Maggie Fox
Maggie is a third year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering at UCLA. She is the FY21 Undergraduate Mentoring Match Coordinator (UMMC).
Here are some things I have found helpful so far when creating a schedule that works for me!
- Determine things outside of work that are important to you. For me this is getting time to talk to my family, a daily run, and now that it’s reopened, time at the gym a few days a week. The things that you like to do outside of being in grad school will be different for everyone but the important thing is making time for yourself so that you don’t burn out.
- Figure out the time of day you work best. Lab hours, for me, were on a very restricted schedule until my campus started to reopen; because of that I tried to be efficient with my in lab time and my at home time for work. While it was confining at first, the restricted schedule did teach me a lot about my work habits. I learned that I typically work best in the lab during the morning and early afternoon, and my best work at home (if I choose to do any) in the late afternoon and early evening so I try to schedule myself when I know I am most productive.
- See how long things normally take you. Sometimes things don’t take as long as we assume they do or actually take us a lot longer to do. By looking how long things normally take you, it can make it easier to plan your schedule ahead in the future.
- Learn to prioritize your tasks. This is similar to determining things that are important to you outside of work, but this is really for dealing with all of your to-dos. A lot of people use the Eisenhower Box for this, and separate tasks by urgent vs not urgent and then important vs not important to determine what to do first versus maybe look to hand off. I personally don’t like to formally do this because it takes me too long to separate things by category. I instead like to make general to do lists by section like things to do at work or at home and if things are a little more time sensitive I just make sure to mark that off. For me this makes tasks a little less daunting and batching them this way makes the tasks go faster.
- Have a calendar. Having a calendar where you can have all your due dates and meetings in one place can be a great resource whether it is a virtual calendar or a physical one. Above my desk is a really big calendar, with my meetings and to do’s, that I can see during zoom meetings, it helps me see if I can realistically take on more tasks or meetings quickly.
- Respect your boundaries and say no. This one is my biggest problems, but if you need to, say no. You don’t have to say yes just because someone has asked you to do something. If you have too much to do, you’re feeling overwhelmed, or you just don’t want to—whatever the reason is, it’s okay to say you can’t do something and you shouldn't have to feel guilty about it.
These are definitely just a few of the things that you can do, and just what I've found works best for me. If you have any other tips or tricks that you find work for you in figuring out your time, please comment them on this post!