It’s the first month of a new calendar year, a popular time for people to reflect, set new goals (or recommit to old ones), and identify areas for personal growth. I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some of my thoughts on time management, which seems to be a popular topic in the self-improvement category.

It’s my impression that many people wish they had better time management skills. All sorts of apps, podcasts, books, etc. advertise better time management techniques to help people use their time more effectively and maximize their productivity and efficiency. While working is not solely about doing the most in the least amount of time—I am generally pro quality over quantity—I think developing solid time management skills is essential for sustainable, long-term success and also for preventing burnout.

Time management is a critical aspect of graduate school. Unlike undergraduate education, graduate study is largely unstructured, “unconstructed dream space” to quote Inception (one of my favorite movies). On one hand, this can be exciting—there is so much potential, so many possible directions to go and new things to discover. On the other hand, staring out into the scholarly abyss can be disorienting and paralyzing: where do I even start? Depending on your faculty advisor, you may be turned loose without much guidance and direction (for the record, this was not my experience!), and at minimum, you likely won’t have someone telling you exactly what to do each day; short-term goals will be your responsibility to define and meet.

I think this freedom is a fantastic opportunity to learn about yourself, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and set out on a path to intellectual and personal growth.

The first thing I learned was to notice when, why, and how I wasted time. What times of day did I feel my attention slipping? When did I notice my motivation and self-discipline waning? During these periods, was I bored, uninspired, discouraged, or simply tired? What was I doing instead of being productive?

On the flipside, I started paying attention to when, why, and how I was most productive. During which hours of the day was I most focused, motivated, and diligent? When was I best equipped with the discipline to complete tasks that are easily procrastinated? When was I able to do my best intellectual work? Was I engaged, inspired, confident, or simply more awake? What was I doing differently during these times that fueled my productivity?

For me, deep, focused intellectual work (writing, critical thinking, creative problem solving) is best achieved before noon (the earlier the better), whereas long periods of benchwork (setting up/working up reactions, reaction monitoring, purification), which requires standing and moving, was a terrific way to stave off the post-lunch afternoon drowsiness that always threatens to diminish my productivity. Routine data analysis and project management tasks are typically good ways for me to wrap up the day.

While as a “morning person,” my best performance for anything is the earlier half of the day, there are tasks I can still accomplish to a satisfactory degree while not operating at my peak performance. Figuring out which activities can afford to receive my second-rate attention was (and still is) an important aspect of my time management growth. I’ve come to think of this approach as following my “motivation gradient”, accepting the reality that my motivation levels are not constant throughout the day, and that flowing with my natural current rather than trying to swim upstream helps me get more done overall.

Of course, it’s not always possible to operate this way—rigid schedules and the demands of others can dictate how we spend our time and when we complete certain tasks—but to whatever extent possible, I think structuring working hours according to our natural motivation flow is always worth a shot. In this case, “going with the flow” actually requires quite a bit of intentionality and effort, at least up front, but in the end, I’ve found it to be much smoother sailing.