Question: Do you have any time management tips for a PhD course?

Laura Joyner answered on 4 Nov 2021: last edited 4 Nov 2021 10:36 am

Hi Abigail!

In terms of time management, I try to think about each stage / study as its own ‘project’ and break it down into the big and small tasks that all need to happen to complete that ‘project’

So for a study I would have to think about –

Preparation:
– Making a final decision about what I actually plan to do
– Finding or developing the materials to make it happen
– Writing and submitting my ethics application
– Building my study on the computer

Data collection and analysis:
– Wait for my ethics application to be approved (this is super important!!)
– Next, finding participants to take part in the research
– Etc etc….

I then put it all into a “Gantt” chart so I know what I should be doing when in the next few months. It’s great for planning a long project like a PhD (mine will take around 3 years), but also smaller projects too like coursework or preparing for exams.

On a gantt chart, you have a dated timeline that can symbolise how long you have to do a project. Then you go through your list and add in each step as its own ‘bar’ (e.g. this task takes a week, this task takes 3 weeks). Many of the steps will rely on you completing the one before, so it really helps with ‘seeing’ how much time you really have to get everything done.

I’m quite a visual person so if I wrote out a list of dates it wouldn’t be very useful to me, but being able to “see” what that my time looks like / where I should be when is really useful 🙂

My final tip is to always try and give yourself a ‘time buffer’ if you can. In my three year plan I’ve accounted for a spare month a year in case anything goes wrong or takes longer than I think. It just helps me feel less stressed day to day as I know I have that “extra” time, and if I don’t end up using it then I have more time for other things!