{"id":8756,"date":"2025-02-05T09:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/budrich.de\/en\/?p=8756"},"modified":"2025-01-14T12:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T11:12:32","slug":"time-management-strategies-professors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/budrich.de\/en\/news\/time-management-strategies-professors\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Effective time-management strategies for busy professors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot has been written about effective time-management strategies. But we have gathered some especially for busy professors (and all other kinds of researchers of course). Let\u2019s head off!
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Being a full-time professor at a university can be stressful, but it needn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n

After all, you are theoretically doing something you love: being paid to think about and explore ideas that excite you. All while having cocktails with smart, interesting colleagues, and taking time off in the summer to really focus on a specific project.<\/p>\n

Yes, you will work hard, Routines will be developed, but also habits and patterns that unnecessarily cost you a lot of time. And then there’s the pressure to publish. Regularly and according to the laws and tides of the community. The concomitant feeling of being overwhelmed can lead to anxiety and burnout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So it’s worth taking a look at your time management every now and then and questioning your daily routines. A mix of traditional and modern time-management approaches can help to get you back on track.<\/p>\n

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Where does a full-time professor\u2019s time go?<\/h4>\n

From the outside, the lifestyle of a full-time professor<\/a> looks easy: teach a couple of classes, meet a grad student for coffee, do some research, gather with colleagues, attend a conference or two in an exotic location, enjoy long holidays and a sabbatical every few years.<\/p>\n

In reality, most full-time mid-career professors are working 60-80 hours a week. If you are teaching two courses, that\u2019s typically about 6 hours of class time. Class preparation alone can take 10 hours for a lecture at first; at best, 3-4 hours once you\u2019ve taught it a few times. Then there are hours and hours spent on exam composition and grading.<\/p>\n

When it comes to mentoring, rewarding as it is, those sessions of working with grad students or junior colleagues also take up time and energy. Departmental meetings and office hours are a necessity, too, but those sessions can be a time-killer, especially when they run longer than anticipated or get cancelled at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Now, we are just coming to your own research and writing commitments. To advance along the tenure track, you will need to publish. Setting aside time in the lab or writing grant applications, submitting papers to conferences, convening panels and dealing with revisions to articles for journal publication are all extremely demanding tasks.<\/p>\n

Of course, you also have to maintain a healthy work-life balance<\/a> for general wellbeing. For some of us that means deliberately allocating time for exercise, family or socialising. Finding ways to get the best of both worlds can be challenging.<\/p>\n

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Top tips and handy apps<\/h3>\n

The first step to better time management is to understand the full range of obligations you have and to categorise them according to importance. Then, to plan. And finally, to execute.<\/p>\n

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    Plan ahead \u2013 Use helpers that fit<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A daily, weekly and\/or monthly plan is helpful to start prioritising tasks. In the old days, many of us used thick, leather-bound day-planner<\/a>s we took everywhere and huge monthly calendars we kept on our desks.<\/p>\n

    Nowadays, we use our smartphones and digital calendars. But it requires a keen eye and constant maintenance.<\/p>\n

    There is something appealing about a visual planner compared to a digital planner. And some new apps combine both, along with checklists and satisfying ways of ticking off tasks.<\/p>\n