It can be hard to balance responsibilities and manage time well as a grad student. Sometimes it’s hard to focus even in your work environment– be it your research lab or your campus library– where one might have expected others to be working on similar tasks or in similar ways. Here are some tips from the grad students:
- If you need to get serious work done, consider working alone. Sometimes you will need help or outside input; but often, friends and colleagues can become a distraction.
- Be mindful of well-intentioned, even research-related conversations that veer off topic or last too long.
- Ask colleagues if that interesting, but not immediately crucial, conversation can be saved for a mutual coffee break time.
- If you need to ask a colleague for help but only have a limited amount of time to discuss the issue, consider setting an alarm on your phone (could be a private alarm) to help you be conscientious of your time constraints.
- Some people greatly benefit from using a daily planner. Since grad students do not necessarily get to plan every aspect of our days (classes, teaching, meeting times, etc. are scheduled by someone else), the goal of your daily planning should be being mindful of how you use each hour rather than exactly following a specific plan (which will be often upset or interrupted).
- Everyone needs time to de-stress. Consider either shutting off work at a pre-specified time each evening, or at least forcing yourself to take some personal time each day. For most people, this personal time may make your more effective the next time you try to work!
One excellent resource for academics when considering work and personal management and research efficiency is Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work. This book has numerous tips and strategies for improving your overall sanity levels while increasing your quality and quantity of research output.