A new academic year arrives. Plans are made, ambitious to-do lists are compiled. How to fit it all in alongside a full-time PhD and a demanding (in a good way!) family?

Time management isn’t something that features much, if at all, in research methods texts. Perhaps it doesn’t need to do; there seems like an infinite amount of experts offering techniques for increasing productivity. And whether or not the internet is making me stupid (probably not), the breadth of interesting material that’s easily available, especially through the addictive drip-drip of Twitter, is a problem for an info-sponge like me. Focusing on something for more than a few minutes can be a challenge, especially if it’s hard. Trouble is, the wandering mind isn’t compatible with doing a PhD to a tight schedule.

So, what to do? Getting Things Done? Pomodoro Technique? Well, these have their fans, of course, but it always seems like they involve extra work getting to grips with the system.

What I’ve realised, with the help of this video, is that I’ve known the answer all along. Set yourself boundaries:

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Set boundaries in time. Or, more straightforwardly, write out a timetable each day for how long you’re going to spend on studying, emails, even Twitter. For example. my next day in the office might look like this:

0830 – 1030 Transcription
1030 – 1050 Tea!
1050 – 1150 Writing lecture
1150 – 1220 Emails
1220 – 1250 Twitter/reading
1250 – 1330 Lunch. Tea!
1330 – 1500 Transcription
1500 – 1520 Tea!
1520 – 1600 Reading
1600 – 1650 Diary writing/review/planning

One might say it’s easy to set a schedule like this, much less so to stick to it. The second point is true, the first not so much. If it was so easy to set a schedule, why haven’t I done it for so many years? The value in schedules like this is not that they will provide a bombproof structure for your day, but that they help you get back on track when distractions arise. Without the schedule as your life raft you risk bobbing about aimlessly in the Internets Ocean. Like this person.

(On a side note, the draconian Mac Freedom has been effective in removing a lot of these distractions).

So from this day forth, it’s daily schedules for me. Plans do not guarantee success, but I believe (hope) they make it more likely.