How Do I Use Time Management Strategies to Promote My Personal Wellness?
Hi everyone! My name is Elaine Jessica Tamargo, and I’m a Graduate Educational Development Fellow at the Teaching and Learning Center. I’ve also worked in career services for nearly a decade, focusing more recently on career and professional development for graduate students.
It’s the middle of August, and all the stores are stocked with school supplies and dorm room essentials for the back-to-school season. For us at UCLA and our fellow quarter system schools, we’ve got a little more than a month left before the beginning of Fall Quarter. It’s never too early to start implementing some new habits to refresh your commitment to your own mental health and well-being. For me personally, getting COVID-19 last summer was the spark that got me thinking about my overall wellness. Whether out of pride or fear, I continued to work as normally as possible since my summer work was virtual/remote. While my symptoms were relatively mild, my mind and body still felt miserable, and I realized that I needed to make a change. Like many graduate students, I wear multiple hats just on campus–researcher, student, TA, and on-campus student worker–as well as managing my own personal roles and responsibilities. While every person is different, time management can have a direct effect on one’s overall wellness–in my case, time management helped me reprioritize my health and accountability to myself. There are a lot of tips and tricks out there, and while I did not incorporate all of these, I hope presenting these possible strategies can help you better protect your time this upcoming year:
Audit your existing practices. Before starting a new habit or process, take some time to reflect on the past month, quarter, and/or year. Ask yourself questions like: How did you feel at the end of the year? How much sleep did you get during the week or on the weekends? What time of the quarter was your busiest? What time or day(s) of the week are you most productive? Were there time-consuming things that you did not anticipate? What do you wish you had more time for? Analyze the rhythm of your work environments, consider when you are most strained, and what components of your work are more flexible than others. For my first TA appointment after classes returned to being in-person, I attempted to stack all of my TA duties on the same day–lecture, section, and office hours–I was on campus, so why not? It turned out, however, that maintaining my energy level for in-person interactions for the entire day was pretty difficult. So I decided to switch my office hours to a Zoom format on a different day of the week. Instead, I spent that time on campus doing another necessary but individual task–lesson planning for the following week. Sometimes it will be easier to think about what didn’t work as opposed to what did work for you in the past; nonetheless, clarifying your preferences while understanding the constraints of your environment can help shape your personal approach and strategy.
Block out time on your calendar for specific types of work (academic, teaching, professional, etc.). Almost every article and resource on time management mentioned the strategy of physically blocking time on your calendar and naming the specific tasks you intend to accomplish during that time. I understand that you might be skeptical, and believe me, I was too. While setting up calendar blocks for every type of task did not work for me, a version of this strategy significantly improved productivity related to my dissertation work. More likely than not, you already have a digital or physical calendar that indicates your classes and meetings. I knew that I needed more dedicated time for my own research, so I decided to try making a calendar event to block out two mornings a week. At first, the tactic was only somewhat successful in that the calendar block prevented me from scheduling other meetings during that time, but I wasn’t the most focused on my own. When I started inviting other graduate students, that was when the time-blocking strategy really worked for me, even more so when I created a Zoom coworking space with periodic check-ins (I modeled the structure after the Graduate Writing Center online writing groups). It made sense since my calendar events typically involved meetings with other people. Inviting others to join held me accountable for consistently sticking with the schedule and showing up on time.
Consider productivity tools and organizational apps. Undoubtedly, there are a lot of potential distractions out there. Thankfully there are just as many productivity tools, including apps that allow you to block certain websites on certain days and times of the week (e.g., Leech Block, Google's StayFocused, or Apple's Focusbar app). Rather than simply using a digital calendar, some prefer to approach their many responsibilities through a project management lens, using goal-setting tools like ToDoist (a short- and long-term scheduler) or tools that are more traditionally used as collaborative workspaces like Airtable, Trello, or Notion. Multi-functional apps like Engross include a Pomodoro clock, statistical analysis of how you use your time, and a distraction blocker. For those who like the idea of productivity for the public good, Forest couples growing virtual trees in-app with a partnership with Trees for the Future to plant actual trees.
When my students were in the later stage of their individual capstone project, adopting an appointment scheduling tool (in my case, Calendly) saved me so much time in reducing the back-and-forth emails for scheduling 1:1 meetings. Even though it was a bit of a learning curve to set up my calendar and availability correctly, now anyone that wants to meet with me simply clicks on the Calendly link in my email signature and books an available time slot. We would receive a calendar invite and an automated confirmation email. I customized the pre-booking survey to ask the person requesting the meeting to provide any relevant information before our meeting. Similar apps include Square Appointments, Zoho Bookings, and Appointy.
Maintain hobbies outside of school (potentially something around physical well–being). While COVID-19 helped trigger my renewed commitment to personal wellness, I still had trouble figuring out what intentional steps I wanted to take toward better-balancing school, work, and my personal life. Since much of my school and campus work involved computer-based work, I predicted that having off-screen weekend days would be enough to create more balance. My personal responsibilities, however, while very much not computer-based, tended to involve me driving or doing other activities that strained my eyes or involved prolonged sitting. So for my 2023 new year’s resolution, I committed to being more active–in my case, signing up for ballet classes. I had just seen my childhood dance studio’s holiday production of The Nutcracker, and even though it had been more than 10 years since my last dance class, I knew that there was no time like the present to do something that I knew I loved.
In addition to the benefits of working out (increased endorphin levels, regulating sleep, releasing toxins), committing to weekly ballet classes helped create another opportunity to implement the practices I had been doing to protect my time better. I added ballet class (and travel time) to my calendar to prevent me from booking other meetings during that time. I get to disconnect from my phone and email, and in the process, I work my mind and body in a completely different way. While I liked doing workout Youtube videos from home, the change of scenery by going to the studio in-person helped energize me long after each class was over. By documenting some of my journey #Back2Ballet on social media, I’ve even connected with other graduate students who danced for enjoyment and who have helped me stay accountable (and shared tips for dealing with injuries and body aches as an older dancer).
No matter what you decide to do, practice self-compassion. Anytime we try to improve ourselves through change, it’s important to give ourselves grace. It’s been about a year since I took stock of my time management and wellness practices. I can confidently tell you that it hasn’t been perfect or easy: I’ve missed ballet classes, forgotten to adjust my Calendly availability before someone booked an appointment with me, and unintentionally stacked back-to-back energy-draining tasks when I could have spread things out better. Even if you do all the right things, it might still feel like there is so much to do and not enough time to do it. What I do know is that in comparison to this time last year, I feel better and have done better at prioritizing myself. Not everything will be perfect immediately (or ever really), but practicing self-compassion can help you avoid burning out. For example, taking time to celebrate smaller victories has been shown to help with motivation. Incorporating breaks, or vacations, can help you plan times to reflect and re-strategize moving forward. Whether you try to enact all of these strategies or devise your own approach, please be kind to yourself and believe that you are trying the best you can.
Resources:
10 Best Practices in Graduate Student Wellbeing from Arizona State University
Supporting Graduate Student Mental Health and Well-being Report and Supporting Graduate Student Mental Health and Well-being Executive Summary from the Council of Graduate Schools and The Jed Foundation
Time Management Tips for Graduate Students from the University of Maryland
Maintaining Balance and Wellness in Grad School from New York University