Time management

Good time management is vital for a researcher. The demands on us just seem to increase and sometimes it feels almost impossible to do everything that we need to do! Improving our time management skills can help us to regain control over our work and focus on doing the things that will have the most impact.  

• What should I be spending my time on?
• How should I plan my time?
• Time wasters
• Time management tips
• What if things go wrong?

What should I be spending my time on?

This is the first step towards effective time management.  

• Speak to your research manager to find out what they expect of you in relation to the research project
• Make sure you know what is your responsibility (and what is not!)
• Find out what their priorities for your work are
• Think about what your priorities are in relation to your future career direction,  e.g. promotion, moving outside the research role.

This should help you to clarify what you should be spending your time doing. Bear this in mind and try to ensure that as many of your tasks as possible are addressing yours and your research manager's priorities.

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How should I plan my time?

The key to effective time management is to prioritise and plan so that everything essential and important gets done.

Have a look at the Planning table below. Make a list of all the things you have to do and put them in one of the boxes. The most common problem is failing to differentiate urgent and important! To determine the importance of a task think about whether it is helping you to achieve the aims of your research or your career development - if not, should you be doing it?

Planning table

Urgency	Importance	Action
High	High	Do
Low	High	Delay
High	Low	Delegate
Low	Low	Dump

• Do - the list in this box should get smaller as you get better at time management
• Delay - briefly, while you deal with the DO box: don't let it get urgent!
• Delegate - or dump and see how important it was
• Dump - even if you want to do it!

The real skill in time management is to do the important things before they become urgent: i.e. plan never to have anything in the ‘DO' box! You should always be working on the ‘DELAY' box.

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Time wasters

Try keeping a log of the different sorts of tasks that you do during the course of a day, or a week - responding to email, taking telephone calls, having coffee, etc.  

Think about where you lose time and what activities prevent you from working on your priorities. Here are some suggestions, but it is essential that you reflect on your own ‘time wasters', and acknowledge them!

• Lack of objectives and deadlines
• Disorganisation
• Poor communication
• Lack of information
• Procrastination
• Can't say 'no'
• Never finishing tasks
• Lack of self-discipline
• The unforeseen crisis
• Socialising.

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Time management tips

• Set clear objectives in relation to each area of your work
• Devote time to planning
• Work backwards from deadlines, identify the key stages and then make a weekly/daily plan of what and when you need to undertake tasks in order to meet the deadline
• Use a diary, personal organiser or online calendar to help record your plan
• Split large tasks into smaller, more manageable bits that are easier to get started on
• Don't get bogged down by others. Manage other people's expectations and make your priorities clear
• Learn to say ‘no'. Developing your assertiveness skills may help
• Do one thing at a time
• Develop a good filing system (paper-based and electronic) so that you don't waste time looking for information
• Keep your desk clear and tidy
• Have set times during the day when you check email: don't feel that you have to respond as soon as it arrives.

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What if things go wrong?

Identify what went wrong and plan to do things differently next time. Your time management will improve as you learn to prioritise, set achievable goals and review progress.

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