budding scholar

A bit of a vent here, and a plea for assistance. Any of you out there really excellent at time management? Or even just pretty good? Satisfied? Cause I’m perpetually unhappy with how I manage time, and have for about a year now made efforts to change it. I know that my future job (professor, writer, researcher) will involve managing lots of projects, people and demands, and that I’ve got to get better at managing my time now, while the demands are fewer. But I keep thinking it will happen of its own accord, and getting frustrated because I feel like I ‘should’ be working all the time, and then end up feeling like I haven’t worked enough.

Any tips? SW, JP–I know you’re better at this than I am. Help?!

• I write best in the morning.
• Libraries are always productive places for me to work.
• I write best in the morning.
• Exercise is a beautiful thing.
• I write best in the morning (yes, repeated because it is so hard but so true!)
• I only sometimes work well at home (late nights and early mornings are best).
• Keeping a journal (whether blog or other) helps writing and overall state of mind.
• Making a schedule helps me be productive.

What helps you independently manage your work in this jungle of academia?

One of my goals since last summer continues to be improving how I manage my time. Since I am headed for a career where success depends on using my time well, managing my own time and projects, it’s important to get good at it. The following quote captures my current challenge well:

“Effective time management is a conscious decision where we decide what is important and then plan our time and our lives around these things. The key is to use proactive thinking. Don’t wait and let time make its demands on you; instead, put yourself in the driver’s seat, and decide what you will do with your time.” (from Berkeley student site)

The biggest challenge is sometimes just deciding what is important, and setting aside time to focus on it. Too often I have a list of things in my head, then expect that time to get them done will simply happen. When I have an office where I spend most of my time every day they do end up happening. But as a student the truth is I don’t ever spend whole days in an office, so managing time and getting things done needs to be more intentional. But the key is–we don’t “find” time for things, we “make” time for them.

How do you manage your time? Any tricks for using time well?