Not That Kind of Doctor - Time Management

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12/11/2024 Added

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Time Management - Not That Kind of Doctor with Nick Husbye and Guy Trainin www.youtube.com/@tltenotthatkindofdoctor

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[00:00:00.210]Do you ever feel like there's
[00:00:01.890]just not enough time in your day?
[00:00:04.440]Academia has this way
[00:00:05.490]of stretching your to-do list
[00:00:07.770]while shrinking your actual hours available to you.
[00:00:11.490]So how do you keep from burning out?
[00:00:13.530]So today we're diving into time blocking.
[00:00:17.250]Now you probably have heard about time blocking,
[00:00:19.320]but this time it's the old trick
[00:00:21.990]with a fresh twist for academics.
[00:00:24.750]And it's not just about scheduling,
[00:00:27.120]it's about taking control of your time and sanity.
[00:00:30.090]There's too much to do and we need that time.
[00:00:33.660]And here's the kicker.
[00:00:35.130]Time blocking isn't one-size-fits-all.
[00:00:38.460]We are gonna help you figure out how
[00:00:40.380]to make time blocking work for your life, your teaching,
[00:00:43.890]your research, and your life outside of the ivory tower.
[00:00:48.060]Yes, we're giving you permission to have a life.
[00:00:52.830]All right, so if you're tired
[00:00:54.450]of feeling like your calendar runs you
[00:00:56.820]instead of you running your calendar
[00:00:59.100]and you really want to take control,
[00:01:02.730]this episode is for you.
[00:01:04.590]I'm Guy Trainin, professor of education
[00:01:06.570]at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:01:08.790]And I'm Nick Husbye,
[00:01:09.660]associate professor of elementary literacy education here
[00:01:12.420]at UNL.
[00:01:13.350]And this is "Not That Kind of Doctor."
[00:01:15.194](upbeat music)
[00:01:23.353]All right, so please tell me what time,
[00:01:26.130]remind me what time blocking is.
[00:01:28.710]Did you just tell on yourself?
[00:01:30.390]I totally tell on myself.
[00:01:31.678]Tell me what time blocking is.
[00:01:33.372]Tell me what time blocking is.
[00:01:34.463]Tell me what time blocking is.
[00:01:36.237]And I do have to say,
[00:01:37.860]anything that's about time management, it's all Nick.
[00:01:41.850]I really struggle with time management in general.
[00:01:46.020]So I am the poster boy,
[00:01:48.930]or poster person for really needing advice
[00:01:52.980]about these things because I do tend to run over
[00:01:55.920]and that is a challenge that I constantly deal with.
[00:02:00.240]So please tell me.
[00:02:01.440]Okay. Us.
[00:02:02.730]So time blocking.
[00:02:04.920]Time blocking is really a management system
[00:02:07.350]where you are thinking
[00:02:10.560]about scheduling specific blocks of time
[00:02:14.070]for specific tasks or categories.
[00:02:17.490]So instead of a to-do list,
[00:02:20.220]you're really thinking about your day, your flow.
[00:02:24.360]It allows you to really identify what blocks
[00:02:28.320]of time you have available
[00:02:30.450]and what you might be able to do within that amount of time.
[00:02:35.700]And one of the tricks around academia is we tend
[00:02:38.550]to talk a lot about apportionment, right?
[00:02:39.980]Yes, we do. Like, oh,
[00:02:41.640]teaching is 50% of your time,
[00:02:44.190]research is 30% of your time, service is 20% of your time.
[00:02:48.412]And I am a literacy person, not necessarily a math person,
[00:02:52.200]but I need to know what that denominator is
[00:02:56.610]in order for that percentage to make sense.
[00:02:58.650]And so what time blocking does
[00:03:01.500]is it literally breaks down your week
[00:03:07.230]into what time you have available
[00:03:10.140]and what kind of work you're hoping to get done
[00:03:13.560]within those blocks of time.
[00:03:15.930]And I think that it helps as somebody
[00:03:19.260]who was department chair and, for example, had to read
[00:03:21.570]or to do annual evaluations.
[00:03:24.420]That's a really good way for us
[00:03:27.540]as faculty members to think about this
[00:03:29.820]because this gives you also that ability to communicate.
[00:03:33.060]Look, for example,
[00:03:35.010]we have traditionally have had 20%
[00:03:38.490]of our apportionment in service.
[00:03:43.483]And that's really easy.
[00:03:45.180]That's one day a week.
[00:03:46.350]Show me that you're working one full day awake on service
[00:03:49.920]and you've done your job.
[00:03:51.300]You don't need to do more than that.
[00:03:53.610]You don't need to be doing less than that.
[00:03:55.980]But we do see,
[00:03:58.200]and I saw as a person who's evaluating faculty,
[00:04:02.040]I often saw that people under-count, for example, service,
[00:04:06.210]but way over-invest sometimes in something like teaching,
[00:04:09.960]especially early on in your career because it's new
[00:04:12.113]and all of that, you are putting way too much time.
[00:04:15.090]And that's where time blocking
[00:04:16.590]can really help you change behavior.
[00:04:18.600]And so if you wanna get started on this,
[00:04:21.600]let's talk through kind of the process.
[00:04:23.070]So I like to do my time blocking during my Friday meeting
[00:04:27.510]with myself where I kind of go over what I went,
[00:04:30.120]did that week, what I need to do the next week,
[00:04:32.340]what meetings do I have on my calendar
[00:04:33.690]that I might have to prepare for.
[00:04:35.460]And the first thing I do is I identify all of the tasks
[00:04:39.660]that I need to get done in the next week.
[00:04:42.720]And that's just literally my list.
[00:04:45.120]And then I start categorizing
[00:04:47.580]and oftentimes it's around teaching, research, service.
[00:04:51.630]And then normally Saturday mornings,
[00:04:53.850]I time block my personal time.
[00:04:56.700]It's kind of a separate thing.
[00:04:58.200]And then once I have that list,
[00:05:00.660]I can really think through what needs to be prioritized,
[00:05:05.550]what's most important, what is really time sensitive,
[00:05:09.870]what is going to need to get done this week
[00:05:13.500]in order to do whatever work I need to do the next week.
[00:05:16.200]So I'm not only looking kind of the week ahead,
[00:05:18.540]but I'm looking a couple of weeks ahead to ensure
[00:05:21.480]that I'm building, you know, the tasks that I need to do.
[00:05:26.190]And then once I have that prioritization
[00:05:28.800]and I'm really focusing in on what is most important,
[00:05:32.040]then I start assigning time.
[00:05:34.140]And I do this in my digital calendar on my computer
[00:05:37.260]where I block off chunks of time in order to help me think
[00:05:42.300]through getting that project done.
[00:05:46.620]And so what this ends up doing
[00:05:49.740]is you get this filled up calendar
[00:05:54.780]and each of those time blocks
[00:05:57.630]has a particular action associated with it.
[00:06:01.860]And that's where you move away from the to-do list
[00:06:06.510]of checking something off versus this is the time
[00:06:09.660]that I have to work on this.
[00:06:11.340]And the thing that I find really helpful
[00:06:13.560]about that is this is the block of time
[00:06:16.020]that I have to do this.
[00:06:17.010]Wherever it is by the end of this block
[00:06:19.050]of time is where it's going to be.
[00:06:21.540]And so it helps you eliminate that,
[00:06:24.037]"Oh, it has to be perfect."
[00:06:25.710]Nope, it has to be done.
[00:06:29.040]B work is still done, right? Yeah.
[00:06:32.880]And so that's really, really helpful.
[00:06:34.860]It helps to create some clarity around
[00:06:38.910]what I'm doing that week.
[00:06:41.010]Like, the weeks where I don't have time
[00:06:43.530]to time block are much worse
[00:06:45.840]than the weeks that I have to time block.
[00:06:47.700]I know that for myself.
[00:06:49.560]And so that meeting with myself,
[00:06:51.030]that hour-long meeting feels somewhat self-indulgent,
[00:06:54.330]but if I don't, my productivity,
[00:06:56.730]like, bottoms out, it's not great.
[00:07:00.060]Also... Yeah, go ahead.
[00:07:01.770]In terms of, like, decision fatigue,
[00:07:06.000]I've already mapped that out.
[00:07:07.200]I've already done that work.
[00:07:08.370]I've already given myself that gift.
[00:07:10.680]And it's super helpful to be like,
[00:07:12.787]"Oh, this is what I'm working on next.
[00:07:14.400]Oh, now I need to do this.
[00:07:15.540]Oh, now I need to do this."
[00:07:17.280]Which helps me stay focused on what I need to get done.
[00:07:21.180]I've already identified what my big priorities are
[00:07:23.490]and I'm constantly working toward them.
[00:07:25.680]And that is delightful.
[00:07:28.410]And so really it creates clarity.
[00:07:31.980]It relieves you of the need to make decisions and fill
[00:07:35.520]up your calendar. Oh, totally.
[00:07:37.170]There's a side benefit for those of us
[00:07:39.300]who have the ability of people to reach out to us
[00:07:43.680]and set a meeting with us based on how empty
[00:07:48.030]or full our calendar is.
[00:07:49.410]It protects our time.
[00:07:51.540]And we can say to people, "Look, I'm busy during that time."
[00:07:54.150]Even though it is, for example, writing time,
[00:07:56.730]remember you have
[00:07:58.320]a research time. You have a research
[00:08:00.450]apportionment, right?
[00:08:01.410]And so that means that part
[00:08:03.240]of your time has to be on that.
[00:08:04.560]I know you have some things to do with service
[00:08:07.590]or with teaching,
[00:08:09.840]but this has to be protected or it doesn't happen.
[00:08:12.390]We all know that it doesn't happen over vacation
[00:08:15.540]and it shouldn't.
[00:08:16.680]Or at a special time
[00:08:18.420]where you're gonna take a week off for a retreat.
[00:08:20.790]It's a good way to start something.
[00:08:22.290]But that doesn't make a research career.
[00:08:24.540]So you really have to be strategic about it.
[00:08:28.140]So what is really,
[00:08:30.810]you know, it's good in theory.
[00:08:32.190]I've struggled with time blocking.
[00:08:35.040]I do it sometimes.
[00:08:35.970]I don't do it always.
[00:08:38.940]How do you think about
[00:08:39.960]what are the challenges in time blocking?
[00:08:42.330]Well, you've kind of already hinted
[00:08:43.830]at one of those challenges.
[00:08:46.380]When you lay out your week,
[00:08:50.910]when you account for your time,
[00:08:54.150]there is the kind of unspoken expectation that,
[00:08:58.297]"Oh, we need a meeting, we need to meet during this time."
[00:09:01.417]"Nope, I'm already doing something at that time."
[00:09:03.457]"Oh, well when are you available to meet?"
[00:09:04.837]"Here's the hour block."
[00:09:07.417]"Well, that doesn't work for me."
[00:09:08.317]"Well, that's what I've got."
[00:09:10.350]Yeah, and that's harder
[00:09:12.540]when you are a young assistant professor
[00:09:15.270]or when you're a graduate student.
[00:09:16.860]So the boundaries that you have
[00:09:20.940]to put on your calendar are really,
[00:09:23.512]really sometimes hard to maintain,
[00:09:27.450]but not impossible, right,
[00:09:29.430]'cause you know what you need to get done
[00:09:32.190]during the time that you've blocked out
[00:09:33.750]over the course of the week.
[00:09:34.830]And so by saying,
[00:09:38.370]the next possible time I can meet is here
[00:09:42.090]and giving them a specific time and date,
[00:09:44.820]like, one, that ensures that your calendar
[00:09:47.580]does not be become meeting palooza,
[00:09:51.510]and two... Right here by the way.
[00:09:53.640]It ensures that,
[00:09:54.960]this is why you need to time block.
[00:09:56.210]Yes. You need time blocking.
[00:09:57.043]You need a citation manager.
[00:09:59.070]Yes. Ugh.
[00:10:00.480]So it ensures that you're actually,
[00:10:03.390]like, getting your work done.
[00:10:07.830]And that's what I notice when I don't have time
[00:10:10.650]to time block on that Friday meeting.
[00:10:13.440]Like, if I let something,
[00:10:15.840]like, every once in a while,
[00:10:16.890]there will be, like, an emergency
[00:10:18.270]that takes up that time
[00:10:20.370]and the weeks that I don't have that,
[00:10:23.520]it's just meetings and I don't love it, right?
[00:10:27.420]But the thing to remember is you don't get tenure based
[00:10:32.156]upon whether or not you are available for a meeting.
[00:10:34.590]That is true. Right?
[00:10:36.000]So you are literally protecting time to do your job.
[00:10:40.830]And that's how you should present it
[00:10:42.570]always is I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing
[00:10:46.290]and I would love to be part of this,
[00:10:48.030]but this is the time slot I have.
[00:10:50.400]And remember every yes you're saying
[00:10:54.660]to something like that that crosses your desk,
[00:10:57.000]you're saying no to something else.
[00:10:58.410]And that something else is too often your research
[00:11:01.410]or pushing grading to the middle of the night,
[00:11:03.870]which both are bad decisions.
[00:11:06.030]And that's a really good,
[00:11:07.860]like, pivot to thinking about time blocking as a way
[00:11:12.150]to manage those tasks, right?
[00:11:14.960]Like, we often think through,
[00:11:17.917]"Oh, well, I'll just grade this at night."
[00:11:19.230]Why are you grading this at night?
[00:11:20.790]Like, why are you doing that?
[00:11:21.810]Why are you taking time out of your personal life
[00:11:24.870]in order to do that work?
[00:11:27.150]And so when you're time blocking,
[00:11:30.300]you should have on that list of priorities,
[00:11:34.200]things like lesson planning, things like grading.
[00:11:37.740]You should have blocks of time to respond to emails
[00:11:41.130]and outside of that block of time, you're not responding.
[00:11:44.280]And that means turns off all those dings,
[00:11:48.133]blings, messages that tell you you've got a new message,
[00:11:52.020]a new email, and all of that.
[00:11:53.280]Turn all of that off
[00:11:54.390]because as long as it's on,
[00:11:55.943]you are going to divert attention.
[00:11:58.980]Even if you divert attention to say,
[00:12:00.997]"No, I'm not gonna attend to that",
[00:12:02.850]your attention has already wandered.
[00:12:04.770]And if you want to do deep work,
[00:12:05.981]whether it's research or reading papers,
[00:12:08.880]reading papers, student papers
[00:12:10.380]for example, goes much faster
[00:12:11.730]if you're doing it as deep work.
[00:12:13.230]Whereas if you're doing it
[00:12:14.790]and you are answering 17 emails while you're doing it,
[00:12:17.790]it takes twice the amount of time.
[00:12:19.710]So really thinking about that batching of tasks
[00:12:23.580]as a critical feature.
[00:12:25.470]Yeah, and when you're batching,
[00:12:28.344]one of the things about time blocking
[00:12:30.090]is you're assigning particular tasks
[00:12:33.900]to a particular amount of time
[00:12:35.580]and you wanna make sure that you're protecting
[00:12:37.230]that time as much as possible.
[00:12:38.580]So when you have the dings, the blings, all of that,
[00:12:42.630]when you leave your email open,
[00:12:45.360]like, that's just essentially a cacophony of people asking
[00:12:48.600]for your time and your time is already accounted for.
[00:12:52.740]So close out your email and block off,
[00:12:57.300]I normally have a half hour in the morning,
[00:12:59.100]a half hour in the afternoon, that's when I respond
[00:13:01.440]to emails and what doesn't get responded to
[00:13:04.680]in that half hour has to wait for the next day.
[00:13:07.800]Very rarely is there an actual emergency.
[00:13:09.780]Very rarely is someone bleeding out ever, right?
[00:13:13.350]Like, so that's kind of how we're dealing
[00:13:18.390]with that right now.
[00:13:19.320]Because otherwise, you could respond
[00:13:21.060]to your email all day long and not get anything done.
[00:13:25.560]And one of the things that you can do to manage that,
[00:13:29.430]especially working with graduate students
[00:13:33.270]or working with undergraduate students, for that matter,
[00:13:36.210]I think especially about students
[00:13:37.920]because colleagues are colleagues
[00:13:39.600]and you can deal with that.
[00:13:40.950]But with our students, I just let them know,
[00:13:44.707]"Here are the times that I read my email,
[00:13:47.430]so I know you just sent the email,
[00:13:49.920]but you are not likely to get a response immediately.
[00:13:53.340]It'll either go in the morning batch
[00:13:55.320]or in the afternoon batch,
[00:13:56.970]but it'll not be there five minutes after you sent it
[00:14:00.750]unless you just happen
[00:14:02.700]to send it when I'm doing my batch of emails."
[00:14:05.970]But I think that doing that prep work really,
[00:14:09.300]really helps them understand
[00:14:11.370]because they have been used to many bad practices
[00:14:15.030]and they always think that we are thinking
[00:14:17.730]about them every minute of the day, which may be true,
[00:14:20.953](Nick and Guy laughing)
[00:14:22.500]but we are not thinking
[00:14:24.330]about their email every minute of the day.
[00:14:26.340]So those are ways to manage expectations
[00:14:30.180]and make sure that this does not come back
[00:14:33.330]as a negative on us.
[00:14:34.890]And also we're teaching our students
[00:14:37.920]to have reasonable expectations for them, not just for us.
[00:14:42.870]I also don't expect
[00:14:44.220]to get an answer from you on my email
[00:14:46.680]within five or 10 minutes.
[00:14:48.270]I'm perfectly fine to wait a few hours
[00:14:50.730]or sometimes a few days.
[00:14:52.380]If it is not urgent, that is perfectly fine.
[00:14:55.530]I mean, if it's urgent, that is not for an email.
[00:14:58.350]That is for... Probably.
[00:14:59.550]You find them, you call them.
[00:15:01.890]That's what that's for, right?
[00:15:04.230]So like, we need to use email for what email is good for.
[00:15:08.580]Yes. And otherwise need
[00:15:11.040]to do some other things.
[00:15:13.140]And by the way, another batch is time with students.
[00:15:16.620]So we've got the office hours,
[00:15:18.510]which many professors will tell you not enough students
[00:15:21.420]take advantage of.
[00:15:22.680]I do my office hours on Zoom even though most
[00:15:25.560]of the time I am in my office.
[00:15:26.940]So people can also come in and some do,
[00:15:29.160]but I open office hours
[00:15:31.800]and then whenever I get requests for a meeting,
[00:15:34.800]I have office hours come during that time.
[00:15:36.810]And that batching helps you do that
[00:15:40.110]and manage those expectations.
[00:15:42.150]And all of my students,
[00:15:43.080]and I have a fairly large advising load
[00:15:45.270]at the graduate level,
[00:15:46.500]they know Wednesday afternoon, 4:30 to 5:30,
[00:15:49.315]this is when you can talk to Guy, whatever happens.
[00:15:52.620]Even when I'm out at conferences,
[00:15:55.380]I do take that time.
[00:15:56.640]I walk up to my room,
[00:15:57.750]I open my Zoom, and I can talk to my students
[00:16:00.930]and give them anything that they need
[00:16:02.970]or have the conversations.
[00:16:04.860]If it's a hard conversation, I do it at another time,
[00:16:07.200]but I do block those off
[00:16:09.060]because otherwise, it can take over a calendar very easily.
[00:16:11.730]And when I think about, like, my time blocking,
[00:16:13.710]those are kind of fixed blocks.
[00:16:15.690]They stay the same week to week to week.
[00:16:17.343]Yes, because you want to set expectations.
[00:16:19.680]Yep.
[00:16:20.513]They're just readily available.
[00:16:21.990]People know when they are.
[00:16:23.520]If I need, if I have an anomaly, I can work around that.
[00:16:26.580]But for the most part, I try to keep those things
[00:16:30.900]as bounded as possible.
[00:16:32.520]And if no one shows up,
[00:16:35.250]I have some kind of sponge activity for myself
[00:16:37.950]to, like, occupy that time.
[00:16:38.813]There's always enough to do.
[00:16:40.620]There's always something brainless to do
[00:16:42.300]that I can do during that time.
[00:16:44.040]But one of the biggest challenges I think for people
[00:16:47.730]who begin with time blocking is the concept
[00:16:51.030]of how long it actually takes to get something done.
[00:16:53.223]Yes. Right?
[00:16:54.056]We know from research
[00:16:56.520]that we underestimate immensely the amount of time
[00:17:01.020]that it takes to get something done.
[00:17:03.390]So one of the things that I recommend is,
[00:17:07.740]as you're starting with time blocking as a strategy
[00:17:11.730]slash tactic to help your time management is
[00:17:15.300]to not only time block out in your calendar how you're going
[00:17:21.180]to spend this time, but also be thinking about, "Okay,
[00:17:24.690]as you live this calendar, as you live this time blocking,
[00:17:27.990]how long does it actually take you to get something done"?"
[00:17:31.925]Right?
[00:17:32.758]Like, what can you actually get done in an hour?
[00:17:36.210]How many student assignments can you get graded in an hour?
[00:17:40.470]Are you gonna get 'em all graded if you have a class of 24?
[00:17:42.660]Probably not.
[00:17:44.220]But if you have an idea of how long the average takes,
[00:17:51.150]that's super helpful.
[00:17:51.983]Yeah. Right?
[00:17:53.610]And because I have, like, done some thinking
[00:17:57.960]around, like, how long it takes me to do particular things,
[00:18:00.480]I can time block much more effectively,
[00:18:03.300]but also have some buffer zones
[00:18:05.730]in order to help with that.
[00:18:07.530]And so the one thing that I want to add to
[00:18:11.133]that is if you are working in teams,
[00:18:15.240]and I do have a number of teams I work on,
[00:18:18.360]some of them I lead, some of them I participate.
[00:18:21.270]Those are really helpful.
[00:18:23.610]Just like your Friday session
[00:18:27.060]with yourself is have a Friday session or a Thursday session
[00:18:31.200]or whatever it is, setting the calendar every week
[00:18:34.260]to set the blocks for next week the same way.
[00:18:38.430]But now with the group activities,
[00:18:40.170]because you've got to negotiate times
[00:18:41.970]and these are the teams you work on.
[00:18:44.130]Now again, the easiest way to do that is
[00:18:47.190]to set regular blocks that repeat
[00:18:49.590]and not just scheduling from week to week
[00:18:52.110]because it's a lot of people's,
[00:18:53.350]well, not a lot,
[00:18:54.510]but usually three or four people's calendar.
[00:18:56.400]We try to stay out of more than that except
[00:18:59.160]for a team meeting.
[00:19:00.750]And it's the same thing.
[00:19:03.990]Batch what you are going to do, put it together,
[00:19:08.880]make sure there's enough time for deep work.
[00:19:12.570]So don't schedule 15 minutes
[00:19:14.730]or half an hour if this is a research task
[00:19:18.660]or a big reading task or whatever it may be.
[00:19:21.270]You need more time.
[00:19:22.650]And going back to underestimating,
[00:19:24.780]we underestimate how long it's going
[00:19:26.280]to take to write a paper or even a section in a paper.
[00:19:29.320]Well, and I think you bring up a an interesting point
[00:19:31.860]around, like, if it's a 15 minute task,
[00:19:35.670]if it's going to take 15 minutes or less,
[00:19:39.660]I normally have in those buffer zones,
[00:19:43.199]I keep a list in my notes on my computer
[00:19:46.860]where I try to track those, like, smaller things
[00:19:49.350]that are kind of one and done.
[00:19:51.510]And that's where I get those kinds of things done.
[00:19:53.820]And I try to make my time blocking really count
[00:19:57.750]for those bigger, larger projects.
[00:20:01.920]And that's typically how I'm thinking about that.
[00:20:06.960]And so when you're thinking about that time blocking,
[00:20:12.840]one of the biggest things
[00:20:13.680]that you're going to have to manage are interruptions.
[00:20:17.070]And so I like to think back when I was a,
[00:20:19.380]when I was a teacher, I always had a I love reading button
[00:20:22.950]that I wore and if I was wearing that button,
[00:20:25.320]I was, like, on a mission.
[00:20:27.000]I had stuff to do.
[00:20:27.960]Kids were coming through the door in like 20 minutes
[00:20:30.210]and I had materials to prep
[00:20:32.610]and copies to make and please don't talk to me.
[00:20:34.860]I appreciate you as a colleague, but not right now.
[00:20:38.700]And I kind of have the same thing here with a sign
[00:20:40.920]that you actually gave me, my on air sign that I click on.
[00:20:44.160]And that is please do not disrupt.
[00:20:46.380]Send me an email.
[00:20:47.670]I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can.
[00:20:50.520]And that can sometimes feel rude,
[00:20:54.613]but it's really not.
[00:20:55.800]It's you trying to get your work done.
[00:20:58.290]Yes, and another way to manage that,
[00:21:02.160]especially post-pandemic
[00:21:03.480]but in general is make sure you know
[00:21:07.500]where you are less interrupted.
[00:21:09.360]And for many years, I could not work at home
[00:21:12.630]because I was interrupted.
[00:21:13.650]I had kids at home.
[00:21:14.850]I always felt like there was something to do at home.
[00:21:17.610]So that was actually disruptive for me.
[00:21:19.680]I have found that having a small home office
[00:21:23.610]in a piece of the house where nobody ever walks really,
[00:21:27.877]really helps.
[00:21:29.430]And so sometimes staying home will prevent,
[00:21:32.310]I love having hallway conversations.
[00:21:34.860]I am very good at that.
[00:21:36.690]If you are good at something, this is one of those things.
[00:21:40.650]Unfortunately, that's not part of my apportionment.
[00:21:43.680]So staying home,
[00:21:46.140]it would've been great if it was,
[00:21:47.970]staying home for a portion of the time,
[00:21:51.300]especially for deep work, is really, really useful.
[00:21:54.360]Now we have to be on campus because we're teaching,
[00:21:56.550]because we're doing research with others
[00:21:58.530]because we do want to spend time with,
[00:22:00.630]and I think it is very important,
[00:22:02.100]especially for faculty in the first few years
[00:22:06.270]to get to know colleagues,
[00:22:07.800]to get to know what they're doing,
[00:22:09.480]to make sure that they are part of the culture.
[00:22:11.850]But on the other hand, you need to also protect your time.
[00:22:14.370]And that's another way to protect your time.
[00:22:16.590]However, don't just say I'm home working,
[00:22:19.470]but actually have those blocks.
[00:22:22.020]Yeah, remember that time blocking
[00:22:23.760]is you're organizing
[00:22:24.912]around a task. It's critical.
[00:22:25.980]Yeah. Right?
[00:22:27.704]And I don't necessarily work at home anymore
[00:22:30.150]because that was distracting.
[00:22:31.980]It would take me away from my task
[00:22:33.240]and I'd be like, "Oh, I could do laundry
[00:22:34.710]while I'm also doing this."
[00:22:35.550]Like, that that false sense of multitasking...
[00:22:38.940]Yes, very much so. Just got in the way.
[00:22:41.460]And so when I'm here, I'm working.
[00:22:44.910]And then when I'm not here, I'm not working.
[00:22:48.390]Which brings us to kind
[00:22:50.040]of our last topic is work/life integration
[00:22:55.380]and some of the ways that time blocking can help ensure
[00:22:59.790]that you're protecting your personal time.
[00:23:02.790]One of the things we know from research is the best ideas
[00:23:07.050]about something often come
[00:23:08.640]when you're not thinking about it,
[00:23:10.260]often come from when you're doing something else.
[00:23:12.870]And so when you're working in academia
[00:23:17.100]that can feel all encompassing.
[00:23:22.110]You get this sense of always feeling burnt out
[00:23:26.880]because it never shuts off.
[00:23:29.490]And so how do you ensure those work commitments don't spill
[00:23:32.760]into your evenings, spill into your weekends?
[00:23:36.270]And so some of the strategies
[00:23:38.100]that I've found particularly useful
[00:23:41.280]is setting clear boundaries for work hours.
[00:23:44.250]Setting my denominator is essentially
[00:23:46.800]what that comes down to.
[00:23:48.510]I typically work about a 48-hour work week,
[00:23:51.210]which is more than 40, unfortunately.
[00:23:53.940]But that's about the amount of time that I need
[00:23:56.130]to get everything done in a week, right?
[00:24:00.150]And that's, like, basic stuff.
[00:24:03.986]And so outside of those hours,
[00:24:06.240]like, once I am done for the day, I'm done for the day.
[00:24:09.030]I'm not checking email, I'm not checking email,
[00:24:12.270]I'm not grading stuff at home.
[00:24:14.550]I'm trying to get that stuff done during my work day
[00:24:18.960]within that 48 hour block
[00:24:21.420]because like I said, in a different episode,
[00:24:25.380]I got hobbies, I got things I'd like to do.
[00:24:28.110]And so I wanna make sure that I have
[00:24:32.280]that time blocked as well, right?
[00:24:36.150]Like, it is December 2nd as we're taping this.
[00:24:40.320]I made the holiday wreath of my dreams this weekend
[00:24:43.290]and it was delightful.
[00:24:44.370]It was so nice to have that time.
[00:24:47.100]I try to go exercise.
[00:24:51.406]You know, I'm trying
[00:24:52.470]to do these other really specific things
[00:24:55.920]that help me at work.
[00:24:59.190]Help me be a better person at work
[00:25:02.670]because when I'm at work, I'm at work.
[00:25:06.220]And that's helpful.
[00:25:07.230]And you talked a little bit about blocking time
[00:25:11.837]for your personal activities
[00:25:15.030]and that is something I do do actually
[00:25:18.990]because we have a lot more control over our time
[00:25:22.860]and the boundaries aren't clear.
[00:25:26.490]I do block time, especially during the week.
[00:25:29.250]I tend to work weekends at least one out of three weekends,
[00:25:32.520]I teach a whole Saturday.
[00:25:34.200]And so I am very conscious on those weeks.
[00:25:38.220]It's like I'm working a full extra day.
[00:25:41.592]And so I need to find the time during the week
[00:25:45.000]to work a little bit less.
[00:25:46.500]Otherwise, I'm working six, maybe more days a week
[00:25:49.500]and I'm approaching the 60-hour week instead of the 40.
[00:25:51.750]And to work that amount less, right?
[00:25:53.673]Yes. Like, let's say something
[00:25:56.190]gets pushed to a Saturday, you take that time...
[00:26:00.510]To do whatever you need. To do whatever you need
[00:26:02.550]during Monday through Friday.
[00:26:03.870]Like, you have to move that.
[00:26:06.240]Yes.
[00:26:07.073]It's the same thing if you teach at night.
[00:26:08.520]If you teach at night and your class goes till 7:30,
[00:26:11.130]your day might not start until, I don't know, 11.
[00:26:13.980]Yeah.
[00:26:14.813]You know, so like,
[00:26:16.050]when you're thinking about time blocking,
[00:26:17.580]those are the kinds of flexible things that you can do
[00:26:20.370]with it and plan for those weekly reviews.
[00:26:24.480]Like, as you start with time blocking
[00:26:27.180]and get a better sense of how long something takes,
[00:26:30.930]you're going to be able
[00:26:31.980]to notice which blocks work really well for you,
[00:26:35.010]where and when you work best doing particular things.
[00:26:39.630]So there are certain things
[00:26:41.400]that I am really good at in terms of midday,
[00:26:45.900]that's when my best thinking comes
[00:26:47.790]because I need to ease into my morning, right?
[00:26:51.930]And so midday's a really good time for heavy lifting
[00:26:57.600]and then normally I've got a quick exercise block
[00:27:00.660]and then I come back and I do any kind of cleanup
[00:27:03.690]that I need to do, email, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:27:06.030]So like, think through what makes sense in terms
[00:27:08.100]of your energy flows throughout the day.
[00:27:10.920]And if the idea of if you're starting this
[00:27:15.060]and the idea of planning out an entire week,
[00:27:19.410]'cause I mean, your calendar does look intimidating.
[00:27:22.429]Yeah. Right.
[00:27:23.790]Like, the first... But mine does anyway.
[00:27:25.620]Well, yes.
[00:27:26.607]And sometimes with things that shouldn't be there.
[00:27:29.700]So blocking a priority will prevent that from happening.
[00:27:32.518]Yes.
[00:27:33.870]But if you're just getting started with this,
[00:27:36.150]think through just one or two big activities, right?
[00:27:40.500]Like, what are the big things that you could block out
[00:27:44.430]so that they're there?
[00:27:45.900]And then start expanding that
[00:27:47.670]so that you have kind of a day laid out
[00:27:52.320]'cause one of the things
[00:27:53.550]that I really do appreciate is it's,
[00:27:55.200]I don't have to think about what I'm doing that day.
[00:27:56.730]I've already planned it out
[00:27:57.810]and I have reminders on my computer
[00:28:02.370]that's like, "Oh, get ready to do this in 15 minutes.
[00:28:06.810]Go take your bathroom break.
[00:28:08.007]Da, da, da, da, da."
[00:28:09.690]Like, 'cause you have to build that in too.
[00:28:11.100]Like, you have to build in some buffer time, right?
[00:28:13.350]And the other thing when you're doing
[00:28:15.006]that weekly review and you are starting
[00:28:17.070]to look at the small box you've scheduled
[00:28:19.620]and how much time it took,
[00:28:20.880]one of the things you can start learning
[00:28:22.560]is are expectations are correct or not.
[00:28:26.610]The other thing is the grander expectations.
[00:28:29.580]That is, are you just trying to do too much
[00:28:32.250]and you need to actually on the task list writ large
[00:28:36.900]just kind of take it in a little bit.
[00:28:39.780]Maybe you should not work on seven papers at once.
[00:28:42.510]Maybe one or two is enough
[00:28:44.700]and then you'll move to the next thing.
[00:28:46.260]It doesn't go away.
[00:28:47.760]But if you want to accomplish it within a certain time
[00:28:50.970]with that time blocking, it'll give you a clear message
[00:28:53.850]of you're trying to accomplish too much.
[00:28:55.740]There aren't enough hours.
[00:28:57.630]You need to rethink. Right.
[00:28:58.980]It helps you be much more intentional...
[00:29:00.960]Yes.
[00:29:01.793]With how you're using your time.
[00:29:02.626]Which is I think the goal.
[00:29:05.010]Right.
[00:29:05.843]So when we're thinking about apportionment,
[00:29:07.800]we're thinking about percentages.
[00:29:09.930]Time blocking really works well to help us think through
[00:29:11.760]what that denominator is,
[00:29:14.040]which is kind of essential in academia.
[00:29:17.100]So today we have walked through the ins
[00:29:20.070]and outs of time blocking, you know, what it is,
[00:29:23.100]how you can use it, how you can start using it,
[00:29:25.650]and how it can transform your teaching, your research,
[00:29:29.130]your service, and even your personal life.
[00:29:32.400]And time management in academia is a challenge
[00:29:35.520]because we have a lot of control, but also a lot to do
[00:29:38.127]and a lot of opportunities to do more.
[00:29:41.160]And time blocking offers you a way
[00:29:43.410]to take back some control over your time
[00:29:46.470]and not over commit.
[00:29:48.150]And it gives a space and time
[00:29:51.030]for what matters most both professionally and personally.
[00:29:54.990]And you always wanna keep in mind
[00:29:56.760]that it is about progress, not perfection.
[00:30:00.000]There's no one schedule that's going to work for everyone.
[00:30:05.220]There's no schedule that's going
[00:30:06.330]to work every week without fail.
[00:30:08.550]You want to be thinking about designing a system
[00:30:12.240]for organizing your time that works for you,
[00:30:15.360]that allows you to be more intentional
[00:30:17.700]with how you use that time
[00:30:19.500]and engage in work that you want to engage in.
[00:30:23.130]So start small and then adjust as you go.
[00:30:27.570]And if it doesn't work the first few times, that's okay.
[00:30:30.960]Just keeps on building on that.
[00:30:34.350]Thanks for joining us in "Not That Kind of Doctor".
[00:30:37.110]If you're ready to try time blocking for yourself,
[00:30:39.900]download our free template on our website.
[00:30:44.580]Not That Kind of Blog at notthatkindofdoctor.net.
[00:30:47.730]And join us next time as we think about other ways
[00:30:51.870]to help each other thrive in academia and beyond.
[00:30:56.760]We'll see you then.
[00:30:57.630]See you then.
[00:30:58.463](upbeat music)

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Not That Kind of Doctor - Time Management

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