current state of my postdoc gantt chart, showing the full two-year contract I am employed on.
Importantly, I update and review this at the start of each month. Projects change, sometimes things move slower/faster than expected.
Specific example of how a gantt chart was super useful: my current postdoc position is for two years, after which, of course, I will need a new job. In order to improve my CV I decided an EMBO Short-Term fellowship would be a good thing to apply for. This fellowship funds up to 3months in another lab to bring new skills back to your current lab.
After reading into the deadlines/requirements and time it takes to hear back etc. I realised I would have to SUBMIT an application before the end of the first year of my contract, otherwise I would not meet the requirement of having a minimum of 6months left on my contract when I return from the fellowship. Collaborating with another lab and writing a fellowship, even a small one, is not a quick task. Using a gantt chart has allowed me to plan my time for this alongside my other projects, see above, detailing specific things which must be achieved to reach the goal of submitting an application.
I often read that making lists is a way people procrastinate, and sure sometimes that’s true. For me, making lists helps me to formulate exactly what I want to achieve and it gives structure to my month/week/day.
Using the gantt chart (above), at the end of each month I plan for the next month. I review what progress has been made towards the goals of the previous month and adjust and set new goals for the coming month to keep all of my projects progressing.
Using these monthly goals, I create a weekly list of tasks which I want to achieve and plan out when I will do these tasks. E.g. if I want to work on writing a paper, I allocate this to a day when I have no meetings or anything else going on. Whereas coding/analysis I can do in between meetings.
At the end of this week, I review what I’ve achieved (or not) and plan for the next week, and so on. Also, if I end up doing something I hadn’t planned initially, I add that to my list and give it a tick. This allows me to see how my time is being spent and lets me assess why I might not have achieved some of the original things I had planned.
Making these lists of what you want to do and what you actually do also helps you to identify the kind of work you are doing, see this post on deep/shallow work. Too much shallow work can lead to the feeling of overworking and achieving very little.
What works for me might not work for you and that’s ok. What I think is the most important thing is to have some kind of strategy to review how you are working and decide if it needs to change or not. Are you achieving what you want to achieve? Why not? what needs to change to start reaching your goals?
I wrote this post after attending a recent SULSA workshop: staying on track and keeping motivated. After using this post to consider my ways of working I plan to improve in the following ways:
Here are a few tips\links I’ve gathered from others.
Great blog from the University of Edinburgh with links to video training on topics such as project management, resilience, productivity etc.
Guessing how long something will take: come up with an estimate, if it involves computers/coding x10, if it involves other people x5, if it’s just you x2 anyway.
“It’s better to overestimate how long something will take and deliver early rather than to underestimate and deliver late” or somthing like that, from my PhD boss.