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Time Management

Time Management. Michael Orshansky The University of Texas at Austin. Two Sides of Time Management. Efficiency : doing things right Control : doing the right things For a faculty member, control is even more important than efficiency There is an infinite number of things you could be doing

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Time Management

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  1. Time Management Michael Orshansky The University of Texas at Austin

  2. Two Sides of Time Management • Efficiency: doing things right • Control: doing the right things • For a faculty member, control is even more important than efficiency • There is an infinite number of things you could be doing • Improving teaching, more research, more service • Academia is very laissez faire • You are ultimately responsible for defining what is on your plate • Not Department Chair or Dean or your senior colleagues

  3. Identifying the Right Things • Need to understand your long-term priorities • Depending on the type of institution and the specifics of your Department, different emphasis and expectations on • Publication productivity, fundraising, teaching excellence • Be involved in Departmental social networking early on • Almost always expectations are not stated anywhere explicitly • It’s your job to find out!

  4. Stay Focused on Your Goals • Have clear, articulate long-term (year(s)) and short-term (semester) goals • Spend some time at the beginning of each semester evaluating and revising your long term and short term goals

  5. Doing Things Right: Research • Most likely, that’s your highest priority • Scholarly reputation, funding depend on it • Block time for research • Ensure 2-3 hours spent on research every day • Stay at home, work at the library • Be ready and willing to modify your research focus • Start funding search in the first 2-3 years • One of the biggest time sinks • Students who “didn’t work out” • Learn to be decisive

  6. Doing Things Right: Teaching • During your first years, avoid major teaching innovation projects, e.g. new classes / labs • Ask your colleagues for teaching materials • Lecture notes, homework sets, exams • Teach the same class • Teach a graduate class • Will help you with your research and vice versa • Don’t allow teaching to dominate your week • Settle for reasonable in lecture preparation

  7. Doing Things Right: Avoiding Time Sinks • Look for alternatives in service and teaching • Smaller classes, graduate classes, less service • Often it is just a matter of asking • Know what you can’t control • Departmental politics and policy discussions can take a lot of time • Avoid perfectionism • Know when something is good enough

  8. Learn to Say “No” • Be selective! Evaluate each request in terms of your goals and your schedule • What you decide to do, do really well • Be clear up front about the scope of the job and the level of commitment you can bring • Use it as a chance to let go of something else • Work with people who are good at getting things done, it does rub off • Learn how to say “no” nicely and don’t say “yes” when you mean “no” • Avoid saying “yes” on the spot. Say "let me think about it”, then assess and consult

  9. Have a Schedule (Week, Day) • Make it realistic • Learn how long things take • Avoid fragmented time • Back appointments up to one another • Schedule big blocks of "thinking time” • Schedule "synergistic" tasks together • Know when something is good enough • Keep track of deadlines • Put your life in there somewhere • Family, culture, exercise, professional development

  10. Stay Focused • Know when you work most efficiently – don't squander that time, don’t get distracted • When "on a roll", keep the momentum going even at the expense of other things • Conversely, when a task seems like a grind, push a little, but then switch to something else • Multitasking is a myth • Minimize disruptions • Learn to context switch fast • Schedule “low skill” tasks (like reading email) at less productive times (evenings?) • Don’t confuse hard work with hard thinking • In the end people care about quality

  11. Beware of email • Email can be a huge time sink • Turn off the audio notification • Restrict your reading to certain (less productive?) times of the day • Be organized in email – keep folders • Respond immediately, if possible, and file – don’t keep rereading the same email • Don’t conduct confrontational discussions over email. • If you must, craft the email and let it age 24 hours before sending it out.

  12. Wrap Up Time management is a skill that you’ll need to cultivate throughout your entire career Try to maintain some balance and to love what you do

  13. Credits • Prof. Janie Irwin, Penn State University • CRA-Women (especially Jan Cuny, Fran Berman, Leah Jamieson) http://cra.org/Activities/craw/ • Career Mentoring Workshops • Randy Pausch http://www.alice.org/Randy/timetalk.htm http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5784740380335567758

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