As the famous saying goes, ‘Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just wake up and get to work’.
There is a profound and rightful truth that graduate studies are notoriously nonlinear. However, there should be a rough schedule that one must follow to be successful in the long run. Most graduate work is done alone. In addition, working alone for an extended period can lead to procrastination. Over time, your productivity will decrease dramatically if you don’t stick to a schedule. Getting back on track is incredibly hard when you are in that position.
To be at your best, what’s the best solution?
Make a short-term and long-term plan
Simple as it sounds, working on this step might be the toughest thing you’ve done in a while. But, you should take this step seriously, otherwise following each step after this one won’t help you achieve your goals since you don’t know what they really are! Start by identifying your goals – what do you want to accomplish? Then focus on how to get there. Break down your goals into small, achievable steps to reach your desired outcome which is ideally sticking to a shedule.
On a piece of paper, write down your core principles and values. If you’ve never done this before, you will realize two things.
1. This is a tough exercise and you will probably not be able to do it all in one sitting. You should iterate over time until you find what you truly enjoy doing.
2. Once you complete this exercise, you will realize how easy it is to set goals and prioritize.
Prioritize
After reviewing your goals, it’s time to prioritize them. Some things are imperative to care for every day, but some things might not.
Suppose, for instance, that you need to submit your thesis shortly. You might want to write it every day to save a great deal of time near the deadline. Keep in mind that you don’t have to be precise about the timeline throughout the day. It does not have to be exactly one hour or half an hour. The amount of time you spend on a specific task might vary depending on the day, and that’s okay. Your ability to stick to a schedule is all that matters.
The most important thing here is to accomplish the tasks that you set up for the day. Make sure to also set realistic goals so that you don’t wound up feeling overwhelmed. Even if you don’t accomplish all of your goals, it’s important to recognize the progress you have made. Celebrate your successes along the way, and don’t be hard on yourself for any setbacks.
Don’t make it a personal hell
At this point, one can make the mistake of having a hectic schedule with no time to relax. It would not be a sustainable strategy over time. It’s important to start small. Building a solid foundation will allow you to build more habits upon it. It’s always a good idea to start small.
Suppose you have a schedule in which there is no free time. After a while, you will probably be exhausted and you will probably give up what you started. Take time out to enjoy life. Ideally, everything you do should be enjoyable. If you do things that make you miserable, why do them in the first place? It is for this reason that I emphasize step 1 more deeply – figure out what your real goals are!
Despite following these guidelines, what if they don’t work for you? Even if you start small, what if you couldn’t stick with even one task every day? If you’re in such a situation, you can keep yourself occupied without any prior schedule for a while. Work until you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
Having figured that out, you can build more habits on it later.
Write it down
When I was in high school (and not doing very well), I came across a book called ‘Think and grow rich’ by Napoleon Hill. There was a phrase in that book that suggested that for success, we should write down our end goal in the first person and keep it somewhere we can see it daily. In trying to keep my grades up, I did that without much thought as to whether or not it would be effective.
I wrote down all my goals for the next three years, laminated them, and kept them under my table so I could read them every day. This simple action was one of the few ‘real’ life hacks I found down the road.
When I was at university, doing my bachelor’s studies, I would set up unimaginably hard goals, thinking maybe I could accomplish at least 80 percent of them. Despite all of them being extremely difficult to achieve, each time I wrote down goals, I have achieved them 100 percent.
Your unconscious mind focuses on your goals when you see something every day. Writing it down somewhere you will see it eventually, or just thinking about it is not that effective. You need to go old school. Make a note of it. Place it somewhere you can see it every day.
There is no need for it to be long, it just has to be precise.
Review and modify
If you have a solid foundation of habits built into your daily routine, it’s a good idea to review them. You want to optimize your habits so you can achieve your goals both in the short and long term. It will be easier for you to stick to a schedule if you follow this step, which will optimize your schedule even further.
Towards the end of the week, sit down with a notebook or whatever you use to take notes and spend 10 minutes thinking about your week. Make sure you answer these simple questions honestly.
1. Which action do you keep taking despite knowing it’s ineffective or worse, catastrophically destructive to your long-term goals?
2. What makes you happy and what doesn’t?
3. Which type of work makes you super productive when you are involved with them and what does not?
Knowing the answers to these very simple questions will allow you to create and optimize new habits that will upgrade your life.
Images courtesy: Image by storyset on Freepik
