Rachel McKeown shares her learned experience of the importance of organisation and timekeeping, whilst completing a PhD, and how to ensure you maintain a good work/life balance.
No two people, or two PhDs, are the same...
When thinking about the skills required to take on a PhD, there are a lot of buzzwords that crop up over and over. Determination, teamwork and critical thinking are common themes you’ll encounter in any major project.
One of the most valuable assets for any PhD candidate, that might not come to mind so quickly, is the ability to organise. This doesn’t just refer to the planning of your project, but also planning how to ensure that you remain in the best frame of mind throughout. When I was an undergraduate student, I had a strong grasp on the former, but a much more tenuous sense of the latter. I had a handle on how to keep track of multiple overlapping deadlines, churning out essays never a day late, but the toll the course took on me was far greater. I couldn’t engage my mental ‘brake’. On starting my postgraduate studies, I was resolute that I would extend my organisational capacity, finding ways to build my own defences as I set out to face my greatest academic battle thus far. Here are a few lessons I have picked up along the way related to organising my work, and my life around it.
Control your calendar
The day-to-day life of a PhD student often differs significantly to the undergraduate lifestyle, with the independence and freedom allowing you to break free of the rigidity of a structured course. There are a few fixtures that can’t be shuffled, such as weekly lab group meetings but, by and large, your time is yours to arrange. This can be a little overwhelming to anyone who is used to living life according to a timetable. However, flexibility is your friend, if you’re willing to embrace it.
Without a one-size-fits-all workday, find a schedule that best matches your rhythm. Are you perkiest in the early hours, or a denizen of the night? Personally, I’m the type who likes to get the hands-on lab tasks out of the way first, pushing admin and desk tasks to later in the afternoon to give me time to reflect with a freshly brewed mug of tea. Some of my lab mates prefer to meander into work a little later in the day and let the coffee machine work its magic, before slowly ramping up their productivity throughout the day. We all get our work done in the way that suits us.
Are you perkiest in the early hours, or a denizen of the night?
Don’t be afraid to shift your general patterns around either. I’m certainly guilty of trying to turn a blind eye to the impact of the changing seasons. In the summer I can rise well before 7AM, head out for a run and still make it to the lab before 9AM. Writing this piece in January, I already dread the call of tomorrow’s pre-dawn alarm, knowing the energetic barrier I will face to leave my duvet and brace for the predicted sub-zero journey to work. When the sun rises after I do, the weariness permeates throughout the day. Interestingly, one day this week, an alarm-setting mishap turned out to be a blessing in disguise as, waking up naturally an hour later to sunlight trickling through my curtains, I went about my day with a little extra spring in my step. I was more alert, more focused and far more productive. I’ll be making a note of this to battle the winter blues.
Keep on track
I may be doing a PhD in neuroscience, but sadly I am far from unlocking any memory-related superpowers. With a relentless barrage of tasks, from setting up an experiment, preparing for a meeting or replying to an all-important email, it is all too easy for a few to slip by uncompleted. This isn’t so bad when the job is trivial, but a crucial deadline sneaking up on you is much more unpleasant and is best avoided.
The way I try to get around this is based on an old adage my mum used to say – if you need to remember something, write it down. The written word is far less fickle than my memory. In today’s technocentric society, there are many digital tools out there that will get the job done, but as an Apple convert, the in-built Reminders app is my daily lifesaver. I use it to log anything and everything that I need to get done, neatly partitioned into sections for PhD work, general life and University societies I’m involved with, in particular the running of Bluesci, the University of Cambridge science communications platform. The seamless synchronisation between my laptop, phone and watch means I’m never far away from checking my uncompleted tasks. I’m trying to get into the habit of inputting tasks as soon as they pop into my mind – as soon as I accepted writing this piece, it went straight into Reminders.
Reminders, along with a handy alert for a week’s time to make sure I had a first draft in place. Though, tying my work responsibilities to my everyday tech does run the risk of struggling to disengage and fully relax, which I’ll come to shortly.
The written word is far less fickle than my memory.
For setting daily goals, I take a more traditional approach and instead rely on my trusty notebook. At the start of each day, I take a few moments to write a list of everything that I want to accomplish by the time I come to winding down. Let me tell you, the satisfaction that comes from seeing a full set of ticks at the end of the day is a real motivational boost, like receiving a shiny gold star from a teacher when you were little. Rather than pushing myself to complete a task, I feel the pull of this self-imposed incentive. This has worked wonders for my short-term productivity as I give myself a real-time pat on the back.
Balancing act
PhDs are notorious for consuming your time in ways you don’t initially expect. This is sometimes part of the package you sign up for, and the sense of reward from looking at the horde of precious data you’ve just acquired more than makes up for it. However, I’ve found more insidious ways that work has tried to extend into other aspects of my life. In the early days, I found myself trawling through (likely unimportant) papers late into the night, just for the sake of feeling productive, when I should have been resting. Sapping my energy like this wasn’t sensible as I pushed myself too hard without need, bringing myself dangerously close to the burnout I so wanted to leave behind.
I have developed a curated calendar system, again using Apple Calendar as a personal choice, where I enter all of my work commitments colour-coded in red. These could be practical lab experiments, or desk-based work, such as writing up experimental notes, preparing a presentation and analysing data. This lets me plan a few days into the future, or sometimes even weeks, so that my project keeps its momentum. If something takes more time than I initially budgeted for, then I update the calendar retrospectively for the increased working hours and may use this to set aside a little extra time for myself on other, less demanding days. For example, on days I prepare hydrogel substrates for neuron culture, I’m typically working constantly in the lab for an extra two to three hours, so ending my work day an hour earlier later in the week, to catch the last of the winter daylight, doesn’t incur quite so much guilt as it used to in my undergraduate days.
Midweek calendar – work by day and relax by The red blocks need a healthy counterweight in evening.
the form of green blocks, representing my social and recreational activities. Recurring ones include gym sessions, quiz nights with my friends or simply taking a walk along the river to the tune of my latest favourite podcast - sometimes to expand my scientific scope (e.g. New Scientist Weekly), or sometimes to completely depart from it to broaden my interests (I’m currently flitting through the centuries by listening to The Rest is History). When the red and the green are in harmony, my routine is much more sustainable and burnout is kept at bay. Seeing my week ahead in full colour-coded glory has both aesthetic appeal and practical benefit.
There also must be time set aside for a complete detox. When the holiday season hits, rest and recuperation become the priority. In a mastery of self-kindness, give yourself the gift of completely tuning your mind out of experimental mode – those projects will still be waiting upon your return, and you’ll be more refreshed to take them on. You might even be able to see a problem in a new light or pick up on a small, but crucial, detail that previously remained under the radar. I’m writing this having just returned from Christmas break, where I fully immersed myself in quality family time and tackling the seemingly never-ending stack of unread novels I’ve been meaning to get to. Any emails that cropped up during this time were syphoned off into the Reminders app for the first day back.
Much needed walks at home in wet, but wonderful, Wales.
Master your toolset
No two people, or two PhDs, are the same, so what works for one person may not work for another. This is why it’s important to take the time to play around with organisational approaches and find a system that’s fine-tuned to the way you work. It takes a little effort and a little self-experimentation, but harnessing this skill in your PhD toolkit is one you will be grateful for further down the line. As the thesis write-up dawns upon me, it’s time to engage my own organisational toolset to face it. But first, it’s time to put a big red tick next to ‘Complete first draft of blog’…
This article was written by Rachel McKeown and edited by Rebecca Pope. Interested in writing for WiNUK yourself? Contact us through the blog page and the editors will be in touch!
コメント