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Dear friends,
Hope you are all having a wonderful summer! Today I want to share some thoughts on time and energy. Many of you have heard me talk about the work of my friend and colleague Dawna Ballard, Ph.D., a communications scientist at UT Austin. Even if I have told you about her mind-blowing re-conceptualization of time, please keep reading! I have some concrete strategies for acting more in concert with our natural rhythms below.
Dawna is an amazing speaker and her talks are well worth a listen (see here if you want an example). The idea that I find compelling: our conception of time as a series of identical hours summing to identical days is an artifact. For most of human existence, human activities were not segregated between work and life, and there was a specific rhythm for days and for seasons that acknowledged the ebb and flow of human energy. The advent of factory work during the industrial revolution created the notion of standard hourly output. We have now carried over this idea of “hourly productivity” into academics, and knowledge work more broadly. This can lead to anxiety and actually hinder our true productivity, which comes from meeting our goals.
What to do about it? I still advocate tracking your time, at least once, to understand the natural ebb and flow of your energy. Look at your time log and note when you got the most done. I am sure all of you know already when you are your most productive, but looking at your own data will likely bring some surprising insights. Then, understanding your energy, you can:
Bring your daily schedule in line with your energy. Everyone has a “chronotype,” or biologically driven internal rhythm. Even if you don’t like late nights or early mornings, you are still likely most productive at a certain time, and it is worth figuring that out. Then, instead of thinking about how to increase your energy during your inevitable afternoon lull (3rd cup of coffee, anyone?), take a walk (or a walking meeting), or purposefully schedule needed but low-stakes tasks.
Use temporal “landmarks” to further your goals. We are neurologically wired for temporal rhythms. If you have a goal to get a long-term project done, find a specific recurring day/time to work on it. We have natural “reset” days like Mondays and Fridays, and the first of the month, and tying activities to those days can help with planning and with motivation.
Embrace different working seasons. Just as we have daily rhythms, we have seasonal patterns inherent to our bodies. The kind of work we feel most inclined to do changes with the seasons, and that is fine. I find spring a great time to make new connections, think about new collaborations, and brainstorm. In summer I have learned to embrace the inevitable delays that come from conflicting vacation schedules and short days for parents shuttling kids back and forth from camp. It can be re-framed as a great time to do some individual “deep work” focused on core priorities.
Don’t fixate on a number. There is no magic number of hours that constitutes an academic workweek. Instead, ask yourself whether you are meeting your goals. If you are meeting your goals for each week, and your goals come from your twelve-week strategic plan, you’re golden! If not, stay tuned for next month’s message, all about goals.
Dawna’s overarching theme is that we can harness these natural rhythms to accomplish our goals instead of focusing on clock time. The book When by Daniel Pink is a one-stop-shop for the key time-related productivity strategies- including these and many more- that are at least somewhat evidence-based.
Let me know how these ideas resonate with you, and please keep in touch! I’ve recently heard fantastic news about challenging projects advancing into manuscripts and manuscripts reaching the revision phase. Celebrate every step forward, and don’t forget to give me something to brag about on social media!
Warmly,
Urmimala