Ross Woods, 2022
With thanks to Kαrεn Mαrchiοli, Cäšón Thēοríα, Christοphεr Strεεtεr, Tοm Grαnοff, Tοdd Fiοrε, and
Dαvid English.
Time management is one of the most difficult challenges for doctoral students. For example, one student asked, I'm trying to figure our how to juggle a full-time job, writing, and personal life. I have not made much progress and the clock is ticking. Does the 30 minutes a day method work for you? Blocking out long holiday weekends? Giving up on sleep?
It’s different for everyone. You have to find (or make) a schedule that works for you and stick to it.
I came into my office at work (quiet, no distractions) on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8-11, without fail every weekend. I also chose Wednesday nights as a work night and would work from 6-9 p.m. I tried to dedicate either an hour before work or after on other days. Those three longer sessions were sacred and very little interrupted them. It allowed me to be home most nights for dinner, spend time with my family, maintain a social life, and if I didn’t get to one of the shorter sessions, it wasn’t the end of the world.
Define your task
Work at it for 20 minutes
Record your progress
Take a short break
Back to work
After four cycles, take a long break.
(See http://www.tomatotimers.com/)
Open a zoom video. Record your thoughts and analyses to get it out your head. Get a free transcription service and let it transcribe your ideas, then work from there. You can apply this practice to the 15 minutes per day suggestion. Then you'll have all your insights memorialized in multiple ways.
For some, writing and researching at least an hour every day works best. For others, working in chunks of 4-6 hours at a time is better. For others, a combination of the two.
You have to dedicate time to your dissertation, and might have to defer some obligations. I set aside every Saturday for 6-8 hours for about a year when working on my dissertation. That meant I missed little league games, recreational activities, day trips, and other fun things. But, the short-term sacrifice was worth the long-term gains.
A dissertation takes a large commitment of time. You need to set aside more time if you are only working an hour a day. And when you finish, it will not seem nearly as daunting as it does now.
You need a plan to finish within the time limits. Most schools have a limit on the number of years to complete the program. (It was seven years at my university.) Besides, some univeristeis charge fees for evey semester that you are still working on it, so fees can seriously blow out.
Make sure you have a quiet place to work. I recommend noise-canceling headphones; you should be able to find them online. Any noise bothered me and they came in handy.
I was lucky as I worked as a teacher so I would have at least two months off between each term paid.
When my wife was teaching school, she found that when she got home after being with lively children all day that she did not have the energy to grade papers and do effective lesson plans. She started going to bed early and getting up at 4 a.m.
I worked 9 p.m. to midnight every night of the week for three years straight. I would tackle my PhD work after my kids went to bed. On weekends, I'd put in another 5-10 hours depending on what was due and how my research was going.
I taught in higher ed when I was doing my dissertation, and the kids were little. I stuck to this schedule during semesters:
Mon-Tues. Dissertation
Wed. Prep for Thurs-Fri
Thurs-Fri. Travel to campus and teach right through to end of schedule on Friday.
Sat, Sun: family and church.