Post by Alisson Rowland, GIC Peer Mentor 2021
The stakes of time management are familiar to many, but knowing that organization aids in academic success does little to inform you of how to prioritize your time while in graduate school. As with other lifepaths, there are competing priorities that have to be factored into your time. Below I’ve compiled what I’ve found to be helpful and/or necessary to consider for successful time management.
Creating Short, Medium, and Long Term Goals
Academia is not simply about attending courses, writing papers, and being a TA. There are many other tasks that are foundational to graduate school that have to be factored in. These include conferences, funding applications, department-specific deadlines, carving out time for data collection and analysis, attending workshops, and so on. The good news however is that there are different time horizons for everything. Whether it is an internal (university-based) or external (outside the university) goal, beginning by identifying the time horizon- short, medium, long- will aid you in determining task priority. Some of the best advice I received about planning is to work backward from your end goal. As goals vary by individual, being transparent with your advisor/department about what you hope to accomplish can help them guide you towards the most appropriate use of your time.
Example:
I want to apply for the Ford Foundation. The application opens in September, and the deadline is December 2021, so I would consider this a medium-term goal. The application includes 3 essays and 3 letters of recommendation. The graduate division offers summer workshops for Ford essays in June and July. Starting backward from my end goal (the December deadline), I can prioritize my time so that each week I am slowly completing the required parts. By July, I should have rough drafts of the essays. I can then edit and submit them for peer review (through Graduate Division). They also offer 1-1 appointments to workshop applications, which I can take advantage of early by having my statements drafted by the end of July. By August, I can send these materials to professors to ask for letters. This will set me up to have my application ready when it opens in September.
Here are some templates [courtesy of Associate Dean Sarnecka] that may be useful for organizing your time:
There are many time management apps and software, but it will come down to trial and error for what works for you. Forrest is a cute and fun one that locks your phone so you can focus on a task for a set period of time, and it allows you to label how you split your time between tasks and to group up with friends. Don’t be afraid to ask your peers what they use to stay organized!
Avoiding Burnout
The prior section discusses the merits of short, medium, and long-term goals. While I focus on academic responsibilities, not even the ‘best’ scholar is purely consumed by their academic responsibilities. We are people who have families- children and parents we are caregivers for, partners we live with- and all that families entail. We also have passions and hobbies outside of academia, such as rollerblading or hiking. And of course, maybe a fur-baby (or plant!)…or two….or three! The competing pressures of family and work-life are something all people have to face. When you have a ‘job’ that can easily consume your every waking hour, you have to be very deliberate about your time. Remember that it’s precious and that taking breaks is not only necessary but can even help increase your productivity by avoiding burnout. A necessary step to take in graduate school is to plan not only your tasks/goals but also your breaks. How you do this is up to you- whether you like to work in the morning or evening, for long periods or short periods, M-F or staggered- but penciling them in will keep you on a healthy schedule. Also, learning your preferred daily schedule that allows you to either take mornings, evenings or weekends off will be a healthy move for long-term success.
Practicing Self-Leniency
Practicing self-leniency can mean many things, but when it comes to organizational strategies it refers to the fact that even the most well-thought-out and meticulous plans can go array. This is not a sign of personal failure or any indication of self-worth. Rather, it is another consideration to factor into your strategic planning. Have backup plans when possible! This can mean applying to a few extra grants, or it can mean reconfiguring your budget and seeking out more internal funding. Also, use the research skills you’ve acquired thus far actively in other parts of your life- be it in advocating for your mental health, in keeping up with deadlines, or in finding opportunities that will further your career and personal aspirations. Being kind to yourself when things don’t go as planned is an essential skill to cultivate, just like research or writing- and it also helps avoid burnout- you are not the things you do, but a complex being who happens to be doing quite a lot!
Everyone’s graduate experience will be unique, as we all have different calculus we use to prioritize our time. Staying aware of department and school deadlines will give you a long-term plan of action, but short and medium-term goals are largely up to you. Staying organized will be essential for maintaining academic progress. Remember, though, to prioritize your breaks as much as your work, to know that plans will sometimes change, and to be forgiving of yourself (and your time!) when they do.
Here are other GIC blog posts about staying organized:
How to Stay Organized for Academic Success by Mina Hanifeh
How to Stay Organized in Your Discipline (Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, Social Ecology)