Managing Time In A Research Environment

If you don’t control your time, someone else will. 7 time management frameworks to own your time: 1) Measuring my time At the age of 14, I started preparing for engineering exams, only to realise I just could not manage my time. So I recorded every hour of my day; I did this for 13 years. Just this act of measurement led to the act of improvement. Do it for 10 days and you will see the difference. 2) Time blocking I realised context switching was taking a toll. I started blocking 2-3 hours and have been doing so till date. Monday AM: X Monday PM: Y Tuesday all day: Z 3) Win the week, not the day Think of your week as your time unit, not your day. Think of what you wish to achieve in a week. And split your week to achieve that. 4) Single source of action We are constantly being fed a to-do list. From multiple sources. What helps me is to have a single source of action - my emails. It can be a to-do app for you, a notebook, or post-its - anything except your memory. 5) Create repeatable tasks I am a student of processes. So my endeavour is - find something I need to do in life, and find a way to convert it into a recurring task which I can add to my calendar. It builds a habit, routine, and discipline for your mind. 6) Setup distraction time Our mind craves distraction because we make it a forbidden fruit. Do the opposite. Set up time to waste time. 7) Zoom out We struggle to manage time, because we look at it in a micro way. Go back to the macro. What do you want to achieve this month, quarter, or year? What are the big milestones that will get you there (or tell you that you are on the path)? Did that happen this week? If yes - great. If not - go back to step 1 and figure out what went wrong. Repeat every week.

2018-2021: You're a full-time student, preparing for FRM & CFA, AND building a startup? 2022-2024: How do you manage 2 businesses and keep up with content on 3 platforms? From networking events to family functions to friends reunions, almost everyone asks me the same question! It all comes down to one thing: effective time management.⏰ 18-year-old Ishaan didn’t know anything about it; just went with the flow; life disciplined me! Here are the time-management strategies that help me stay productive and avoid burnout! ⏳Apply the Eisenhower matrix: Sort tasks into four categories: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. This method helps you focus on tasks that add the most value while pushing aside distractions. ⏳Use the Pomodoro Technique: Work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. Repeat this cycle, and after completing four cycles, take a longer break (15–30 minutes). This method helps maintain focus and prevents burnout. ⏳Use the 2-Minute Rule for Small Tasks: If a task takes two minutes or less, do it immediately. This keeps minor tasks from piling up and clears your schedule for more significant work. ⏳Apply Time Blocking to High-Energy Periods: Instead of just blocking out time on your calendar, match your most demanding tasks to the times of day when you have the most energy. This makes difficult tasks easier and leaves less mentally taxing work for low-energy times. ⏳Apply Parkinson’s Law: Set tighter deadlines for tasks to force yourself to focus and complete them faster. Parkinson’s Law states that "work expands to fill the time available," so giving yourself less time can boost productivity. ⏳Follow the Rule of Three: At the start of each day, identify the three most important tasks you need to accomplish. By focusing on just three big things, you can keep your priorities clear and your workload manageable. Which techniques do you use? 💬

Burnout is not a badge of honour (it’s a warning light). Most researchers are taught to “push through” exhaustion, guilt and Sunday panic as if they’re proof of commitment. But the real career impact comes from calm, consistent work you can sustain for years – not heroic all‑nighters that quietly destroy your motivation. In my 15 years of publishing 80+ papers and leading £9m+ in projects, the pattern is always the same: the most successful people are not the ones who suffer the most, but the ones who protect their energy the most. They set limits on the system before the system breaks them. Here’s the shift I wish I’d made earlier: 1. Treat your time like lab space. You wouldn’t let random people dump equipment on your bench; don’t let random tasks fill your calendar. Block 2–3 focused “research blocks” per day and protect them like an experiment booking. 2. Make expectations explicit, not assumed. Burnout loves ambiguity. Ask your supervisor or PI, “What does ‘good enough’ look like for this paper/experiment this month?” Then agree on concrete, realistic milestones instead of silently moving goalposts in your head. 3. Shrink the unit of progress. When you’re exhausted, “write the paper” is impossible. “Draft a rough Results paragraph” is doable. I still run my own work this way: embarrassingly small, clearly defined tasks that I can finish even on a low‑energy day. 4. Build one small, non‑academic routine. A 20‑minute walk, gym session, or coffee with a friend at the same time each day creates an anchor that reminds you you’re a human first, researcher second. My best ideas have come during these “non‑work” moments. 5. Ask for support early, not heroically late. Every time I’ve seen someone crash, they were “fine” right up until they weren’t. A short, honest conversation with your supervisor, GP, or counselling service now is far better than a forced break later. What is one small change you’ll make this week to protect your energy from burnout? #scientist #phd #researcher #science #phd #postgraduate #professor #academia #wellbeing #academic #highereducation

I've tried 100s of time management techniques.  This is by far my favourite: I used to work 80 hrs/week and call it "productive." When really I was: - Attending pointless meetings - Fighting countless small fires - Being involved in every decision Now I work less than 70% the time and get 4x as much done. The Eisenhower Matrix helped me get there.  It teaches you to categorise tasks by importance and urgency. Here's how it works: 1. Do It Now (Urgent + Important) Examples: - Finalise pitch deck before investor meeting tomorrow. - Fix website crash during peak customer traffic. - Respond to press interview request before deadline. Best Practices: - Attack these tasks first each morning with full focus. - Set a strict deadline so urgency fuels execution. 2. Schedule It (Important + Not Urgent) Examples: - Plan quarterly strategy session with leadership team. - Map long-term hiring plan for next 18 months. - Build a personal brand content system for LinkedIn. Best Practices: - Protect time blocks in advance. Never leave them floating. - Tie them to measurable outcomes, not vague intentions. 3. Delegate It (Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Handle inbound customer service queries this week. - Organise travel logistics for upcoming conference. - Update CRM with latest sales call notes. Best Practices: - Build playbooks so your team executes without confusion. - Delegate with deadlines to avoid wasting time. 4. Eliminate It (Not Urgent + Not Important) Examples: - Tweak logo colour palette again for fun. - Attend generic networking events with no ICP fit. - Review endless “best productivity tools” articles. Best Practices: - Audit weekly. Cut anything that doesn’t compound long-term. - Replace low-value busywork with rest, thinking, or selling. If you are always reacting to what feels urgent,   You'll never focus on what matters. Attend to the tasks in quadrant 1 efficiently,  Then spend 60-70% of your time in quadrant 2.    That's work that actually builds your business. Which quadrant are you spending too much time in right now?  Drop your thoughts in the comments. My newsletter, Step By Step, breaks down more frameworks like this. It's designed to help you build smarter without burning out. 200k+ builders use it to develop better systems. Join them here:  https://lnkd.in/eUTCQTWb ♻️ Repost this to help other founders manage their time.  And follow Chris Donnelly for more on building and running businesses. 

You don't have a time problem.  You have a decision problem. Here is the difference: Busy people react to their day. Productive people decide it before it even starts. You do not need more hours. You need to stop letting the loudest task win. Here are 15 of the top methods to master your time and decisions. Pick what fits best: 🔸 When you need pure focus: Pomodoro Technique:  » 25 minutes on. 5 off. » One task. Full attention. No exceptions. 🔹 When everything feels urgent: Eisenhower Matrix:  » Sort by urgency AND importance. » Do, schedule, delegate, or delete. That is it. 🔸 When your list feels overwhelming: ABCDE Method:  » Label every task A through E. » Only A's get done first. Everything else waits. 🔹 When you need a full day structure: 3-3-3 Method:  » 3 hours deep work. » 3 short tasks. 3 things to maintain. 🔸 When quick tasks pile up: 2 Minute Rule: » If it takes under 2 minutes do it right now.  » Stop letting it stack. 🔹 When you are wasting effort: 80/20 Method:  » 20% of your work drives 80% of your results.  » Find that 20%. 🔸 When you need a big win: Eat the Frog:  » Do your hardest task first. » Everything after it feels easy. 🔹 When your head will not stop: Getting Things Done: » Capture everything out of your head. » Clarify it. Organize it. Then act on it. 🔸 When work piles up on your team: Kanban Board:  » Three columns. » To do. Doing. Done. See it move. 🔹 When context switching kills you: Task Batching:  » Group similar work together. » Your brain stays in one gear longer. 🔸 When you do too much yourself: Warren Buffett 5/25 Rule:  » Write your top 25 goals. » Focus on 5. Avoid the other 20 completely. 🔹 When projects feel chaotic: MSCW Method:  » Must have. Should have. Could have. Will not have.  » Decide now. 🔸 When meetings eat your day: Time Blocking:  » Give every hour a job. » Guard those blocks like they are appointments. 🔹 When tasks keep getting dropped: 1-3-5 Method:  » One big task. Three medium. Five small.  » Every single day. 🔸 When everything feels like a priority: Pickle Jar Method:  » Big rocks first. Small stuff fills the gaps.  » Not the reverse. The best time managers are not the ones who do the most. They are the ones who decided what not to do and had the discipline to mean it. 🎁 Want PDFs of my top infographics + growth tools? 👉 Go Here: https://lnkd.in/g2xbnwhp ______________________ 📚 Join my free workshop to build digital products that sell over and over. ➡️ Save your seat: https://lnkd.in/gNc9zSx6 Please repost to help others out there! ♻️

I used to SUCK at time management. Endless to-do lists, constant stress, and that sinking feeling of always being behind. Now, I get more done by noon than I used to accomplish in an entire day. Crazy, right? I realised, I didn’t need more time, I just needed to manage it better. After reading, experimenting, and failing forward, I discovered some time management principles that completely transformed how I work. ➡️ Here are the 10 strategies that made the biggest difference for me: 1. Plan the Night Before: - Win your day before it starts. - Every night, I sit down and outline my top 3 priorities for the next day. - I assign time blocks for each task. 2. Time Blocking: - Own your hours. - I schedule everything: including breaks. - Avoid everything that comes in between- no calls, nothing. 3. The Eisenhower Matrix: - Focus on what matters. - Not everything on your to-do list deserves your attention. - I sort tasks into: • Urgent & Important: Do now. • Important but not urgent: Schedule it. • Urgent but not important: Delegate it. • Neither: Delete it. 4. The 2-Minute Rule: - Clear the clutter fast. - If a task takes less than 2 minutes, I do it immediately. 5. Eat the Frog: - Tackle the hard stuff first. - I do the most challenging or important task first thing in the morning. Once it’s done, the rest of the day feels easier. 6. Parkinson’s Law: - Work faster by setting shorter deadlines. It expands to fill the time you give it. - Now, I set tighter deadlines for everythin, even if I technically have more time. 7. The 80/20 Rule: - Focus on the 20% that drives 80% of results. - Not all tasks are equal. - I learned to stop wasting time on low-value work. 8. Batch Similar Tasks: - Jumping from emails to deep work to calls drains your brain. - I batch similar tasks together, emails in one block, meetings in another, creative work separately. 9. Time Multipliers: - Buy back your future. - If I can delegate, automate, or eliminate something, I do. - Investing time now to save time later is the ultimate productivity hack. 10. Pomodoro Technique: - Productivity isn’t just about hours,it’s about energy. - I work in 25 minute focus blocks with intentional breaks. - Rest isn’t a reward; it’s a necessity. I’ve learned that time management isn’t about working harder or waking up earlier, it’s about working smarter. > What’s your ultimate #TimeManagement hack? #Entrepreneurship #Productivity #PersonalGrowth #Management #WorkLifeBalance

82% of leaders have no time management system. (And it's killing their success) Every evening, I’d ask myself: Where did the day go? Staring at an endless to-do list that somehow grew longer. That pit in your stomach when you realize another day slipped away... The inconvenient truth: → 34 hours lost monthly in unnecessary meetings → 2+ hours weekly on non-work browsing → Only 3 truly productive hours in an average workday Your time isn't just slipping away. It's sprinting. But here's what elite performers do differently. (Tested and validated in real-world corporate environments): 1/ Time Block Everything Why: Our brains process single-focus blocks 43% more efficiently. ↳ Even 15-minute blocks matter. ↳ Include buffer zones. ↳ Protect your peak hours. 2/ The 2-Minute Rule Why: Small tasks snowball into 2-hour backlogs daily. ↳ If it takes less than 2 minutes, do it now. ↳ Stop the small tasks from becoming big delays. ↳ Clear mental clutter fast. 3/ Strategic Elimination Why: Top performers spend 80% of time on 20% of tasks. ↳ Cut 20% of your recurring meetings. ↳ Batch similar tasks. ↳ Say "no" to low-impact activities. 4/ Energy Management Why: Working with your energy doubles output. ↳ Match complex tasks to high-energy hours. ↳ Use breaks as performance enhancers. ↳ Honor your natural rhythm. 5/ Priority Stacking Why: Morning priorities are 2.5x more likely to get done. ↳ Handle big rocks before pebbles. ↳ Front-load your most important work. ↳ Eliminate first-hour distractions. The reality? Implementing these strategies reclaims 20% of your work hours. That's an extra day each week. Ready to take control? Start with one strategy today. ↓ Drop a comment with your top time hack. ♻️ Share to help other leaders reclaim their time. 🔔 Follow me (Loren) for more science-backed performance insights.

How 250 Tomatoes Helped Me Top My Semester And Land a Google Internship! Have you ever felt that you’ve been giving your 100% to something and still aren’t able to get the results you hoped for? I’m pretty sure the answer is YES. ❇️ At some point, all of us have been there — where we’re doing everything we can, and yet things just don’t click. For me, this happened during my undergrad. Despite putting in hours of hard work, I kept messing up my viva exams. The breaking point came during my Java Programming viva, where I performed so badly that the examiner literally told me to “get lost” and gave me bad grades. It was a moment of sheer embarrassment. But instead of sulking, I decided it was time to change how I approached my preparation. ❇️ Enter: The Pomodoro Technique I came across the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s where he used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. It’s simple but powerful: you work in timed intervals of 25 minutes followed by short breaks. The goal is to improve focus, avoid burnout, and build momentum through consistent effort. With 20 days left before my written exams, I made a plan: 14 Pomodoros a day Finish them before 8 PM And reward myself with guilt-free relaxation in the evenings Each day started at 9 AM, split across morning, afternoon, and evening Pomodoros. I tracked every session — by the end of the 20 days, I had clocked 250 Pomodoros, or more than 100 hours of focused study. That structure, that rhythm — it changed everything for me. The result? I topped my department that semester. My grades, which were below average until then, saw a massive boost. But more than that, I finally felt in control of my time and effort. ❇️ Years later, as I began preparing for my Google Software Engineering Internship interview, I found myself revisiting the same technique. So I mapped out a prep schedule and the Pomos kept stacking up. I used Pomos for everything: -> Solving LeetCode problems -> Mock interviews -> Reflecting on feedback and refining weak areas The Pomodoro method didn’t just help me stay consistent — it gave structure to the chaos. It turned my preparation into something measurable and by the end of my preparation I had completed almost 250 pomos. That was a confidence booster and helped me land the internship . ❇️ I have consistently used the Pomodoro technique as a time management tool for completing my tasks. I simply allocate certain pomos to each task and then start them one by one. But I also realized that they were not the only factor that contributed to my performance improvement. Things like: -> Planning your steps in advance -> Having a well-defined deadline for tasks -> Habits >> Motivation -> Quantifying your performance(e.g. Number of pomos done) -> Rewarding yourself for a task well done etc helped too. Have you ever used the Pomodoro Technique for something big? Would love to hear your story. Thank You! #Google #SWE #InterviewPreparation

Let’s Talk About Time. People have ask me in the past how I manage to get so much done. It’s simply a method. I built a surgical time management system years ago that's essentially a hybrid of three "proven frameworks"; it's customized to match me. When I follow it, the output speaks for itself. People assume I’m a machine. Lately, I’ve been loose with it. Not off-track, but not dialed in like I should be. That’s changing now. Especially since I will be starting a Masters of Engineering in the spring. I call it "The Method to my Madness" The Eisenhower → Mind Map → Time Block Method: Achieve High Quality Volume Output, Stay Sharp, and Get More Done If you want high-quality output at a high volume, you need more than motivation. You need discipline and a bonafide system. This one works; it's not for staying busy. It's for execution and precision: 1. Start with the Eisenhower Matrix Often viewed as a productivity hack, it's more of a filter that separates movement from progress. Urgent & Important → Do it now. Important but Not Urgent → Schedule it. Urgent but Not Important → Delegate it. Neither → Delete it. Delete a lot. As much as possible. Majority of people stay stuck in reaction mode because they never clarify what actually deserves their time in a prioritized manner. 2. Turn Priorities those into a Mind Map. Brainstorm. Think about requirements and deliverables. Once you know what matters, you build your mind map. This is how you visualize your goals, responsibilities, and projects, as well as identify connections between different pieces and outcomes. Architect a snapshot of your entire battlefield.. This map is your battle strategy. Every node should be a calculated move. Every connection is a dependency. Now, you’re never guessing because you have a clear vision and path. 3. Convert the Map into EXCEL Time Blocks Here it get's surgical. Start with hour blocks but get used to honoring a schedule. Tighten it to 30-minute blocks once you’re zoned in. Eventually move to 15-minute or even 5-minute blocks when you need total control. Use 45-minute blocks to leave time for review, margin, or re-alignment Don't go cramming your calendar. You need to be constructing clarity. Every minute needs to have has a purpose, resulting in every block equaling an output. Why It Works? Well, I lived it, for 4 years. But it works because: You stop reacting and start executing. You make fewer, better decisions. You get more done in less time. You create time instead of losing it to friction. If you want to achieve a lot, don’t leave your output to chance. You need to engineer a laser focused lens, structure your days, and block YOUR time like it’s a currency. If your work matters, your time should too. Start with the matrix. Build the map. Block the time. And watch your execution go from good to elite. Always take time to REFLECT. Everyday, reflect.

I’ve mastered time management in the last 3 years. Here are 4 strategies to implement: 1. Prioritize like crazy Focus on tasks that truly move the needle. - 80% of results come from 20% of efforts (Harvard Business Review) - Identify and concentrate on high-impact tasks Maximize productivity by focusing on what matters most. 2. Use time blocks Schedule dedicated periods for deep work. - Multitasking can reduce productivity by 40% (American Psychological Association) - Set aside uninterrupted time for focused work Minimize distractions and enhance your output. 3. Say 'No' more often Every 'yes' to something unimportant is a 'no' to what truly matters. - 70% of professionals feel overwhelmed by workloads (Inc. Magazine) - Free up valuable time for tasks that align with your priorities Learn to say 'no' to protect your time. 4. Start your day with clarity Define your top three priorities each morning. - Clear goals increase focus and productivity (Journal of Experimental Psychology) - Spend 5 minutes each morning planning your day (or the day before) Set yourself up for success with a clear plan. - Effective time management can increase productivity by up to 25% (McKinsey & Company) - Improve efficiency and create more space for innovation Time is your most valuable resource. Take control of your time.