time management phd students

Nine tips for managing time in grad school

Graduate school, and academia to a larger extent, is perhaps one of the most unorganized jobs there is. I received no list of expectations, no rubric for what to get done each day or any real grading to gauge my progress. I knew I needed to, at some point, publish papers and defend my thesis.

Coming directly from my undergraduate life organized by classes, exams and regular assignments, I found this lack of organization to be both a blessing and a curse. The freedom was exhilarating; I was in charge of my day and of what I got to read and study. But with that freedom came incessant worrying that I was behind on everything, because there was always something else I could be doing.

Coming into grad school, I was overwhelmed by how much undirected time I had. Then I learned about time management, and the world started to make sense again. Here I share with you some of the most important skills for mastering time management in graduate school. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.

1. Establish a schedule

Perhaps the best advice I received from an older graduate student in the lab is to work consistent eight-hour days as much as possible: 8 a.m.-4 p.m., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. And even more importantly, establish this schedule and boundaries with your lab and principal investigator.

This might seem like a tough one. Some days you might need to pull a 12-hour shift to get an experiment done. And sure, you can decide to come in at 9 a.m. one day and then start the next workday at 2 p.m. But in my experience, this left me feeling like I wasn’t being productive enough or burned out from working long days. Setting a consistent eight-hour schedule keeps your body in a rhythm and lets you feel confident you’ve gotten work done.

2. Use a planner

Physically writing out what you need to get done for the day immediately puts you into a productive mindset. I’m also a big fan of using the free web browser and app ToDoist , which allows me to break down tasks by topic and schedule tasks for a later date. This way I can have multiple to-do lists (a work one and a home one) and move tasks to a later date if I have too much planned.

3. Break down bigger tasks

The biggest no-no of using a planner, however, is only writing down ginormous tasks such as “write my paper” or “literature search.” These sorts of tasks will be so overwhelming to look at that you’ll never want to even start them. Instead, I break them down into smaller, more reasonable tasks for each day. For example, instead of “write my paper,” I’ll put down “write my abstract” for one day and then “proofread abstract” for another day.

4. Set priorities

Don’t tell yourself you have 20 top items you need to get done today. If you do, it’s more likely than not you’ll get none of them done. Have two or three big task items for the day and be OK with the fact that everything else on your list could be pushed. In my planner, there’s a break on the paper between the top three tasks and everything else. Prioritizing just a few things, again, makes me feel less overwhelmed looking at that to-do list.

5. Time block your calendar

When I first started doing this, I felt silly having a huge chunk of time that just said “emails” or “staining cells.” But blocking out time on my calendar for each task in the day further prioritizes what I need to get done and gives me the grace to push an overly ambitious task to the next day without letting it consume an entire day. Seeing what time I have also stops me from planning too much.

6. Experiments take twice as long as you expect

I wish this were written at the start of every lab notebook. When I started grad school, I planned experiments so close together that there wasn’t even a 30-minute overlap between imaging a first batch of cells to staining another batch. Be realistic with yourself. So many unforeseeable events arise during the day — mistakes in experiments or needing to make additional buffers — that I always estimate any experiment will take twice as long as I think it should on paper. And nine times out of 10, I end up taking almost that whole time.

7. Plan your week in advance

I dread Mondays as I come into the week with lots of experiments looming ahead. I like to prepare by planning out my week the Friday before so I can have everything set up and ready to get started on Monday.

8. Focus one day a week on desk work

This is one I’m still working on, but it makes a huge difference. It’s so easy to do back-to-back experiments when I’m getting good data, but I also need to write up results, analyze data before I forget what I did and read to keep up with what’s going on in my field. Try to plan one day of the week to focus just on desk work. Some labs even have a lab writing day once a week and book a conference room to focus on nonbench work.

9. Take breaks

Last but not least, I want to remind you to take breaks during your work and use your days off. Take holiday time. Take your weekends. Take that five-minute walk outside. All these other time management skills will get you nowhere if you’re burned out.

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Chloe Kirk is working toward her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Miami. Her interests are science research, communication and outreach.

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Grad Student How-To: Time Management & Juggling It all

As a grad student juggling work, school, and serving as co-president of my student organization, I often get asked, “how do you do it?” To be honest, I’m never quite sure how to answer, so I decided to really dig deep and figure out how I am able to survive grad school while still managing to get 7 hours of sleep a night and eat three meals a day. I came up with these five effective ways I manage grad school, and how you can too!

Step 1: Treat It Like a Job

One of the pitfalls many graduate students get trapped in is having large amounts of free time and not managing that time properly. Many students may also work a part time job (like me), but still have days where they only have one class. One of the things that has helped me the most to succeed is to treat graduate school like a job, and stick to a schedule. Even on the days I’m not working in the office 9-5, I keep to the same schedule. I wake up every morning at the same time, and head to school even if I don’t have work or class. I use that time to get my readings and school work done, so that I am not stuck reading until 12 a.m. By keeping to a regular schedule, I avoid sleeping in and losing out on time I could be working.

Step 2: Get a Planner

This may sound like something I shouldn’t have to say, but having a planner is seriously so important! Find a planner that will work well for you. I use a planner that breaks my day down hour by hour.

 I sit down at the beginning of the week and look at what I have coming up. Once I have blocked off time for work, school, and other meetings and events, I am able to see where I can schedule in study time. Organization helps to reduce my anxiety about the things I need to get done, and helps me set the pace for each week.

Step 3: Break It Down

If you are in the humanities, like I am, you probably have loads of reading for each class. I get assigned around 500 pages + of reading a week. Instead of saving all of my readings for the day or two before class, I try and do a little bit each day. If I know I have 200 pages to read, I’ll read 50 pages over four days. This can be applied to other disciplines as well! By setting smaller goals, the task at hand seems (and is) more manageable.

Step 4: Smarter Not Harder

Everyone studies differently, figure out what works best for you! If you know you don’t study well with friends, try and set boundaries for when and where you study. Learn what note taking system and reading strategies work best for you, and stick to it!

I also keep my work easily accessible on my iPad so that I can do readings on my lunch break or on the subway. The cloud is your best friend! This also goes for tasks outside of school! Don’t head to Trader Joe’s after work at the busiest time and waste two hours grocery shopping. Know when the best time for laundry, grocery shopping, etc. is, so that you can maximize your time!

Step 5: Self Care

Last but certainly not least, self care is key!! If you aren’t taking care of yourself, you will not have enough energy for any other part of your life. I make sure to plan one super fun thing at least every other week, which helps get my mind out of school and work mode. I’ve done things around the city like attending a taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live, seen a broadway play, and had game nights with friends. I also make sure to give myself a little time at home to catch up on my favorite shows and have a cup of tea!

It’s so easy to get caught up in the chaos of graduate school and forget to breathe, take it easy, and take some time for yourself.

There you have it! By following these five steps you can both survive and thrive through graduate school!

Productivity and Time Management Tips for PhD Students

One of the things that PhD students across the globe struggle with is productivity and time management. And this struggle is even more profound for PhD students who are also working and have a young family.

I am one of those juggling PhD studies with family, work and other ventures.

So, how should one manage all these conflicting responsibilities without losing their sanity?

The answer lies in effective productivity and time management practices.

In this post, I share a few tips on how to enhance productivity and manage time well that I have learnt along the way.

Enemies of productivity and time management

Before I give tips for time management and productivity, it is important to understand what the barriers are:

1. The need for perfection

If you are like me, then you must have suffered from this illness called perfectionism in any area of your life. In PhD, especially, perfectionism manifests in various ways: wanting to submit a perfect assignment, wanting your proposal to be perfect, wanting your thesis draft to be 100% error-free, etc. Perfectionism holds you back because you keep on doing the same thing over and over again with the hope that the end result will be excellent. As a result, other important tasks suffer and delay in the process. Whereas it is noble to strive for excellence, it is important to understand that a good assignment or proposal is one that has been submitted.

PhD students should therefore give their assignments and writings the best they can give and submit them in good time. This helps them receive feedback on their work in good time, and subsequently they can revise and submit an improved version within a shorter timeframe than if they were striving for perfection.

2. Social media

Social media is all around us, and the platforms keep increasing and becoming more interesting as the years go by. Whereas social media platforms have pros, such as helping us connect with our loved ones and peers, the main downside to them is that they can be such time wasters. The temptation to keep scrolling when you open your Facebook page or when you log in to your Instagram account is too great that it takes such a strong resolve to exit. In most cases, by the time one exits their social media account, two or even three hours are already lost.

Besides social media, email is another great time waster. This is made worse if you have turned on notifications for email and if your email tab is open. It is impossible to avoid the temptation to check an email that has just come into your inbox and to respond to it.

4. Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking entails doing more than one thing at the same time. This is an enemy of productivity and time management because your attention will be divided between the various tasks at hand and will end up either doing a shoddy job on them or failing to complete them within their deadlines.

5. Lack of a plan

A big enemy to productivity and time management is the lack of a plan. Some people go to bed not having a clear plan on how their next day will run. They wake up in the morning and still have no agenda for the day. They operate on “whatever comes my way” basis. The lack of a daily plan holds people back because they will not know how to allocate time to important and non-important tasks, and will therefore end up wasting time in the process.

With this understanding of the greatest enemies of productivity and time management, I next discuss some great tips for boosting productivity and managing one’s time in the most effective and efficient manner.  

Top 10 productivity and time management tips

1. prioritise.

We all have competing tasks, some important, some urgent. To boost one’s productivity and manage time well, PhD students should create a list of their priority tasks, on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. The good thing with priorities is that they are fluid, and keep changing by the day, week, or month.

Creating a list of priorities can help PhD students focus on what’s most important at that particular time, and dedicate less time to other tasks that are not important or urgent.

An example: assuming a full-time PhD student struggling with allocating his time between his various tasks such as reading, writing, taking classes, submitting assignments. If the coursework is the first year of the PhD programme, then his priorities during the first year of his programme should be taking classes, and working on assignments. This does not mean that he will not read papers or write his proposal; he will do them but will not dedicate much time to those tasks in the first year because they are not the most important or urgent tasks. Come second year, the student will now have completed his coursework and can now re-focus his effort and time to proposal writing, which would entail reading many papers and writing out his proposal drafts until he submits and fends his proposal. Come third year, and the focus for the student would now be data collection, analysis and report writing. This example is a clear indication of the fluidity of priorities and the need to focus on what’s important and urgent in any particular season of the PhD journey.

The same applies to PhD students with other competing interests as well such as work and family. They need to know when they should focus on their work, when to focus on their families and when to focus on their studies. This clarity of priorities makes all the conflicting responsibilities a little bit easier to manage.

2. Always start your day right

There is power in completing the most important task first. The task you do first when you wake up should be one that is most important and that brings you the highest value, and sets the right pace for the rest of your day. If you start your day by checking and responding to emails, you are in essence dedicating your most precious time to other people’s agenda, rather than your own. The most important, highest value task will vary by individuals and by the season the individual is in.

For PhD students working on their proposals, the most important and highest value task could be reading journal papers or writing our portions of the proposal. Starting the day with these tasks will not only give the student a sense of accomplishment but it will also clear the way for the student and makes the remaining tasks easier to do.

Tackling the most important, highest value task first thing in the morning should be done consistently until it becomes a habit.

Not only is it important to tackle the most important, highest value task first thing in the morning, it is equally important to work deep.

In the book Deep Work by Cal Newport, he defines deep work as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits” (p.3).

The concept of working deep is highly applicable to PhD studies, where students are expected to make contributions to the body of knowledge. But how does a student make original intellectual contributions when he is working with social media on and in the midst of distractions? This is impossible.

Going deep means locking yourself in a room away from other people, and turning off technological distractions such as mobile phones and just focusing on your work for a given amount of time; this can be as short as 1 hour or as long as an individual’s brain can take it.

Going deep enables a PhD student to have laser focus on the task at hand, be it reading papers or writing bits of a thesis.

4. Set aggressive deadlines for yourself

In my PhD program, it is the norm for students to be given a month to complete coursework assignments. What I have observed is that majority of the students are adrenaline junkies and wait until the very last minute to submit their assignments. An assignment that can be completed in two weeks at most ends up taking a whole month.

What I have found to be useful is to set for myself aggressive deadlines and work with those deadlines. So for a one-month assignment, I set a week or at most two weeks’ deadline to research on it, work on it and upload it on our platform. There is nothing as liberating as completing tasks way ahead of their deadlines. You not only set your mind free from always reminding you subconsciously about the pending assignment but you also free your time to do other important things.

Setting yourself aggressive deadlines forces you to be laser-focused on those tasks and to make better use of your time than more lenient deadlines.

Aggressive deadlines can also be applied to other tasks such as proposal writing, whose timeframe provided by the institution may be as long as one or two years. Be intentional to cut down this time by half or even more, then set to work on the proposal as if your life depends on (and indeed it does). Same case for data collection, writing journal papers, and writing the thesis itself, among other tasks that seem like a mountain for most PhD students.

Setting aggressive deadlines is one of the reasons why some students take 3 years to complete their PhDs while their classmates end up taking even 5 years to complete the same program, yet they started on the same day.

5. Create a to-do list

Keeping your to-do tasks in your head makes one prone to forget some important and not-so important tasks. Your mind will also feel congested with pending tasks.

Free your mind! Jot it all down.

You can use the good old pen and paper method to create your to-do list or you can go the digital way. It does not matter as long as you have one.

A to-do list creates a visual picture of what you are supposed to do each month, week, and day. It’s therefore important to have a to-do list for the month, then break it down into weekly to-do lists and further into daily to-do lists.

This way, your tasks become clearer and less mind boggling.

6. Schedule your tasks

It is one thing to create a to-do list but another thing all together to schedule those tasks.

Use a calendar to schedule your tasks.

It is easy to work on something that has been scheduled than one that does not appear in the calendar.

Use your daily to-do lists to schedule the tasks according to their importance. When you go to bed each night, be clear on what you will do the next day and what time you will do them.

This saves one time that is spent in trying to find what you will do at any particular time.

It will also prevent you from finding and doing less important tasks throughout the day.

7. Use themes to schedule tasks

One strategy that works for some people is the use of themes to compartmentalise tasks and group similar tasks together.

One can use daily themes or time themes.

For daily themes, you can allocate each day of the week for specific tasks e.g. Mondays for reading journal papers only, Tuesdays for writing, Wednesdays for working on references, Thursdays for short courses etc.

For time themes, you can allocate times of the day for specific tasks e.g early mornings for reading, mid-mornings for writing, after lunch for data analysis, early evenings for communication etc.

This strategy reduces distractions and helps one to stay focused on one task on any given day and at any given time.

8. Use dead time to your advantage

Everyone has dead time, which is the time that is lost during the day.

Dead time can be the time we use when we take a shower, when we commute to and from work/school, when we take meals by ourselves etc.

One can use dead time to be more productive by engaging in activities that enhance our productivity.

For instance, rather than scrolling the social media while taking lunch, one can decide to listen to a podcast or an audiobook, practice public speaking, do some stretching exercises etc.

One can also use shower time to meditate, plan for the next day or unwind so as to rejuvenate oneself.

You can also use commute time to read a book (if not driving) or to listen to a motivational speech or audiobook etc.

Dead time is often underestimated but those few minutes each day can add up to hours, days and weeks as the days go by.

9. Consistency is key

You can become better at anything by doing it repeatedly every day.

Same applies to PhD. Many PhD students struggle especially with writing. But you can only become a good writer if you write something every single day.

The more you write, the better you become at it, and the less time it will take you to write in future. This is true for other tasks as well.

PhD students should therefore get in the habit of creating a daily routine for tasks such as reading and writing.

An example that is too common among students is putting off some tasks such as referencing until the last couple of months to dissertation defense. This is a huge mistake and ends up being time-consuming and prone to errors when done this way. It is recommended that referencing (inserting in-text citations and building the reference list) should be done regularly each time a source is read and referenced.

A little each day goes a long way!

10. Take breaks

Your mind, body and soul need breaks throughout the day to rejuvenate.

After every 90-120 minutes, take a short good break.

There are breaks that will boost your productivity and breaks that will dampen it. Learn the difference.

Examples of a good break include: drinking water, eating a fruit, walking around, stretching a bit, taking a power nap etc. These are breaks that build you.

An example of a bad break includes surfing the internet aimlessly, logging into your social media accounts etc. These are breaks that will waste your time and further drain you.

A good break should re-energise you, reset your mind and make you more or as productive as you were before.

Don’t push your body and brain without giving them time to recover; they will not serve you as efficiently as you would like.

Schedule your breaks regularly throughout the day and you will be amazed at how much you will be able to accomplish each day.

It is said that time is a great equaliser; we all have 24 hours in a day.

The difference between successful and unsuccessful people lies mostly in how they utilise their 24 hours.

On the same note, the difference between a productive and an unproductive PhD student is how they use each second, each minute and each hour of their day. If you are a PhD student, implement the strategies and systems highlighted above and you will find your journey to be a bit more manageable.

Related post

How to Create and Use a Gantt Chart for PhD Studies

Grace Njeri-Otieno

Grace Njeri-Otieno is a Kenyan, a wife, a mom, and currently a PhD student, among many other balls she juggles. She holds a Bachelors' and Masters' degrees in Economics and has more than 7 years' experience with an INGO. She was inspired to start this site so as to share the lessons learned throughout her PhD journey with other PhD students. Her vision for this site is "to become a go-to resource center for PhD students in all their spheres of learning."

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How to maximize and adjust to a phd schedule.

A PhD schedule takes adjustment, but the strategies that work for doctoral studies carry throughout an academic career.

Adjusting to a PhD schedule can be a challenge. Classes will take up a decent amount of your time for the first few years of a program. After completing the required courses, independent research becomes the main focus. Sometimes that can be intimidating. You become your own boss, which is an adjustment from being told what to do and when to do it.

Here are a few tips from current doctoral students and professors at Wharton on how to transition into this new lifestyle:

Brush Up on Your Time Management Skills

Learning how to manage your time more effectively can help you get your schedule under control as well as stay on task and reduce stress. Prof. Wayne Guay , the doctoral coordinator for the Accounting program, said, “Effective time management is crucial to success, progress and sanity. First, students should know they are not alone, as it is something that many — perhaps most — graduate students struggle with from time to time.”

Time management allows you to maximize your day. If you find yourself struggling to effectively manage your time, click here for helpful tips .

Ask for Help

Completing a PhD is not an easy task. There will be times when you’re struggling and may be feel unsure or overwhelmed. Prof. Fernando Ferreira , the doctoral coordinator for the Business Economics and Public Policy and Real Estate programs, suggested that students reach out for help. He said, “It’s always much better to talk people. Share the experience that’s happening and share the problem, usually that’s the best way to overcome that struggle. It’s much easier once you’re able to communicate what exactly is happening.”

Professors are there to guide you when you need, so take advantage of their expertise. If you don’t feel comfortable talking to a professor, talk to a peer. There’s a chance that others have experienced similar issues and can lend some helpful advice. Prof. Ferreira also suggested seeking help sooner rather than later as putting off a problem can cause further issues down the line.

Take a Break

From going to class, completing homework, and conducting research, your days can be jam-packed. Although it is important to focus on your work, it is also important to take time for yourself. Karren Knowlton , a third year Management student, said, “It’s super easy to feel like school is your life, but you won’t be able to bring your best self here if you don’t round yourself out in other ways. I would say maybe two nights a week try to see other people and do something outside of school even if it’s just for an hour.”

Whether grabbing dinner with a friend or joining on a club on campus, there is plenty to do in and around Philadelphia. Karren chooses to spend her free time volunteering with the Science Education Academy in West Philly. Karren said, “ It’s a fun and rewarding way to give something back to the local community that’s easy to work into a PhD student schedule.”

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

Not comparing yourself to others is easier said than done. It’s important to remember a PhD program is not one size fits all. What works for one person may not necessarily work for you. Prof. Deborah Small , the doctoral coordinator for the Marketing program, said, “Of course it’s impossible to not compare yourself to others, but there’s not one right way to become an academic other than getting that degree.”

Comparing yourself to others can cause you to lose sight of the goal you’re working towards. Focus on what you personally need to do to be successful. Karren said, “Figure out what your priorities are and don’t let looking at other people and how much they seem to be working or not working affect that.”

Having tips to adjust to a PhD schedule is only helpful if you know what to expect. Get an inside look at the schedule of a PhD student .

Posted: August 4, 2017

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• 13 January 2021

My 11 part-time jobs made me a better PhD student

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Cassie Sims is a postdoc at the Max Planck Center for Next Generation Insect Chemical Ecology and Lund University in Sweden.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

I have had 11 part-time jobs between my final year of school and completing my PhD programme. These varied in scope, pay, fun and responsibility, but most fell into in hospitality, customer service or tutoring. I have waitressed in restaurants and cafes, supervised a student bar, sold smoked meats and cheeses and tutored younger students.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00089-w

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We have a brief summary of information under each of the following categories to help you with your time management. Each of the following links also includes a list of resources if you want to seek more help and information.

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• Prioritizing
• Knowing your mission
• Fighting off Procrastination
• Essential Apps
• Reading & Writinng
• Dissertation plan
• Work/life balance
• Managing career development

About the Team

We are students and postdocs just like you! As part of the Duke Emerging Leaders Institute, we chose to develop this tool to help you determine how to best improve your time management skills. We compiled a list of resources for you to help manage your time and propel you forward. Our qualifications are simply an understanding of the busy lives of our fellow graduate students and postdocs and a desire to fill the gap in the time management resources readily available to Duke students and postdocs.

Grace Beggs

Grace is a PhD candidate in Biochemistry. Her current research focuses on the structure and function of proteins that contribute to antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. Grace is also interested in increasing diversity in STEM and has organized and participated in outreach events and programming through Duke SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) and Duke BioCoRE. Outside of science, Grace enjoys salsa dancing, reading, and hiking. Grace’s greatest pet peeve is having her time wasted.

Oriol Colomés

Oriol Colomés, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Duke. His main research focuses on the computational engineering field, developing tools to accurately and efficiently simulate physical phenomena of interest in many engineering problems. He aspires to solve engineering problems that are not within reach with the currently available computational methods. When not in the office, you can find him enjoying the outdoors: playing volleyball, running, taking pictures or hanging out with people. Oriol respects his time; like Gandalf, he is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.

David Kearney

David Kearney is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University. His present research explores international relations. He was a translator and doctoral fellow at Zhejiang University and spent a summer at National Taiwan University on a Foreign Language and Areas Studies Grant. He developed his doctoral fieldwork on a James B. Duke International Research Travel Fellowship and is a member of the Society of Duke Fellows. In his free time, David is a photography enthusiast and is presently enjoying the versatility of the Lumix DMC-G7K. David finds innovative ways to schedule his free time and work photography into his day-to-day activities (group photo).

Yanzhen (Jasmine) Li

Yanzhen (Jasmine) Li is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering. Her research aims to elucidate how the miscommunication between cells in the heart affect cardiac function and thus lead to the progression of heart failure. Awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship by the American Heart Association, Yanzhen is combining a mouse model of heart failure and 3D tissue engineering techniques along with molecular and histological tools to discover novel mechanisms underlying heart failure in the hope of developing more effective therapeutic strategies for treating heart disease. As someone who is currently writing her dissertation, Yanzhen considers time one of her most precious assets.

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Thank you. payment completed., you will receive an email from us to confirm your registration, please click the link in the email to activate your account., there was error during payment, orcid profile found in public registry, download history, managing your time as a researcher.

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• 27 April, 2021

The demands of a PhD can often feel overwhelming, and it is not uncommon to hear of doctoral students being stressed and overworked. However, this does not have to be your experience. The PhD journey can also be an entirely manageable and pleasurable one if you plan well ahead of time.  

Below are six key steps for ensuring you get everything done on time, while enjoying your PhD.  

1. Accept that you cannot do everything

The first step is to understand and accept that there is no way you can possibly read everything you think you need to read, or do every experiment or piece of fieldwork that you think is essential. A PhD is a finite piece of work and you are not expected to create whole, perfect knowledge that will account for every eventuality. When you accept this and clearly define the parameters of your research, you will find that your reading list and research goals become much more manageable.

2. Establish key milestones  

Some universities schedule assessments (sometimes called progression points) for their doctoral students at specific times in their programme, for example at the end of each year or midway through the PhD. Speak to your supervisor or senior PhD colleagues in your department to find out approximately what needs to be done at each stage.  

For example, find out when you should be doing your fieldwork/data collection, performing analysis or writing your first chapter. Finding out these key points will clarify where you should be at each stage. You can then work backwards to decide what you need to be doing, and when, to meet those milestones.  

3. Break down your to-do list

Technically, what is expected of you in your PhD can be accomplished within the timeframe that you have. It seems like a huge amount of work, but you can begin to lighten the load for yourself by breaking down what needs to be done into smaller manageable chunks.  

Deal with tasks one stage at a time. For example, determine the tasks you need to do for your data collection/fieldwork and allocate specific periods of time for each task. You can then break down these tasks further into a monthly or weekly schedule. By doing this, you’ll feel more confident about what you can practically achieve on a day-to-day basis.

4. Steady wins the race

Know that you do not necessarily have to be working a crazy number of hours, all day every day, to do good research. Some academics recommend working approximately 40 hours a week, as you would for a normal job, but understand that each person has their own way of working and may require slightly more or less at different stages of the PhD.  

More important than trying to clock in a set number of working hours is to work steadily at a pace that suits you best. For example, you may accomplish more by working only four focused hours every weekday, than by trying to do everything at once or forcing yourself to work long hours at the last minute to meet a deadline.  

5. Be realistic

To ensure that you are able to work at a consistent, steady pace, be honest and realistic about your working habits and pace. If you know that it takes you a full day to write 500 words, don’t aim to write a 3000-word essay in two days! You will not only set yourself up to fail but will also create a tremendous amount of pressure on yourself. Your mental health will suffer and the PhD will become something you dread.  

Instead, when planning your working schedule, always give yourself more time than you think you need. This extra time can cover any unexpected issues that may arise and give you more space to work peacefully and steadily. If you finish ahead of time, give yourself some well-deserved time off!  

6. Find time for rest

Although this can often feel counterintuitive, taking time off is one of the best things you can do for yourself in the long term. Forcing yourself to keep working – whether it’s reading another journal or writing another few hundred words – may seem like you’re making progress, but if you are tired and burnt out, you may end up making mistakes or having to redo the work.  

Take a full, regular break from your PhD every evening or weekend to rest and recharge. You’ll find that when you’re rested, you will return to your work with clearer perspectives, more energy and ultimately will be able to accomplish more in less time.

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November 1, 2017, by Agata

6 time management tips for PhD students!

We all know that phd is usually the very individual type of job and depends a lot on your own motivation and organizational skills. it is up to you how effectively you use the time you spend in the lab. often nobody is going to organize your time during phd and you need to figure out on your own how to stay productive., today, i want to share with you my 6 practical tips on time management i learned during my phd , use a calendar and have a schedule.

The good practice I found extremely helpful is having a calendar with tasks and aims I want to achieve during the entire month, week and day. This kind of calendar can have different forms. I personally created a table-calendar in Excel file where each sheet is dedicated for one month. I update this file on an everyday basis. Some people prefer to print out a monthly calendar and write manually what they need to do in the lab each day. A good tip for this practice is to put this printed sheet into a plastic sleeve and use a marker to write on the sleeve so you can easily delete and reschedule some tasks by just wiping it with a bit of ethanol.

Having my calendar has many advantages! It helps me to spot how effective I am every day, plan my experiments well in advance (especially when experiment takes more than two days to finish), to not forget about any started experiment (you know that, hm? ;D) and what the most important it helps me to stop postponing my tasks!

Another very necessary option is to include in your calendar your planned holidays! Seeing how many weeks/days you have left before leaving for holidays is incredible productivity booster! ?

Start your day with an easy task!

Updating your calendar at the end of each day also means that every day you will come to work with an already-created list of tasks for the day! In the morning, choose one easy and fast task to achieve, complete it and after you will feel you started the day in a productive way and it will bring you a positive energy for the rest of it! ?

Have some personal plans after work!

There is no better booster of your time management than having plans after work. If you know you need to leave office/lab at the certain time suddenly you productiveness increases significantly. PhD students without plans for the rest of the day very often tent to stay in the lab until very late hours, being tired and slow what may have very bad impact on their work-life balance and mental health. ☹

Multitasking is great (as long as you do not put too many tasks at the same time). We all know that lot of protocols have hours of incubations, cooling down, spinnings, freezings etc. Use these free 5, 15, 30 min of waiting in a productive way! Why not prepare some buffer that is running low, fill a couple of tip boxes or reply on that e-mail you postpone for a whole day? Ok, these are tasks for a couple of minutes. What if you have to wait for 1, 2, 3 h during the experiment? Here you go: why not start a new experiment or read an article or … wait for it… write a bit of your PhD thesis (try to start with materials and methods, you will be surprised how much you can write while waiting during incubations :D)! ?

Check the ‘real-time’ of completing your protocol!

I am sure you know this feeling: you just need to do that little ‘thing’ in the lab which will take you just 15 min … and after 45 min you realize you are not done with it yet? It is normal! Especially when you need to handle many samples. Tip for this: one day try to write down the time when you start a protocol and then write down the time you completed it. It will give you a ‘real-time’ you need to take to complete the protocol. In the future it will allow you to plan better your daily tasks without lying to yourself ‘I am done in 15 min’ ?

Use 2 min-rule!

A long time ago, during one of the workshops I learned this very simply 2-min method of time management: do not postpone any tasks which will take you less than 2 min to complete. What you should do is just completing it immediately when it appears. I practice this method almost all the time and I love it! Sometimes we get emails which really need a short reply but we tent to postpone it due to the trivial reasons. We are not aware that this behaviour slows down work of the person who sends us the email, as well as it can have a negative result for us. Moreover, multiple thinking about this 2-minute tasks is an unnecessary junk for our attention and takes more energy than is worth! Therefore, try to not postpone 2-min long tasks! ?

What are your tricks for better productivity? Please leave a comment! ?

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Five Time Management Tips for PhD Students

16 th August 2022

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Due to the limited contact time you’ll receive during your PhD, you’ll need to motivate yourself and organise your own time efficiently – that is if you don’t want to end up going into your final year with an entire thesis still to write. Time management isn’t easy. This little fact is probably something you learned while studying for your undergrad, and it will almost certainly have been reinforced over the course of your Master’s degree. When you’re studying for a PhD, time management is crucial. However, the good news is that there are plenty of effective time management techniques you can use to keep you on the right track. Have a read through the following to get you started… 

Time management tips

Find a routine.

If you don’t have a daily routine, it may be all too tempting to get into bad habits (like staying up until the early hours and then sleeping in until midday). Set yourself a time to wake up each day, and then do your best to stick to it. This will help you to save time when you might be tempted to dither around in the morning.

Keep a diary

Having a place where you can organise your thoughts, jot down to-do lists and keep a track of upcoming dates is always handy – buy yourself a diary and get into the habit of using it on a daily basis. Having a documented account of your goals can help to make you like you've steadily been achieving milestones, and we all know how satisfying it is to tick things off a list.

Create a 'work space'

Working and not working in the exact same space can make it difficult to disconnect when the time comes to relax, or make it hard to focus when you need to get back to studying. Whether it’s a desk in your room or your university’s library, having a designated place where you can go to work will help you separate your work time from your leisure time.

Setting yourself goals (such completing a chapter of your thesis or organising an academic conference by a certain date) is a great way to organise your time and keep motivated. If you're able to do so, allocate time to certain tasks so you don't get lost in a certain subject or cut short your time on an important assignment.

Give yourself a break

It’s also possible to overwork yourself. If you give yourself a start time of 9 o’clock each day, make sure you also have an end time. That way you’ll have something to work towards and a well-deserved break to look forward to at the end of the day. This is something you can also apply to your year as a whole – don’t be afraid to give yourself a week off every now and then!

Next: Read more about How to Manage Your Time As a Postgraduate Student

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11 Proven Time Management Tips for PhD Students

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Doctoral students are some of the busiest students on campus. The demands of research, classwork, dissertation defense , and personal obligations can be overwhelming. These demands can escalate quickly and easily develop into stress.

It’s easy to burn out trying to fit everything into your daily schedule. However, time management can help you stay organized, reduce stress, and increase productivity.

What’s the importance of time management for doctoral students?

Doctoral programs are intense and demanding, consisting of extensive research, coursework, and writing projects that require considerable time and effort.

Effective time management helps doctoral students complete all these tasks while maintaining a good balance between work, school, family, and personal commitments. It also helps them avoid stress and burnout while working on their thesis.

In this blog post, we share eleven effective time management strategies for doctoral students like you that will help you stay focused and on track to achieving your goals without feeling overwhelmed.

1. Know your key study milestones and their deadlines

The first step towards effective time management is identifying the key milestones in your study life and when to accomplish them.

Understand when your assignments are due, when you must complete your coursework, research , and writing, and when you need to defend your dissertation.

To accomplish this, you can create a milestone planner. Your milestone planner keeps you on track and identifies any upcoming deadlines. This will help you create a plan for when and how you will accomplish these milestones, ensuring that you stay on track and meet all deadlines.

A milestone planner will save you time, relieve pressure and help you to be more organized.

2. Create a weekly schedule to stay on track

Planning your week in advance will also help you manage your time well. As you enter into a new week, spare time to write down your weekly schedule: Create your work plan, listing all your tasks and setting priorities.

Start by allocating specific times for studying, researching, classes, writing your dissertation, and other important activities.

Also, don’t forget to spare time slots for essential activities such as exercise, social interactions, hobbies, and rest. A weekly schedule will help you stay focused, avoid distractions, and ensure enough time to complete all your tasks.

3. Set realistic daily goals and write a to-do list

Setting realistic daily goals and outlining them in a to-do list is another effective way to stay organized and focused.

Every morning before starting the day, write down the essential tasks you need to accomplish and prioritize them based on their urgency and importance. Prioritizing helps improve focus and ensures that each task has adequate time for effective completion.

Cross off items from your list as you go so you don't forget anything important. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivation to complete all the tasks you have for the day.

4. Utilize calendars, reminders, and task management apps

In today's technology age, many apps and online tools are available to help you manage your time effectively. These include calendars, reminders, and task management apps that can help you stay focused and remind you of upcoming deadlines or appointments.

These tools can help you schedule your time, set deadlines, and send reminders to complete your tasks. As a result, they can help you stay focused and avoid procrastinating tasks, thus improving your productivity.

Some of the best productivity apps for Doctoral students include

• Trello and Asana: For effective task management;
• Todoist and Wunderlist: For creating and managing to-do lists;
• Toggle and Focus To-Do: For Task planning and time-tracking;
• Freedom and StayFocusd: or blocking Distraction;
• Calendly and Google Calendar: or scheduling appointments and setting reminders.

5. Break down big tasks into smaller, manageable chunks

Breaking big tasks into smaller chunks is another proven strategy to help you stay on top of your workload. For instance, instead of tackling an entire dissertation chapter at once, dedicate a few hours of writing to complete a specific section. You can then take a break and come back or the next section.

This technique will keep you from feeling overwhelmed and reduce your stress levels. It will also help you to make steady progress toward your milestones and keep you motivated while at it.

Remember, completing small tasks incrementally will eventually bring down the bigger task without you feeling the pressure.

6. Prioritize tasks by importance and urgency

One of the biggest obstacles to effective time management is trying to do too much at once. To avoid this, always prioritize your tasks based on importance and urgency. Determine which tasks are the most important and urgent and tackle them first.

Urgent tasks are those that require immediate attention, while important tasks are those that align with your long-term goals. By prioritizing tasks, you can focus on what needs to be done first and avoid wasting time on tasks that can wait.

Apps like Trello, Asana, and Todoist can help keep you organized and ensure you make the most of your limited time.

7. Schedule dedicated blocks of time for specific tasks

Once you know your priorities, it’s important to set dedicated blocks of time for accomplishing specific tasks.

For example, allocate a specific time of the day for writing papers, conducting research, reading academic journals, and attending seminars. You can also schedule two hours every morning to write your dissertation or designate Friday afternoons to analyze data.

By scheduling specific blocks of time, you create a routine for your day, which can be very helpful in managing your time. Remember to be realistic about how much time you dedicate to each task and adjust your schedule whenever needed.

8. Schedule breaks for rest and relaxation

Taking breaks is an essential part of effective time management. People who work long hours tend to get tired more easily and lose productivity.

As you create your daily routine, schedule breaks throughout the day to relax and recharge. Whether taking a walk outside, listening to music, or practicing mindfulness meditation, make sure to do something that helps you feel refreshed.

Taking short breaks to rest and relax can recharge your energy levels and increase productivity. Breaks also allow you to assess what you’ve accomplished and plan for what’s pending.

9. Learn to eliminate distractions

Distractions are one of the biggest obstacles to effective time management. From social media notifications and text messages to unnecessary calls, it is easy to get distracted from your work.

The best way to combat distractions is to eliminate them. Once you sit down to accomplish a task, turn off notifications from emails, text messages, social media apps, or anything else that could potentially distract you.

When you start feeling the urge to check your phone or social media, remind yourself that you are focused on your work and will attend to them later.

Alternatively, you can leave your phone in another room to reduce the temptation to check it. You can also install apps or browser extensions that block notifications during designated times, helping you stay focused and on-task.

10. Be flexible and adaptable

No matter how well you plan and organize your day, unexpected events may arise that require flexibility and adjustments. Instead of feeling frustrated and disappointed, learn to adapt to change quickly and be prepared to switch tasks or assignments.

Embrace flexibility as a way of life, creating buffer time whenever possible, and be prepared to adjust if something unexpected arises. This way, you can constantly adjust your schedule to fit the ever-changing demands of your thesis .

However, always be aware of your priorities, so if you switch to another task, it should still be aligned with your main goals and responsibilities.

11. Avoid multitasking

The age-old myth that multitasking is an effective way to complete more tasks in less time is untrue. Actually, multitasking can lead to less productivity and loss of time. It can also lead to more errors and reduce the quality of your work.

As a doctorate student with high demands, try to focus on one task at a time and complete it before starting another.

It can be helpful to use the Pomodoro technique, where you set a timer for 25 minutes, work on one task with complete dedication, and take a small break before moving to the next task. This technique can also help to avoid burnout and keep a clear focus while studying.

Here’s a useful video by Med School Insiders on the Pomodoro technique

Key takeaway

Effective time management strategies are essential to the success of any doctoral student. Even if you’re just getting started, take time to implement strategies that will help you maximize your study sessions and prioritize tasks.

This will prevent you from feeling stressed and overwhelmed down the road or giving up before you finish your Ph.D.

You may also find it helpful to connect with a study group for extra motivation and as a support system. If you use the above strategies to plan and manage your time, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle whatever comes your way as you pursue your higher education goals.

And remember, it is alright to seek help. Writers Per Hour can provide you with the Ph.D. writing help you need. Whether it’s a case study, dissertation, research proposal, or some other assignment, we have professional Doctoral writers for hire who can help you with it.

When you hire a writer from Writers Per Hour, you will receive 100% original, custom-written papers at affordable rates and on time!

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Time Management & Productivity Tools For PhD Students : “What works for you?”

Here are a few possible time management and productivity tools for PhD students:

• Task management software (e.g. Trello, Asana)
• To-do list apps (e.g. Todoist, Any.do)
• Pomodoro technique apps (e.g. Focus To-Do, Tomato Timer)
• Calendar and scheduling tools (e.g. Google Calendar, Fantastical)
• Mind mapping and brainstorming software (e.g. MindNode, XMind)
• Time tracking software (e.g. Toggl, RescueTime)
• Distraction-blocking apps (e.g. Freedom, StayFocusd)
• Goal setting and habit tracking apps (e.g. Strides, Habits)

These tools can help PhD students stay organized, focused, and productive as they navigate their studies and research. By using a combination of these tools, PhD students can create a personalized workflow that helps them manage their time effectively and achieve their goals.

Useful Task management Software PhD student

Task Management Software: Streamlining Your To-Do List

As a PhD student, managing multiple projects and tasks can be overwhelming. From conducting research, to writing papers, to participating in class, there’s always something on your plate. To stay organized and productive, it’s crucial to have a system for managing your tasks. And that’s where task management software comes in.

Task management software, such as Trello and Asana, provide a simple and efficient way to keep track of your to-do list and keep your projects organized. Whether you’re working on a team or just trying to stay on top of your personal tasks, these tools are essential for staying productive and getting things done.

Trello is a visual task management tool that allows you to create boards for different projects and organize tasks into cards. You can add due dates, labels, attachments, and even collaborate with team members in real-time. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to rearrange tasks and prioritize your work.

Asana, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive task management platform that also allows you to manage projects and collaborate with team members. You can create tasks, set due dates, assign tasks to team members, and track the progress of your projects. With Asana, you can also create custom workflows and integrate with other productivity tools, such as Google Drive and Slack.

Whether you’re using Trello or Asana, task management software offers a range of benefits for PhD students:

• Keep track of your tasks: No more losing track of what you need to do! With task management software, you can see all of your tasks in one place, making it easy to prioritize and stay on top of your work.
• Collaborate with team members: If you’re working on a project with others, task management software makes it easy to collaborate and share updates.
• Set deadlines and reminders: Keep your projects on track by setting deadlines and reminders. You can also set recurring tasks to help you stay on top of your work.
• Prioritize your work: With task management software, you can see all of your tasks in one place and prioritize your work based on importance and deadline.
• Track your progress: Seeing the progress you’ve made on a task or project can be motivating and help you stay on track. With task management software, you can see what you’ve accomplished and what still needs to be done.

In conclusion, task management software is a crucial tool for PhD students looking to stay organized and productive. Whether you’re working on a team or just trying to manage your personal tasks, Trello and Asana offer an easy and efficient way to keep your projects organized and get things done.

Top 10 task management softwares

Here are the top 10 task management software:

• Asana – a comprehensive task management platform that allows you to manage projects, collaborate with team members, and set deadlines.
• Trello – a visual task management tool that allows you to organize tasks into cards and boards.
• Todoist – a to-do list app that allows you to manage your tasks and projects, set deadlines, and collaborate with team members.
• Wunderlist – a to-do list app that allows you to create tasks, set reminders, and collaborate with team members.
• Any.do – a to-do list app that allows you to manage your tasks, set reminders, and prioritize your work.
• ClickUp – a task management tool that allows you to manage tasks, projects, and team work in one place.
• Monday.com – a project management tool that allows you to manage tasks, projects, and team work, and visualize progress.
• Smartsheet – a task management and collaboration tool that allows you to manage tasks, projects, and team work in a spreadsheet-like interface.
• Todo Cloud – a to-do list app that allows you to manage your tasks, set reminders, and prioritize your work.
• Airtable – a task management tool that combines the features of a spreadsheet with a database to allow you to manage tasks, projects, and team work.

These task management software tools can help you stay organized, prioritize your work, and manage projects effectively. By using a combination of these tools, you can create a personalized workflow that helps you get things done and achieve your goals.

Top 10 Time Management Tools

Here are the top 10 time management software:

• Toggl – a simple time tracking tool that allows you to track time spent on tasks, projects, and clients.
• RescueTime – a time management software that tracks the time you spend on different applications and websites to help you understand how you’re using your time.
• Focus To-Do – a Pomodoro technique app that helps you stay focused and get things done.
• Google Calendar – a calendar and scheduling tool that integrates with other Google apps, such as Gmail and Google Drive.
• Remember the Milk – a to-do list app that allows you to manage your tasks and projects, set reminders, and prioritize your work.

These time management software tools can help you stay organized, prioritize your work, and get things done. By using a combination of these tools, you can create a personalized workflow that helps you manage your time effectively and achieve your goals.

Top 10 Pomodoro technique apps

Here are the top 10 Pomodoro technique apps:

• Forest – a gamified Pomodoro technique app that allows you to track your focus and grow virtual trees.
• PomoDone – a Pomodoro technique app that integrates with other task management tools, such as Trello and Todoist.
• Tomato Timer – a simple Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks.
• Toggl Focus – a Pomodoro technique app that helps you stay focused and track your time spent on different tasks.
• Be Focused – a Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks, and track your progress.
• Pomodoro Time Pro – a Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks, and track your progress.
• Focus Keeper – a Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks, and track your progress.
• Focus – a Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks, and track your progress.
• Marinara Timer – a simple Pomodoro technique app that allows you to set timers for focus and breaks.

These Pomodoro technique apps can help you stay focused and get things done, by using the Pomodoro technique to break your work into focused work sessions and breaks. By using a combination of these apps, you can create a personalized Pomodoro technique workflow that helps you achieve your goals.

Top 10 Calendar and scheduling tools

Here are the top 10 calendar and scheduling tools:

• Google Calendar – a free online calendar that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and share calendars with others.
• Microsoft Outlook Calendar – an email and calendar app that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and view multiple calendars.
• Apple Calendar – a free calendar app that comes pre-installed on Apple devices and allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and view multiple calendars.
• Fantastical – a paid calendar app for Apple devices that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and view multiple calendars.
• Calendly – a scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments and meetings with others, and integrates with other tools such as Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook Calendar.
• Acuity Scheduling – an appointment scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and manage your calendar.
• Simplybook.me – an appointment scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and manage your calendar.
• ScheduleOnce – an appointment scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and manage your calendar.
• Setmore – an appointment scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and manage your calendar.
• Square Appointments – an appointment scheduling tool that allows you to schedule appointments, set reminders, and manage your calendar.

These calendar and scheduling tools can help you stay organized and manage your schedule effectively. By using a combination of these tools, you can create a personalized calendar and scheduling workflow that helps you achieve your goals.

Top 10 Mind Mapping and Brainstorming Software

Here are the top 10 mind mapping and brainstorming software:

• Xmind – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• MindNode – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• Coggle – a collaborative mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects with others.
• MindMeister – a collaborative mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects with others.
• Ayoa – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects, and also includes a task management feature.
• MindMup – a free mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• Scapple – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• iMindMap – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• The Brain – a mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.
• Bubbl.us – a free mind mapping tool that allows you to create and share mind maps, brainstorm ideas, and manage projects.

These mind mapping and brainstorming software can help you generate ideas, organize your thoughts, and manage projects effectively. By using a combination of these software, you can create a personalized mind mapping and brainstorming workflow that helps you achieve your goals.

Top 10 Time Tracking Software

Here are the top 10 time tracking software:

• Toggl – a simple time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• Harvest – a time tracking and invoicing tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate invoices, and integrate with other tools.
• Clockify – a free time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• RescueTime – a time tracking tool that runs in the background of your computer and tracks your productivity, helping you understand how you spend your time.
• Everhour – a time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• TimeCamp – a time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• Time Doctor – a time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• Paymo – a time tracking and project management tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, manage projects, and generate invoices.
• Tick – a time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.
• Hours – a time tracking tool that allows you to track time on projects and tasks, generate reports, and integrate with other tools.

These time tracking software can help you manage your time effectively, understand how you spend your time, and improve your productivity. By using a combination of these software, you can create a personalized time tracking workflow that helps you achieve your goals.

Top 10 Distraction-Blocking Apps

Here are the top 10 distraction-blocking apps:

• Forest – an app that allows you to plant virtual trees, which grow over time as you stay focused, and help you build a forest of your achievements.
• Cold Turkey – an app that blocks distractions for a set amount of time, helping you focus and get more done.
• Freedom – an app that blocks distractions for a set amount of time, helping you focus and get more done.
• StayFocusd – a browser extension that blocks distracting websites, allowing you to stay focused on your work.
• Cold Turkey Blocker – an app that blocks distractions for a set amount of time, helping you focus and get more done.
• SelfControl – a Mac app that blocks distracting websites, allowing you to stay focused on your work.
• Anti-Social – an app that blocks social media websites, allowing you to stay focused on your work.
• RescueTime – an app that tracks your activity, giving you insights into how you spend your time and helps you limit distractions.
• Hocus Focus – a Mac app that hides inactive windows, allowing you to stay focused on your work.
• Focus To-Do – an app that combines the Pomodoro Technique with task management, helping you stay focused and get more done.

These distraction-blocking apps can help you stay focused, limit distractions, and improve your productivity. By using a combination of these apps, you can create a personalized distraction-blocking workflow that helps you achieve your goals.

Top 10 Goal Setting and Habit Tracking Apps

Here are the top 10 goal setting and habit tracking apps:

• Strides – a goal tracking app that helps you set and track your goals, habits, and to-dos, with detailed reports and charts.
• Goals.com – an app that helps you set and track your goals, with detailed reports and charts, and a focus on goal setting as a process.
• Coach.me – an app that helps you set and track your habits, with a focus on community and coaching, and a database of over 300 habits.
• Habitica – a gamified habit tracking app that helps you set and track your habits, with a focus on gamification and a database of over 750 habits.
• Todoist – a task management app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on project and task management.
• Asana – a project management app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on project and task management.
• Evernote – a note taking app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on note taking and organization.
• Google Keep – a note taking app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on note taking and organization.
• Wunderlist – a task management app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on project and task management.
• Trello – a project management app that helps you set and track your goals and tasks, with a focus on project and task management.

These goal setting and habit tracking apps can help you set and track your goals and habits, improve your productivity, and build better habits. By using a combination of these apps, you can create a personalized goal setting and habit tracking workflow that helps you achieve your goals and build better habits.

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Time management skills are essential for all college students. In order to effectively manage courses, extracurricular activities, and social life, students should be able to create and maintain effective schedules. Often, creating a schedule and sticking with it is easier said than done. This page will give an overview of how college students can effectively manage their time, show examples of how to schedule various activities, and suggest different apps to stay organized.

Assess My Skills

Managing your time well can not only ensure success at UGA, it can also help you live a balanced and whole life as a college student. How well you manage your time over each semester will determine how well you will perform academically at UGA, so don’t hesitate to spend some time each day/week/semester working on this essential skill.

If you’re ready to reach all of your goals at the University of Georgia, think about attending college as a full time job, which is typically 40 hours/week. This means you should be devoting 40 hours each week to attending class and completing schoolwork.

When thinking about a typical 24 hour day, we recommend using the 8-8-8 rule.

• 8 hours towards academics (both inside and outside of the classroom)
• 8 hours towards living (activities for fun or to take care of yourself)
• 8 hours towards sleeping (at least five days/week)

Let’s look at an example. A standard full time workload is 40/week – so if you are enrolled in 14 credit hours this semester, then you should be dedicating  at least  26 hours to your academics outside of class (40 hours total – 14 hours in class = 26 hours outside of class). Keep in mind, this estimate isn’t an exact science. Depending on your classes and if it’s during midterms/finals, you may have to spend more time to be successful in your classes. Some of the academic tasks you’ll spend outside of the classroom can include planning, reading, working on projects / problem sets / homework, and preparing for tests and exams.

Creating a Balanced Calendar

When building your personal calendar, there are a few things that are important to consider. Ask yourself the questions below:

• Am I more likely to look at (and keep up with) a digital calendar or a paper planner?
• Do I want to get my classes and academic work completed earlier in the day or later in the day?
• Beyond classes, what other commitments do I have?

Picking the type of calendar that works best for you is the most important first step. Many students prefer using a digital calendar like Google Calendar, the iPhone Calendar app, or Microsoft Outlook. These calendars typically sync between devices and have features like notifications, recurring meetings, and are easily edited. Paper planners that can be purchased at most box stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon are also frequently used by UGA students. The DAE team has even created a  24 hour calendar template  that has become a favorite with coaching students. Whichever type of calendar you choose is completely up to you!

Once you’ve chosen your calendar, it’s time to start filling it in. We recommend completing it in the order below:

• Classes and meals : Mark when all of your classes are and include important details like the location. Be sure to hold time for three meals/day as eating enough throughout the day is important to stay focused and energized.
• Work, internships, student organization meetings, etc. : Add all of your other scheduled commitments to your calendar. This might look different week-to-week depending on how frequently you meet or if your work schedule changes.
• Study times for each class:  Use the study cycle to understand when the best times to study and complete class work are. Remember that you will need to schedule multiple study sessions for each class/week. It’s also good to note where you will be studying and if you’ll be studying with anyone else.

In addition to keeping up with your daily calendar, you can use our  master semester calendar  for a bird’s eye view of the semester. On this calendar, you can add all of your significant tests, papers, presentations, and projects for each class, as well as other large commitments of your time. Once this is complete, place it somewhere you’ll see it everyday so you can understand what the coming weeks will look like.

Using Your Calendar Effectively

You’ve gotten your calendar completed, now what? It’s important to set aside some time at the beginning of each week to plan out the week. We’ve found that many students like to do this on Sunday evenings before the school week begins. When you’re planning out the week, feel free to make adjustments based on what assignments are due and what commitments you have that week. You can break down larger tasks and projects into smaller, easier tasks. You can also set weekly goals in the form of to-do lists for each course. These strategies will help keep you on track and allow you to adapt your calendar as needed.

If you need help and or if you would like some feedback and insights from an expert,  schedule an Academic Coaching appointment .

Further Reading

Links with additional information on time management strategies.

• Mastering Time Management
• 7 Effective Time Management Tips for College Students
• Time Management Tips – Dartmouth
• Top 12 Time Management Tips

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Master of science in human resource management.

The Master of Science in Human Resource Management (MS-HRM) at Rawls College is a part-time lockstep program designed to meet the strong demand from companies and organizations for human resource professionals to recruit and retain talent in an increasingly tight labor market. The MS-HRM bridges theory with practice in all areas of staffing and performance management, human resource information systems, people analytics, compensation and benefits, leadership and ethics, and others while also providing the business context in which human resource management operates. This program is currently designated THECB Approval Pending.

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The MS-HRM will help you prepare for professional careers in HRM through in-depth training in areas of HRM specialization with an emphasis on HR analytics. Throughout the program, you will gain an understanding of HRM issues and practices, examine ethical and legal HRM issues, enhance analytical reasoning and project management skills, develop strong communication and relationship management skills, and much more.

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The Rawls College MS-HRM is a 30-credit-hour, 10-course program. The 100% online format is designed to be accessible for working professionals, allowing them to apply their classroom knowledge directly to their unique work experience. This is a part-time lockstep program designed to be completed in two years.

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The Georgie G. Snyder Center for Business Communication (CBC) is dedicated to helping the Rawls College of Business community develop communication skills that lead to academic, professional, and personal success. Through consultations, workshops, microcredentials, and other services, we support Rawls students and faculty in “achieving excellence in business through excellence in communication.

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The admission process is the first step toward earning your degree. We will work closely with you to ensure your application process is personal, simple and successful.

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Successful MS-HRM students come from all educational backgrounds but must have a bachelor's degree. Our program is designed to meet the needs of professionals looking to expand their skills within HRM.

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Applicants must submit unofficial transcripts from any degree-awarding college or university, as well as any post-secondary institution attended.

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Applicants are required to submit a letter of recommendation. The letter should provide specific examples and anecdotes that illustrate your professional and/or academic potential.

Applicants must write an essay outlining their personal experiences, career goals, past challenges, any other relevant information they'd like the admissions committee to consider.

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UB School of Management celebrates career partners for impact on student success

Release Date: May 15, 2024

By Alexandra Richter

Related Links

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• 1/20/23 Internships and Experiential Learning

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Career Resource Center — an exclusive resource for nearly 4,000 students in the University at Buffalo School of Management — hosted a celebration at The Mansion on Delaware Ave. on May 8 to honor several recruiting and internship partners for their considerable impact on student success and career development.

Caroline Organ, MBA ’07, chief human resources officer at Brock, Schechter & Polakoff LLP was named CRC Alumnus of the Year for her dedication and support of students’ professional and career development, and for her deep involvement with the school. Championing UB within her firm for more than 15 years, Organ and members of her team engage in panel discussions, networking events, programs in collaboration with the UB Accounting Association and Beta Alpha Psi, and more.

Carey Petruso, group talent manager, Enterprise Mobility and Jody Giarrusso, talent acquisition manager, Enterprise Mobility were named Recruiting Partners of the Year for their commitment to promoting a strong recruiting partnership with the school.

On the internship side, the CRC honored two pairs of Interns and Supervisors of the Year. The awards recognize productive, meaningful collaborations between students and their mentors — and are chosen based on their nominations of one another. Interns often write about how they grew professionally by completing challenging assignments and hearing about their supervisor’s career path. Meanwhile, supervisors frequently share how impressed they were with their intern’s work, dedication and integrity.

This year’s Interns and Supervisors of the Year were: Claire Ritchie, BS ’24, and Melissa Boland, BS ’07, owner, Casa Bella Management LLC; and Akshay Prabhakar Koltewar, MBA ’24, and James Luciani, associate director of business reporting, Linde.

West Herr Automotive Group was recognized as 2024’s Outstanding Internship Organization for the design, breadth and depth of internship opportunities as well as the quality of learning objectives and mentoring provided to students. Since the start of West Herr’s Internship Experience Program in 2023, 16 students have interned and multiple students hired into part-time roles. Mary Borgognoni, director of internships and career development, and Scott Bieler, president, West Herr Automotive Group, accepted the award on behalf of the company.

“Students described our partners at West Herr Automotive Group as welcoming, informative, supportive, and interested in their success, from training to completion,” says Carrie Gardner, director of internships and experiential learning in the School of Management.

Techtronic Industries was honored with the New Recruiting Organization of the Year award for the organization’s dedication to the recruitment of students and alumni as well as their commitment to building a strong partnership with the UB School of Management. Representatives are a regular presence in the school for information sessions, on-campus interviews, working with student clubs and more. James Burke, territory manager, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

For ways you or your company can engage with the UB School of Management’s Career Resource Center, visit management.buffalo.edu/career . 

Now in its 100th year, the UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school also has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit management.buffalo.edu .

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Does time management work? A meta-analysis

1 Concordia University, Sir George Williams Campus, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Aïda Faber

2 FSA Ulaval, Laval University, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Alexandra Panaccio

Associated data.

All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Does time management work? We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the impact of time management on performance and well-being. Results show that time management is moderately related to job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Time management also shows a moderate, negative relationship with distress. Interestingly, individual differences and contextual factors have a much weaker association with time management, with the notable exception of conscientiousness. The extremely weak correlation with gender was unexpected: women seem to manage time better than men, but the difference is very slight. Further, we found that the link between time management and job performance seems to increase over the years: time management is more likely to get people a positive performance review at work today than in the early 1990s. The link between time management and gender, too, seems to intensify: women’s time management scores have been on the rise for the past few decades. We also note that time management seems to enhance wellbeing—in particular, life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does performance. This challenges the common perception that time management first and foremost enhances work performance, and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct.

Introduction

Stand-up comedian George Carlin once quipped that in the future a “time machine will be built, but no one will have time to use it” [ 1 ]. Portentously, booksellers now carry one-minute bedtime stories for time-starved parents [ 2 ] and people increasingly speed-watch videos and speed-listen to audio books [ 3 – 5 ]. These behaviors are symptomatic of an increasingly harried society suffering from chronic time poverty [ 6 ]. Work is intensifying—in 1965 about 50% of workers took breaks; in 2003, less than 2% [ 7 ]. Leisure, too, is intensifying: people strive to consume music, social media, vacations, and other leisure activities ever more efficiently [ 8 – 11 ].

In this frantic context, time management is often touted as a panacea for time pressure. Media outlets routinely extol the virtues of time management. Employers, educators, parents, and politicians exhort employees, students, children, and citizens to embrace more efficient ways to use time [ 12 – 16 ]. In light of this, it is not surprising that from 1960 to 2008 the frequency of books mentioning time management shot up by more than 2,700% [ 17 ].

Time management is defined as “a form of decision making used by individuals to structure, protect, and adapt their time to changing conditions” [ 18 ]. This means time management, as it is generally portrayed in the literature, comprises three components: structuring, protecting, and adapting time. Well-established time management measures reflect these concepts. Structuring time, for instance, is captured in such items as “Do you have a daily routine which you follow?” and “Do your main activities during the day fit together in a structured way?” [ 19 ]. Protecting time is reflected in items such as “Do you often find yourself doing things which interfere with your schoolwork simply because you hate to say ‘No’ to people?” [ 20 ]. And adapting time to changing conditions is seen in such items as “Uses waiting time” and “Evaluates daily schedule” [ 21 ].

Research has, furthermore, addressed several important aspects of time management, such as its relationship with work-life balance [ 22 ], whether gender differences in time management ability develop in early childhood [ 23 ], and whether organizations that encourage employees to manage their time experience less stress and turnover [ 24 ]. Despite the phenomenal popularity of this topic, however, academic research has yet to address some fundamental questions [ 25 – 27 ].

A critical gap in time management research is the question of whether time management works [ 28 , 29 ]. For instance, studies on the relationship between time management and job performance reveal mixed findings [ 30 , 31 ]. Furthermore, scholars’ attempts to synthesize the literature have so far been qualitative, precluding a quantitative overall assessment [ 18 , 32 , 33 ]. To tackle this gap in our understanding of time management, we conducted a meta-analysis. In addressing the question of whether time management works, we first clarify the criteria for effectiveness. In line with previous reviews, we find that virtually all studies focus on two broad outcomes: performance and wellbeing [ 32 ].

Overall, results suggest that time management enhances job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. Interestingly, individual differences (e.g., gender, age) and contextual factors (e.g., job autonomy, workload) were much less related to time management ability, with the notable exception of personality and, in particular, conscientiousness. Furthermore, the link between time management and job performance seems to grow stronger over the years, perhaps reflecting the growing need to manage time in increasingly autonomous and flexible jobs [ 34 – 37 ].

Overall, our findings provide academics, policymakers, and the general audience with better information to assess the value of time management. This information is all the more useful amid the growing doubts about the effectiveness of time management [ 38 ]. We elaborate on the contributions and implications of our findings in the discussion section.

What does it mean to say that time management works?

In the din of current debates over productivity, reduced workweeks, and flexible hours, time management comes to the fore as a major talking point. Given its popularity, it would seem rather pointless to question its effectiveness. Indeed, time management’s effectiveness is often taken for granted, presumably because time management offers a seemingly logical solution to a lifestyle that increasingly requires coordination and prioritization skills [ 39 , 40 ].

Yet, popular media outlets increasingly voice concern and frustration over time management, reflecting at least part of the population’s growing disenchantment [ 38 ]. This questioning of time management practices is becoming more common among academics as well [ 41 ]. As some have noted, the issue is not just whether time management works. Rather, the question is whether the techniques championed by time management gurus can be actually counterproductive or even harmful [ 26 , 42 ]. Other scholars have raised concerns that time management may foster an individualistic, quantitative, profit-oriented view of time that perpetuates social inequalities [ 43 , 44 ]. For instance, time management manuals beguile readers with promises of boundless productivity that may not be accessible to women, whose disproportionate share in care work, such as tending to young children, may not fit with typically male-oriented time management advice [ 45 ]. Similarly, bestselling time management books at times offer advice that reinforce global inequities. Some manuals, for instance, recommend delegating trivial tasks to private virtual assistants, who often work out of developing countries for measly wages [ 46 ]. Furthermore, time management manuals often ascribe a financial value to time—the most famous time management adage is that time is money. But recent studies show that thinking of time as money leads to a slew of negative outcomes, including time pressure, stress, impatience, inability to enjoy the moment, unwillingness to help others, and less concern with the environment [ 47 – 51 ]. What’s more, the pressure induced by thinking of time as money may ultimately undermine psychological and physical health [ 52 ].

Concerns over ethics and safety notwithstanding, a more prosaic question researchers have grappled with is whether time management works. Countless general-audience books and training programs have claimed that time management improves people’s lives in many ways, such as boosting performance at work [ 53 – 55 ]. Initial academic forays into addressing this question challenged those claims: time management didn’t seem to improve job performance [ 29 , 30 ]. Studies used a variety of research approaches, running the gamut from lab experiments, field experiments, longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional surveys to experience sampling [ 28 , 56 – 58 ]. Such studies occasionally did find an association between time management and performance, but only in highly motivated workers [ 59 ]; instances establishing a more straightforward link with performance were comparatively rare [ 31 ]. Summarizing these insights, reviews of the literature concluded that the link between time management and job performance is unclear; the link with wellbeing, however, seemed more compelling although not conclusive [ 18 , 32 ].

It is interesting to note that scholars often assess the effectiveness time management by its ability to influence some aspect of performance, wellbeing, or both. In other words, the question of whether time management works comes down to asking whether time management influences performance and wellbeing. The link between time management and performance at work can be traced historically to scientific management [ 60 ]. Nevertheless, even though modern time management can be traced to scientific management in male-dominated work settings, a feminist reading of time management history reveals that our modern idea of time management also descends from female time management thinkers of the same era, such as Lillian Gilbreth, who wrote treatises on efficient household management [ 43 , 61 , 62 ]. As the link between work output and time efficiency became clearer, industrialists went to great lengths to encourage workers to use their time more rationally [ 63 – 65 ]. Over time, people have internalized a duty to be productive and now see time management as a personal responsibility at work [ 43 , 66 , 67 ]. The link between time management and academic performance can be traced to schools’ historical emphasis on punctuality and timeliness. In more recent decades, however, homework expectations have soared [ 68 ] and parents, especially well-educated ones, have been spending more time preparing children for increasingly competitive college admissions [ 69 , 70 ]. In this context, time management is seen as a necessary skill for students to thrive in an increasingly cut-throat academic world. Finally, the link between time management and wellbeing harks back to ancient scholars, who emphasized that organizing one’s time was necessary to a life well-lived [ 71 , 72 ]. More recently, empirical studies in the 1980s examined the effect of time management on depressive symptoms that often plague unemployed people [ 19 , 73 ]. Subsequent studies surmised that the effective use of time might prevent a host of ills, such as work-life conflict and job stress [ 22 , 74 ].

Overall, then, various studies have looked into the effectiveness of time management. Yet, individual studies remain narrow in scope and reviews of the literature offer only a qualitative—and often inconclusive—assessment. To provide a more quantifiable answer to the question of whether time management works, we performed a meta-analysis, the methods of which we outline in what follows.

Literature search and inclusion criteria

We performed a comprehensive search using the keywords “time management” across the EBSCO databases Academic Search Complete , Business Source Complete , Computers & Applied Sciences Complete , Gender Studies Database , MEDLINE , Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection , PsycINFO , SocINDEX , and Education Source . The search had no restrictions regarding country and year of publication and included peer-reviewed articles up to 2019. To enhance comprehensiveness, we also ran a forward search on the three main time management measures: the Time Management Behavior Scale [ 21 ], the Time Structure Questionnaire [ 19 ], and the Time Management Questionnaire [ 20 ]. (A forward search tracks all the papers that have cited a particular work. In our case the forward search located all the papers citing the three time management scales available on Web of Science .)

Time management measures typically capture three aspects of time management: structuring, protecting, and adapting time to changing conditions. Structuring refers to how people map their activities to time using a schedule, a planner, or other devices that represent time in a systematic way [ 75 – 77 ]. Protecting refers to how people set boundaries around their time to repel intruders [ 78 , 79 ]. Examples include people saying no to time-consuming requests from colleagues or friends as well as turning off one’s work phone during family dinners. Finally, adapting one’s time to changing conditions means, simply put, to be responsive and flexible with one’s time structure [ 80 , 81 ]. Furthermore, time management measures typically probe behaviors related to these three dimensions (e.g., using a schedule to structure one’s day, making use of downtime), although they sometimes also capture people’s attitudes (e.g., whether people feel in control of their time).

As shown in Fig 1 , the initial search yielded 10,933 hits, excluding duplicates.

The search included no terms other than “time management” to afford the broadest possible coverage of time management correlates. Nevertheless, as shown in Table 1 , we focused exclusively on quantitative, empirical studies of time management in non-clinical samples. Successive rounds of screening, first by assessing paper titles and abstracts and then by perusing full-text articles, whittled down the number of eligible studies to 158 (see Fig 1 ).

Data extraction and coding

We extracted eligible effect sizes from the final pool of studies; effect sizes were mostly based on means and correlations. In our initial data extraction, we coded time management correlates using the exact variable names found in each paper. For instance, “work-life imbalance” was initially coded in those exact terms, rather than “work-life conflict.” Virtually all time management correlates we extracted fell under the category of performance and/or wellbeing. This pattern tallies with previous reviews of the literature [ 18 , 32 ]. A sizable number of variables also fell under the category of individual differences and contextual factors, such as age, personality, and job autonomy. After careful assessment of the extracted variables, we developed a coding scheme using a nested structure shown in Table 2 .

Aeon and Aguinis suggested that time management influences performance, although the strength of that relationship may depend on how performance is defined [ 18 ]. Specifically, they proposed that time management may have a stronger impact on behaviors conducive to performance (e.g., motivation, proactiveness) compared to assessments of performance (e.g., supervisor rankings). For this reason, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance in our coding scheme, both in professional and academic settings. Furthermore, wellbeing indicators can be positive (e.g., life satisfaction) or negative (e.g., anxiety). We expect time management to influence these variables in opposite ways; it would thus make little sense to analyze them jointly. Accordingly, we differentiate between wellbeing (positive) and distress (negative).

In our second round of coding, we used the scheme shown in Table 2 to cluster together kindred variables. For instance, we grouped “work-life imbalance,” “work-life conflict” and “work-family conflict” under an overarching “work-life conflict” category. The authors reviewed each variable code and resolved rare discrepancies to ultimately agree on all coded variables. Note that certain variables, such as self-actualization, covered only one study (i.e., one effect size). While one or two effect sizes is not enough to conduct a meta-analysis, they can nonetheless be grouped with other effect sizes belonging to the same category (e.g., self-actualization and sense of purpose belong the broader category of overall wellbeing). For this reason, we included variables with one or two effect sizes for comprehensiveness.

Meta-analytic procedures

We conducted all meta-analyses following the variables and cluster of variables outlined in Table 2 . We opted to run all analyses with a random effects model. The alternative—a fixed effects model—assumes that all studies share a common true effect size (i.e., linking time management and a given outcome) which they approximate. This assumption is unrealistic because it implies that the factors influencing the effect size are the same in all studies [ 83 ]. In other words, a fixed effects model assumes that the factors affecting time management are similar across all studies—the fallacy underlying this assumption was the main theme of Aeon and Aguinis’s review [ 18 ]. To perform our analyses, we used Comprehensive Meta-Analysis v.3 [ 84 ], a program considered highly reliable and valid in various systematic assessments [ 85 , 86 ].

Meta-analyses do not typically perform calculations on correlations (e.g., Pearson’s r). Instead, we transformed correlations into Fisher’s z scales [ 83 ]. The transformation was done with z = 0.5 × ln ( 1 + r 1 − r ) , where r represents the correlation extracted from each individual study. The variance of Fisher’s Z was calculated as V z = 1 n − 3 where n corresponds to the study’s sample size; the standard error of Fisher’s Z was calculated as S E z = V z .

In many cases, studies reported how variables correlated with an overall time management score. In some cases, however, studies reported only correlations with discrete time management subscales (e.g., short-range planning, attitudes toward time, use of time management tools), leaving out the overall effect. In such cases, we averaged out the effect sizes of the subscales to compute a summary effect [ 83 ]. This was necessary not only because meta-analyses admit only one effect size per study, but also because our focus is on time management as a whole rather than on subscales. Similarly, when we analyzed the link between time management and a high-level cluster of variables (e.g., overall wellbeing rather than specific variables such as life satisfaction), there were studies with more than one relevant outcome (e.g., a study that captured both life satisfaction and job satisfaction). Again, because meta-analyses allow for only one effect size (i.e., variable) per study, we used the mean of different variables to compute an overall effect sizes in studies that featured more than one outcome [ 83 ].

Overall description of the literature

We analyzed 158 studies for a total number of 490 effect sizes. 21 studies explored performance in a professional context, 76 performance in an academic context, 30 investigated wellbeing (positive), and 58 distress. Interestingly, studies did not systematically report individual differences, as evidenced by the fact that only 21 studies reported correlations with age, and only between 10 and 15 studies measured personality (depending on the personality trait). Studies that measured contextual factors were fewer still—between 3 and 7 (depending on the contextual factor). These figures fit with Aeon and Aguinis’s observation that the time management literature often overlooks internal and external factors that can influence the way people manage time [ 18 ].

With one exception, we found no papers fitting our inclusion criteria before the mid-1980s. Publication trends also indicate an uptick in time management studies around the turn of the millennium, with an even higher number around the 2010s. This trend is consistent with the one Shipp and Cole identified, revealing a surge in time-related papers in organizational behavior around the end of the 1980s [ 87 ].

It is also interesting to note that the first modern time management books came out in the early 1970s, including the The Time Trap (1972), by Alec MacKenzie and How to Get Control of your Time and your Life (1973), by Alan Lakein. These books inspired early modern time management research [ 21 , 58 , 88 ]. It is thus very likely that the impetus for modern time management research came from popular practitioner manuals.

To assess potential bias in our sample of studies, we computed different estimates of publication bias (see Table 3 ). Overall, publication bias remains relatively low (see funnel plots in S1). Publication bias occurs when there is a bias against nonsignificant or even negative results because such results are seen as unsurprising and not counterintuitive. In this case, however, the fact that time management is generally expected to lead to positive outcomes offers an incentive to publish nonsignificant or negative results, which would be counterintuitive [ 89 ]. By the same token, the fact that some people feel that time management is ineffective [ 38 ] provides an incentive to publish papers that link time management with positive outcomes. In other words, opposite social expectations surrounding time management might reduce publication bias.

Finally, we note that the link between time management and virtually all outcomes studied is highly heterogeneous (as measured, for instance, by Cochran’s Q and Higgins & Thompson’s I 2 ; see tables below). This high level of heterogeneity suggests that future research should pay more attention to moderating factors (e.g., individual differences).

Time management and performance in professional settings

Overall, time management has a moderate impact on performance at work, with correlations hovering around r = .25. We distinguish between results-based and behavior-based performance. The former measures performance as an outcome (e.g., performance appraisals by supervisors) whereas the latter measures performance as behavioral contributions (e.g., motivation, job involvement). Time management seems related to both types of performance. Although the effect size for results-based performance is lower than that of behavior-based performance, moderation analysis reveals the difference is not significant (p > .05), challenging Aeon and Aguinis’s conclusions [ 18 ].

Interestingly, the link between time management and performance displays much less heterogeneity (see Q and I 2 statistics in Table 4 ) than the link between time management and other outcomes (see tables below). The studies we summarize in Table 4 include both experimental and non-experimental designs; they also use different time management measures. As such, we can discount, to a certain extent, the effect of methodological diversity. We can perhaps explain the lower heterogeneity by the fact that when people hold a full-time job, they usually are at a relatively stable stage in life. In school, by contrast, a constellation of factors (e.g., financial stability and marital status, to name a few) conspire to affect time management outcomes. Furthermore, work contexts are a typically more closed system than life in general. For this reason, fewer factors stand to disrupt the link between time management and job performance than that between time management and, say, life satisfaction. Corroborating this, note how, in Table 6 below, the link between time management and job satisfaction ( I 2 = 58.70) is much less heterogeneous than the one between time management and life satisfaction ( I 2 = 95.45).

* p < .05

** p < .01

*** p < .001.

k = number of studies related to the variable | N = total sample size related to the variable.

r = effect size of the correlation between time management and the variable | 95% CI = confidence interval of the effect size.

Q = Cochran’s Q, a measure of between-study heterogeneity | τ 2 = measure of between-study variance | I 2 = alternative measure of between-study heterogeneity.

Moreover, we note that the relationship between time management and job performance (see Fig 2 ) significantly increases over the years ( B = .0106, p < .01, Q model = 8.52(1), Q residual = 15.54(9), I 2 = 42.08, R 2 analog = .75).

Time management and performance in academic settings

Overall, the effect of time management on performance seems to be slightly higher in academic settings compared to work settings, although the magnitude of the effect remains moderate (see Table 5 ). Here again, we distinguish between results- and behavior-based performance. Time management’s impact on behavior-based performance seems much higher than on results-based performance—a much wider difference than the one we observed in professional settings. This suggests than results-based performance in academic settings depends less on time management than results-based performance in professional settings. This means that time management is more likely to get people a good performance review at work than a strong GPA in school.

In particular, time management seems to be much more negatively related to procrastination in school than at work. Although we cannot establish causation in all studies, we note that some of them featured experimental designs that established a causal effect of time management on reducing procrastination [ 90 ].

Interestingly, time management was linked to all types of results-based performance except for standardized tests. This is perhaps due to the fact that standardized tests tap more into fluid intelligence, a measure of intelligence independent of acquired knowledge [ 91 ]. GPA and regular exam scores, in contrast, tap more into crystallized intelligence, which depends mostly on accumulated knowledge. Time management can thus assist students in organizing their time to acquire the knowledge necessary to ace a regular exam; for standardized exams that depend less on knowledge and more on intelligence, however, time management may be less helpful. Evidence from other studies bears this out: middle school students’ IQ predicts standardized achievement tests scores better than self-control while self-control predicts report card grades better than IQ [ 92 ]. (For our purposes, we can use self-control as a very rough proxy for time management.) Relatedly, we found no significant relationship between time management and cognitive ability in our meta-analysis (see Table 8 ).

a Female = 1; Male = 2.

b Single = 1; Married = 2.

Time management and wellbeing

On the whole, time management has a slightly stronger impact on wellbeing than on performance. This is unexpected, considering how the dominant discourse points to time management as a skill for professional career development. Of course, the dominant discourse also frames time management as necessary for wellbeing and stress reduction, but to a much lesser extent. Our finding that time management has a stronger influence on wellbeing in no way negates the importance of time management as a work skill. Rather, this finding challenges the intuitive notion that time management is more effective for work than for other life domains. As further evidence, notice how in Table 6 the effect of time management on life satisfaction is 72% stronger than that on job satisfaction.

Time management and distress

Time management seems to allay various forms of distress, although to a lesser extent than it enhances wellbeing. The alleviating effect on psychological distress is particularly strong ( r = -0.358; see Table 7 ).

That time management has a weaker effect on distress should not be surprising. First, wellbeing and distress are not two poles on opposite ends of a spectrum. Although related, wellbeing and distress are distinct [ 93 ]. Thus, there is no reason to expect time management to have a symmetrical effect on wellbeing and distress. Second, and relatedly, the factors that influence wellbeing and distress are also distinct. Specifically, self-efficacy (i.e., seeing oneself as capable) is a distinct predictor of wellbeing while neuroticism and life events in general are distinct predictors of distress [ 94 ]. It stands to reason that time management can enhance self-efficacy. (Or, alternatively, that people high in self-efficacy would be more likely to engage in time management, although experimental evidence suggests that time management training makes people feel more in control of their time [ 89 ]; it is thus plausible that time management may have a causal effect on self-efficacy. Relatedly, note how time management ability is strongly related to internal locus of control in Table 8 ) In contrast, time management can do considerably less in the way of tackling neuroticism and dampening the emotional impact of tragic life events. In other words, the factors that affect wellbeing may be much more within the purview of time management than the factors that affect distress. For this reason, time management may be less effective in alleviating distress than in improving wellbeing.

Time management and individual differences

Time management is, overall, less related to individual differences than to other variables.

Age, for instance, hardly correlates with time management (with a relatively high consistency between studies, I 2 = 55.79, see Table 8 above).

Similarly, gender only tenuously correlates with time management, although in the expected direction: women seem to have stronger time management abilities than men. The very weak association with gender ( r = -0.087) is particularly surprising given women’s well-documented superior self-regulation skills [ 95 ]. That being said, women’s time management abilities seem to grow stronger over the years ( N = 37, B = -.0049, p < .05, Q model = 3.89(1), Q residual = 218.42(35), I 2 = 83.98, R 2 analog = .03; also see Fig 3 below). More realistically, this increase may not be due to women’s time management abilities getting stronger per se but, rather, to the fact that women now have more freedom to manage their time [ 96 ].

Other demographic indicators, such as education and number of children, were nonsignificant. Similarly, the relationships between time management and personal attributes and attitudes were either weak or nonsignificant, save for two notable exceptions. First, the link between time management and internal locus of control (i.e., the extent to which people perceive they’re in control of their lives) is quite substantial. This is not surprising, because time management presupposes that people believe they can change their lives. Alternatively, it may be that time management helps people strengthen their internal locus of control, as experimental evidence suggests [ 89 ]. Second, the link between time management and self-esteem is equally substantial. Here again, one can make the argument either way: people with high self-esteem might be confident enough to manage their time or, conversely, time management may boost self-esteem. The two options are not mutually exclusive: people with internal loci of control and high self-esteem levels can feel even more in control of their lives and better about themselves through time management.

We also note a very weak but statistically significant negative association between time management and multitasking. It has almost become commonsense that multitasking does not lead to performance [ 97 ]. As a result, people with stronger time management skills might deliberately steer clear of this notoriously ineffective strategy.

In addition, time management was mildly related to hours spent studying but not hours spent working. (These variables cover only student samples working part- or full-time and thus do not apply to non-student populations.) This is consistent with time-use studies revealing that teenagers and young adults spend less time working and more time studying [ 98 ]. Students who manage their time likely have well-defined intentions, and trends suggest those intentions will target education over work because, it is hoped, education offers larger payoffs over the long-term [ 99 ].

In terms of contextual factors, time management does not correlate significantly with job autonomy. This is surprising, as we expected autonomy to be a prerequisite for time management (i.e., you can’t manage time if you don’t have the freedom to). Nevertheless, qualitative studies have shown how even in environments that afford little autonomy (e.g., restaurants), workers can carve out pockets of time freedom to momentarily cut loose [ 100 ]. Thus, time management behaviors may flourish even in the most stymying settings. In addition, the fact that time management is associated with less role overload and previous attendance of time management training programs makes sense: time management can mitigate the effect of heavy workloads and time management training, presumably, improves time management skills.

Finally, time management is linked to all personality traits. Moreover, previous reviews of the literature have commented on the link between time management and conscientiousness in particular [ 32 ]. What our study reveals is the substantial magnitude of the effect ( r = 0.451). The relationship is not surprising: conscientiousness entails orderliness and organization, which overlap significantly with time management. That time management correlates so strongly with personality (and so little with other individual differences) lends credence to the dispositional view of time management [ 101 – 103 ]. However, this finding should not be taken to mean that time management is a highly inheritable, fixed ability. Having a “you either have it or you don’t” view of time management is not only counterproductive [ 104 ] but also runs counter to evidence showing that time management training does, in fact, help people manage their time better.

Does time management work? It seems so. Time management has a moderate influence on job performance, academic achievement, and wellbeing. These three outcomes play an important role in people’s lives. Doing a good job at work, getting top grades in school, and nurturing psychological wellbeing contribute to a life well lived. Widespread exhortations to get better at time management are thus not unfounded: the importance of time management is hard to overstate.

Contributions

Beyond answering the question of whether time management works, this study contributes to the literature in three major ways. First, we quantify the impact of time management on several outcomes. We thus not only address the question of whether time management works, but also, and importantly, gauge to what extent time management works. Indeed, our meta-analysis covers 53,957 participants, which allows for a much more precise, quantified assessment of time management effectiveness compared to qualitative reviews.

Second, this meta-analysis systematically assesses relationships between time management and a host of individual differences and contextual factors. This helps us draw a more accurate portrait of potential antecedents of higher (or lower) scores on time management measures.

Third, our findings challenge intuitive ideas concerning what time management is for. Specifically, we found that time management enhances wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than it does various types of performance. This runs against the popular belief that time management primarily helps people perform better and that wellbeing is simply a byproduct of better performance. Of course, it may be that wellbeing gains, even if higher than performance gains, hinge on performance; that is to say, people may need to perform better as a prerequisite to feeling happier. But this argument doesn’t jibe with experiments showing that even in the absence of performance gains, time management interventions do increase wellbeing [ 89 ]. This argument also founders in the face of evidence linking time management with wellbeing among the unemployed [ 105 ], unemployment being an environment where performance plays a negligible role, if any. As such, this meta-analysis lends support to definitions of time management that are not work- or performance-centric.

Future research and limitations

This meta-analysis questions whether time management should be seen chiefly as a performance device. Our questioning is neither novel nor subversive: historically people have managed time for other reasons than efficiency, such as spiritual devotion and philosophical contemplation [ 72 , 106 , 107 ]. It is only with relatively recent events, such as the Industrial Revolution and waves of corporate downsizing, that time management has become synonymous with productivity [ 43 , 65 ]. We hope future research will widen its scope and look more into outcomes other than performance, such as developing a sense of meaning in life [ 108 ]. One of the earliest time management studies, for instance, explored how time management relates to having a sense of purpose [ 73 ]. However, very few studies followed suit since. Time management thus stands to become a richer, more inclusive research area by investigating a wider array of outcomes.

In addition, despite the encouraging findings of this meta-analysis we must refrain from seeing time management as a panacea. Though time management can make people’s lives better, it is not clear how easy it is for people to learn how to manage their time adequately. More importantly, being “good” at time management is often a function of income, education, and various types of privilege [ 42 , 43 , 46 , 109 ]. The hackneyed maxim that “you have as many hours in a day as Beyoncé,” for instance, blames people for their “poor” time management in pointing out that successful people have just as much time but still manage to get ahead. Yet this ill-conceived maxim glosses over the fact that Beyoncé and her ilk do, in a sense, have more hours in a day than average people who can’t afford a nanny, chauffeur, in-house chefs, and a bevy of personal assistants. Future research should thus look into ways to make time management more accessible.

Furthermore, this meta-analysis rests on the assumption that time management training programs do enhance people’s time management skills. Previous reviews have noted the opacity surrounding time management interventions—studies often don’t explain what, exactly, is taught in time management training seminars [ 18 ]. As a result, comparing the effect of different interventions might come down to comparing apples and oranges. (This might partly account for the high heterogeneity between studies.) We hope that our definition of time management will spur future research into crafting more consistent, valid, and generalizable interventions that will allow for more meaningful comparisons.

Finally, most time management studies are cross-sectional. Yet it is very likely that the effect of time management compounds over time. If time management can help students get better grades, for instance, those grades can lead to better jobs down the line [ 110 ]. Crucially, learning a skill takes time, and if time management helps people make the time to learn a skill, then time management stands to dramatically enrich people’s lives. For this reason, longitudinal studies can track different cohorts to see how time management affects people’s lives over time. We expect that developing time management skills early on in life can create a compound effect whereby people acquire a variety of other skills thanks to their ability to make time.

Overall, this study offers the most comprehensive, precise, and fine-grained assessment of time management to date. We address the longstanding debate over whether time management influences job performance in revealing a positive, albeit moderate effect. Interestingly, we found that time management impacts wellbeing—and in particular life satisfaction—to a greater extent than performance. That means time management may be primarily a wellbeing enhancer, rather than a performance booster. Furthermore, individual and external factors played a minor role in time management, although this does not necessarily mean that time management’s effectiveness is universal. Rather, we need more research that focuses on the internal and external variables that affect time management outcomes. We hope this study will tantalize future research and guide practitioners in their attempt to make better use of their time.

Supporting information

S1 checklist, acknowledgments.

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our colleagues for their invaluable help: Mengchan Gao, Talha Aziz, Elizabeth Eley, Robert Nason, Andrew Ryder, Tracy Hecht, and Caroline Aubé.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Data Availability

RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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