Planning Your Time

Abstract

In this chapter, planning and time management are discussed. A top-down approach for planning is explained, where we start from the entire period of the PhD trajectory (with 4 years as a reference), planning the major milestones. Then, we make a monthly, weekly and daily planning. Technological tools and smartphone applications that can be used to support the planning are highlighted. In a next part of this chapter, time management is discussed. We discuss how to use lists in a productive manner. The approach that we take here, is to first measure the time we spend on tasks. Once we know how much time certain tasks take us, and how much time is spent on tasks of minor importance (e-mail, chatting with colleagues…) we can improve our planning. We use the urgent-important matrix to select which tasks need more of your attention. A final topic deals with the need for self-care routines and sufficient sleep. Often, PhD students get so absorbed into their work that their social life and health start to suffer. In this chapter, you get the tools for identifying when you are getting stuck in unhealthy patterns, and how you can take action.