How to invest an hour now to make next week a bit easier

Plus shout-outs to an excellent TV series that has been off the air for years but that I only just finished watching yesterday.

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here.  

In my decades of experimenting with different time management strategies, I have learned many things. I have learned that what works for someone else won’t necessarily work for me. (Ahem, “5 am club” folks.) I have learned that what worked for me in the past won’t necessarily work for me now. (Email catch up sessions during my daughters’ swim classes disappeared when they completed their swim levels.) I have learned that almost all time management approaches put forward by “tech bro”-types are decidedly not for me. (In fairness, as a 53 year old woman I am not their target audience.)

What we need in terms of time management constantly changes. Our work demands and priorities change. Our family needs and priorities change. When I think back to my circumstances just a year ago, I am surprised at how much has shifted. When I think back five years ago (notice how I skipped right over pandemic times there!), a tremendous amount has changed. And as these changes have occurred, my approaches have had to adapt. 

In writing this newsletter, I aim to be mindful of the fact that everyone’s circumstances are different. I am a tenured full professor in an academic leadership position, my family is now all adults (still getting used to this!), and my approaches to time management seek to balance achieving my career and personal goals while managing autoimmune disease. What works for me right now won’t necessarily work for someone with young children, or someone on the tenure-track, or someone younger or older, or whatever other important differences should be noted. 

It is for this reason that I present small ideas for you to try. I encourage you to experiment and see how things go. Some ideas will work for you right now, and that is great. Some ideas won’t work for you right now, but might work in the future. And some ideas will need some tweaking and adapting to work for your circumstances. As I wrote a few years ago, “even ideas that on their face do not seem to fit can have value. A common adage in recovery groups is “take what you need and leave the rest”, and I think this is a useful mindset. The trick is to identify what you need and what part of an idea you can take.”

Today’s small idea for you to try immediately is a time management strategy that I have used for over a decade. It continues to be effective for me, even as my life and career continue to change. I encourage you to give it a shot. Adapt as you see fit. 

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Friday Afternoon Power Hour

The idea of the Power Hour is simple: You commit one hour for “next week prep”. It doesn’t have to be Friday afternoon. I used to do the Power Hour on Saturday mornings while my kids had their piano classes. Some people like to do this kind of prep on Sunday afternoons. But over time I have decided that Friday afternoon is an excellent Power Hour time. Here is why: 

• If there is something you need to cancel or information you need to request from others, you are giving others plenty of notice without interrupting their weekend.

• If there is something for which you need to prepare, you are giving yourself time to do so.

• For many of us, Friday afternoon isn’t a terrifically productive time period.

• You get to enter the weekend feeling more confident about the week ahead – and hopefully can ignore work stuff over the weekend.

So, if your schedule permits, I suggest giving Friday afternoons a try. But regardless of which day you choose, here is how to complete a Power Hour. 

1. Get a full understanding of the work week ahead (estimated time: 5-15 minutes). If you just use an electronic calendar, simply take a few minutes to review it carefully. Personally, I keep both an electronic calendar and a paper planner that includes a calendar section and action sections. To start my Power Hour, I write the commitments from my electronic calendar into the paper planner. Because I am a stationary supplies geek, I use different colour pens for different activities. (I use the same colour coding in my electronic calendar.) I enjoy this process greatly, as it gives me a sense of control over the week ahead, but it is optional. Just be sure you have a handle on the week ahead.

2. Identify any commitments that should be postponed or cancelled, and let the other parties know (estimated time 5-10 minutes). As you look at the week ahead, you may see commitments that you can eliminate with no ill effect. Cancelling or postponing commitments requires a judgment call on your part. Will your absence cause any offence or not even be noticed? Will you miss hearing important information or contributing to consequential discussions? If you feel confident that commitments can be altered and wish to do so, give advance notice and be clear in your explanation for the change. Here is some email text (with names and activities inspired by HBO’s The Leftovers) to help you do so:

Hello Kevin,

I hope you had a great week! Looking at my calendar for next week, I see that we had planned to touch base on the LADR procedure on Tuesday at 2 pm. I know our schedules are both busy, so rather than meeting, I suggest we simply update each other by email. 

My update is as follows: I have booked the Australia travel (see attached itinerary) and have the funding in place. Do you have any updates to report?

Have a great weekend!

All the best,

Nora

Hello Matt,

I hope you had a great week! Looking at my calendar for next week, I see that the agenda for the Book of Kevin planning meeting does not include any items that relate to me. To allow me time to focus on other commitments, I will send my regrets for that meeting. 

Have a great weekend!

All the best,

Nora

3. Identify any meetings that lack agendas and address this (estimated time 5-10 minutes). Meetings without agendas are often inefficient time wasters. Solution: address this! If you are chairing the meeting, put together an agenda immediately and circulate it to the attendees. (See “How to make meetings more useful” for a useful agenda idea, the “Action Review”.) If you are not chairing the meeting, email the chair and ask for the agenda. Here is some email text to adapt:

Hello Patti,

I hope you had a great week! Looking at my calendar for next week, I see that we have the monthly GR chapter meeting on Thursday at 10 am. Can you please forward the agenda to me so that I can ensure my presence is needed at the meeting and (assuming it is) can come to the meeting prepared to contribute positively? 

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

All the best,

Laurie

If the meeting has no clear chair (😯😵‍💫), take initiative and impose some order. More email text:

Hello team,

I hope you had a great week! Looking at my calendar for next week, I see that we have a Book of Kevin planning session on Monday at 2 pm. As we don’t have an agenda yet, I suggest the following:

1. General team check-in

2. Updates on October 14 planning

3. Updates on manuscript development

4. Other business

5. Action review

6. Adjourn

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

All the best,

Matt

4. Identify any preparation that you need to do for the week ahead and add this to your task list (estimated time 5-10 minutes). As you review your calendar, you may be reminded of work that needs to be accomplished for the week to be successful. You may need to review materials in advance of meetings. You may have tasks with deadlines attached. You may need to plan for driving family members to doctor appointments, packing for travel, or having copies of materials available for your classes. WRITE THESE THINGS DOWN! Allocate time for them in your calendar.

5. Decide your plans for wellbeing over the week and add these to your calendar (estimated time 10 minutes). When are you planning to run/swim/roller derby/parkour next week? What days do you need to pack extra food to ensure proper nutrition during the day? What nights do you need to go to bed earlier due to an earlier start the following morning? Again: WRITE THESE THINGS DOWN! Allocate time for them in your calendar.

And that’s it! Still have time remaining in your Power Hour? Cool. Tackle any of these bonus activities:

• Submit any outstanding expenses. 

• Send off that particular email (yeah, that one…) you avoided sending all week.

• Book any upcoming travel.

• Spend 5 minutes updating your CV. (Just 5 minutes. CV updating is painful!).

• Tidy up your workspace.

• Eat chocolate.

Hot tip: complete your Power Hour before you tackle end-of-week emails. Being prepared for the week ahead is more important than Inbox Zero, in my opinion.

Until next time…

This is my first newsletter of 2024, so a belated Happy New Year to you! I hope your year is off to a good start. I appreciate all of your responses to my annual survey (now closed) and aspire to address many of the ideas that you shared with me. Thank you for your responses and your readership! I truly appreciate them. 

Stay well, my colleagues. 

P.S.  If you are teaching this term, please be sure to check out my latest Skills Agenda columns, “Advancing research skills training by building student autonomy” and “How lectures can help build students’ listening skills”. And best wishes with your courses!

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