Time Management

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• This paper by Scott Hotaling is an excellent guide from the perspective of a recent PhD graduate – titled ‘Publishing papers while keeping everything in balance: Practical advice for a productive graduate school experience’. What works for others will not necessarily work for you, and vice versa, but there is sure to be some useful tips within here. As Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” This goes for most of the resources within this list.

• In the Twitter thread below, Dan Quintana discusses his use of the ‘Pomodoro technique’ in which you work for a set amount of time (e.g., 40 min) and then have a timed break between sessions (e.g., 15 min). Dan also discusses some of the apps and tools he uses to support this strategy and minimise distractions during the Pomodoro sessions.

• One of these apps that I’ve found particularly useful is the Forest App, in which users plant a virtual tree for the period of time they want to stay focused. The tree will grow in your ‘forest’ while you work, but if you leave the app (i.e. get distracted and try to procrastinate) then the tree will die. It sounds corny but that extra little reminder works for me!

• The Twitter thread below, also by Dan Quintana, lists many more useful tools: