Time(pressure)management during your PhD project

Prof. Dr. Nicky Dries, KU Leuven (Belgium)Faculty of Economics and Business

EAWOP pHResh Doctoral Consortium“Leadership in your PhD project”May 20th, 2015

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Your relationship to

deadlinesEveryone take a piece of paper.

Draw two axes on it; a horizontal and a vertical one.

Time to deadline

Stress level

Today Deadline<< (3 months) >>

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Draw your personal “stress curve over time” + write down your two main concerns about time management during your PhD project.

Time to deadline

Stress level

Today Deadline<< (3 months) >>

Your relationship to

deadlines

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For example

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Draw your personal “stress curve over time” + write down your two main concerns about time management during your PhD project.

Time to deadline

Stress level

Today Deadline<< (3 months) >>

Your relationship to

deadlines

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Your concerns

Let’s discuss some of your stress curves & your concerns:

1. 2.3.4.5.…

Compare & discuss with your neighbor.

… And then with another “pair” of students close to you.

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My relationship to deadlines

Time to deadline

Stress level

Today DeadlineToday + 1 week >>

“Those who can, do; those who can’t do, teach”

<< D – 2 weeks

Figure out what assignment is &

how much work it will be*

* Standard underestimation

by factor 5

Work on much less urgentstuff (while

keeping mental notes)

Alternation of stress/getting in

“the zone”

Work until 5 AM

Pat myself on the back & relax(next deadline = in 1 week)

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Since I’m a pretty bad

timemanager…… let’s not take my advice!

Let’s see what these two guys have to say:

Paul J. Silvia:“How to write a lot”

Steven R. Shaw:“How not to suck at graduate school”

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How to write a lothttp://thesiswhisperer.com/2010/06/10/how-to-write-a-lot/

(Or buy the book)

Inspiration (& writer’s block) is irrelevant! Just write consistently

Key takeaway of the book—there is no such thing as academic writer’s block:

You should write for 2 hours each day, at a fixed time (e.g. 8-10h)

Alternative = weekends, holidays… (bad for W-L balance)

We are not novelists, but technical writers (cf. academic style!)

(Analogy made: painters vs. guy who spray-paints the basement)

After finishing a project, don’t reward yourself by not writing

(Analogy made: celebrating being 1 month smoke-free with a cig)

“Need block of time to write”= excuse; make time (create habit)

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How to write a lothttp://jdavidstark.com/2009/06/15/book-review-how-to-write-a-lot/

“Silvia suggests that a more accurate title for the volume would be How to Write More Productively During the Normal Work Week with Less Anxiety and Guilt, but he humorously recognizes that such a title would have inhibited book sales”.

Three major barriers: (1) Illusion of “not finding time” to write, while you should just develop a schedule (like teaching times—you just have to be there at that time & teach) and stick to it; (2) Illusion of “needing to read more before I can write”; (3) Illusion of waiting for inspiration or “feeling like writing”.

Motivational tools: (1) Setting and tracking goals (see next slide); (2) Clearly prioritizing different projects; (3) Monitoring progress; (4) Setting up writing group for both feedback and social control

>> I particularly like this last suggestion! Does anyone here do this (want to share your experience)?

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How to write a lothttp://jdavidstark.com/2009/06/19/tracking-writing-progress/

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How not to suck at graduate school

https://www.mcgill.ca/connectionslab/blogs

Post: “Mindful work habits”, Sept. 12th, 2014

Dr. Shaw describes how his work method evolved over time:

Key takeaway of the blog—the older/more advanced you get, the more you will need a rigorously timed work schedule:

Young scholars tend to be “binge writers” (2 days/nights = paper)Read, think, “brew” for long periods of time—then binge writeAs career changes: need sleep, family, teaching & admin time + responsible for multiple PhDs (= both extra work/delegation)

1. After he had children, he set himself quota of 1,000 words/day; he even wrote on his iPhone on the bus or via voice recognition.

2. After becoming department head, he now schedules his work & private time per half hour—20 writing “blocks” of 30 min/week.

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How not to suck at graduate school

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Your situation as PhDs the same…

Something that I realized as I advanced through the ranks of being a PhD – postdoc – and now Assistant Professor myself:

Once you have completed your PhD you find it hard to even understand how you could feel time pressure at all back then… because most PhDs only have one task, and that is write a PhD in 4 years time. Almost all professors are jealous of that and would love to spend 90% of their time on research… although we try to be empathetic, it is easy to forget how hard it was

Looking back (and at my own PhDs now) I assume most of the stress lies in having extreme freedom/autonomy both in terms of working hours, deadlines, and content of the PhD (and there is no definite “yardstick” to determine whether it’s going well or not) + when your supervisor is a successful/busy person he or she is likely not to really “manage” you and be absent a lot of the time… What are your major stressors? What gets you “stuck”?

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What do you think?

Discuss with your neighbor: How do you divide your work time? What do you do in 1 week? What are the main barriers that keep you from writing?

What are the communalities between both authors? How are these work methods different from your own? Do you find them realistic in your situation? Do they respond to any of your time management concerns? Are you planning to implement any of these tips?

Any other thoughts…?

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Tips from a productive procrastinator

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Lessons I have learned1. I’m probably the ultimate creative procrastinator (and “pre-committer”, cf. behavioral economics)—I’ve written entire papers (and a book) while I was supposed to write other stuff. I’ve given up (for now) trying to change that; as long as I am doing something (constructive), I’m happy (and it’s worked so far ).

2. However, two main exceptions : (1) You should keep your promises to other people—don’t let others be the victim of your lack of time management (so: I always prioritize my work with others rather than my “own” pet projects); (2) You should first do what you have to do, rather than what you want to do (I have to do my job, after all). Just doing what I absolutely have to do (e.g. PhD supervision, teaching, meetings, editorial board duties) now takes up at least 50% of my time, so I must do these things first (N.B. I have a “flexible” Outlook planning that includes both work & private life—until Feb. 2016 so far).

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Lessons I have learned

3. Saying “yes” to every opportunity was great for my career when I was younger, as I now have a “high-quantity” CV and a large network (and have traveled the world), but now I feel I want to focus more on projects that I find really promising and that I am truly interested in, and only work with people I am friends with. Saying “no” and keeping some sort of focus is probably the n°1 time management challenge for academics.

4. When working with others on a team project (remember your student days?), it might help to have “the talk” about all members’ relationships to deadlines at the very beginning. When I was invited by Kerr Inkson to co-write the second edition of “Understanding careers”, I told him straight-up how I work, and he responded that he would be able to live with that It really helped avoid conflict later on!

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Lessons I have learned5. Try to be respectful of how busy your supervisor is. Supervising you is likely 5-10% or less of her/his workload… It is very normal for them to not be able to read/comment on your work sooner than in 3-4 weeks after you send it. If you want feedback sooner, here is my n°1 tip. Tell them 6 weeks before: “I will send my paper to you on June 20th in the afternoon. I know you are very busy so I wanted to let you know way ahead of time so that you could block time in your schedule to read it somewhere that week. Will that work for you?” Also, accept/calculate you will have to rewrite it 4-5 times…. If your supervisor cares, at least

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Conference time management

Conferences can be overwhelming. All the presentations you want to see are at the same time, there are thousands of people everywhere, there is no time allotted for lunch, people ask you to go out but you have to present tomorrow…

Here’s my best advice for getting the most out of conferences:1. If you must choose between having lunch/coffee/reception time with an interesting person you meet, or going to a presentation—pick the person. You can always e-mail people for their presentations/papers later. I owe much of my career (e.g. research visits, editorial board invitations, award nominations, invitations to projects, co-authorships, recommendation letters + close friendships) to people I met at conferences! Conferences are not about the presentations (especially not AOM ) Good science is always done by communities of people, not individuals.

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Conference time management

3. When you are an expert in a given literature (i.e., the core topic of your dissertation), it often is not helpful to go to presentations on very similar topics (you already know all of that)—I tend to learn the most in methods presentations, or presentations about topics that are peripherally related, but in another literature stream. This way, you take a “shortcut” into other literatures!

4. For me, the main goal of a conference is to figure out what the discussion is about—this is the “state of the art”, the stuff that’s going to be in journals in 3 years—, a sneak peek of the future!

2. Also, try not to stay with your colleagues the entire time (you can see them every day back home). Compose your own individual program and follow that. Go to sessions alone and have lunch when it fits you. Not moving in a group is the best way to network! Follow newly met people to receptions (especially at AOM )

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Conference time management

6. Hand out your business cards like confetti and when you have an interesting conversation with someone, write some reminders on their card immediately afterwards; and follow up with an e-mail.

5. As for getting feedback on your own presentation, honestly, it is not always as useful as you would hope :s –but, nonetheless, always ask for a colleague to write down every question/comment made by the audience (as verbatim as possible)! It is important to know what people pick up on and how your work is perceived by others. I also recommend presenting often (4-5 times before submission; can be at national/international conferences; at department workshops; for a group of colleagues… but each time, an updated/improved version of course), to see which are the remarks that “come back”. This is also what reviewers/your PhD committee will pick up on.

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Let’s discuss !

Contact me:nicky.dries@kuleuven.be+32.16/37.37.19.