Ways to manage your time better
nature.com
Ways to manage your time better
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#2Saved you a click
>Make a plan
>Beware of distractions
>Learn to say ‘no’
>Give yourself a break
>Don’t try to chase every great idea
>A plan can help in a crisis
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#3Saved you a click >Make a plan >Beware of distractions >Learn to say ‘no’ >Give yourself a break >Don’t try to chase every great idea >A plan can help in a crisis
Yes, but there is more helpful detail in the article. Specifically taking five minutes each morning to block out my calendar for specific tasks is something that has greatly improved my working days
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#4When I worked in academic research one of the biggest wastes of time was that the Professor in charge of the lab never turned up to meetings on time (30 mins late being typical) - which wouldn't have been too bad except he constantly bragged about his time management skills. I eventually realised he meant he never wasted any of his time but happily made 15 of us sit around a meeting room for ages.... Which is fair enough I guess (he was in charge) but did nothing for morale.
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#5> Take a long, hard look at your relationship with e-mail and social media. Although they are vital to everyday communication, they can claim much more attention than they deserve. Consider shutting them off completely as you work on a task that requires your full attention.
For me this strikes at the heart of a fundamental problem: on one hand we all want to maximize our attention span. On the other hand, the task of regulating and disciplining our use of social media is placed squarely on our own shoulders, which can be difficult because these platforms are intentionally addicting.
I developed Pony—email that sends and receives once a day—to give people a non-distracting place to communicate. The critical thing is that you don't have to regulate or discipline yourself. There's nothing to "turn off."
I've been using it for several months, and it's pretty funny: I still find myself checking my Inbox for something new even though I know that nothing new will come until tomorrow. The addictive power of social media is that strong and it keeps us from doing what’s important.
[0]: https://www.pony.gg
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#6The way I think of time management now inspired by a book I've never read [0]. I read the review for the Power of Less on the Personal MBA website, "Leo Babauta masterfully teaches the fine art of focusing on the essential and eliminating the superfluous." I thought to myself what I really cared about and what I didn't. My list of things to do everyday was becoming unmanageable.
What I do now is consider my main goal at the moment. What is the thing that if I didn't try my best to accomplish it I would have serious regrets? In my case it's completing my computer science education. Then I consider what would not be worth sacrificing in order to accomplish this goal. In my case it's things like becoming unhealthy and being a slob.
In the end I've settled on a system where I devote my morning to maintaining these things I can't give up and I devote my evenings to my main goal. I spend an hour or so exercising and make sure to tidy up before work. Once I get home I can devote my full energy to the task at hand.
Children are not recommended for this scenario.
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#7When I worked in academic research one of the biggest wastes of time was that the Professor in charge of the lab never turned up to meetings on time (30 mins late being typical) - which wouldn't have been too bad except he constantly bragged about his time management skills. I eventually realised he meant he never wasted any of his time but happily made 15 of us sit around a meeting room for ages.... Which is fair en…
If you're his subordinates though, wasting all of your time surely ends up costing him more productivity in the end.
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#8I'll never forget the time shortly after switching into industry from a purely laboratory workplace, that I had my first encounter with a professional project manager.
I got so pissed off that some un-introduced remote person on a conference call was try to tease out what all my "tasks" where, when they would be done and in what order (as well as when everyone else's would be done). Thus began my career-long love/hate relationship with project management (mostly hate).
While I am sure that scientists and academics can do well with general-purpose time-management skills, I think that industry could perhaps have more to gain by picking up some tips from how scientists work (and ease-off on the obsession with project management).
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#9The biggest time saver for scientists would be a funding process that does not involved writing voluminous proposals with key metrics and other make work information that keeps bureaucrats happily well-fed and well-paid.
I'm not saying there is no need for some way of making sure the money is spent effectively but the grant proposal process is largely a sham and a charade that needs radical overhaul.
Re: Ways to manage your time better
#10I will recommend Leonard Adleman interview where he gives some answers about how to choose the problem to work with: http://teacher.scu.edu.cn/ftp_teacher0/chjtang/teach/adleman...