So how do you find time for ..................

[nehs]

your hobbies/activiites, spouse/SO/kids and your other daily things that you have to handle(may be cooking for your dinner? etc) ? or do these things just take a back seat?

For example, I'm very passionate about photography, but looks like I"ll have to pack my camera in a couple of days and get my notebooks out

So my question is how do you plan your self basically?

[EEMSU]

Im an avid treasure site hunter(browsing the web to find unique sites). I try to find time in between my studies to satisfy this addiction. I try not to veer off too long tho. I use several task manager plugins on chrome to alert me when Im procrastinating for too long.

[ktel]

I'm about to start grad school and everybody here likes to talk about how you will be so busy and finding time for other things can be challenging and whatnot. I don't know how much I believe it. I felt like that was exactly what happened when I was in high school about to go into university. Everybody talked up university like it was this huge, difficult thing, and I found the adjustment to be really quite easy. I had time to play varsity rugby, see my SO, hang out with friends and do my school work. Now I will have fewer courses and my rugby schedule will be less intense. I honestly don't anticipate it being too difficult to manage.

[fuzzylogician]

I block out time in my calendar every week for time off, hobbies and other non-academic things. That way I know I'm not free for a meeting at that time and if I do need that time slot then I have to find time to "reschedule" my off-time. I also treat my sleeping hours as hard constraints that can't be ignored. I do occasionally go off schedule, but I try to keep that to things that are unexpectedly added to my schedule, not things that have to be removed. Honestly grad school can take up your whole life if you let it, so I treat the rest of my life not as something that happens after my work-related commitments are done but as something that needs to be actively taken care of and cultivated.

[StrangeLight]

I'm about to start grad school and everybody here likes to talk about how you will be so busy and finding time for other things can be challenging and whatnot. I don't know how much I believe it. I felt like that was exactly what happened when I was in high school about to go into university. Everybody talked up university like it was this huge, difficult thing, and I found the adjustment to be really quite easy. I had time to play varsity rugby, see my SO, hang out with friends and do my school work. Now I will have fewer courses and my rugby schedule will be less intense. I honestly don't anticipate it being too difficult to manage.

hahahahahaha. i laugh because i used to think like you before i started a grad program.

grad school and undergrad are two different worlds. i took full course loads in undergrad and worked two part time jobs at once and still had time to hang out with friends a few nights a week and to have relationships and to see concerts and to play guitar. and i never felt like i didn't have enough time in the day to get my work done.

in grad school, it has been a real challenge even getting out and having dinner with a friend or SO because it's much easier to throw something in the oven and then shovel it into my face while i keep reading. i definitely have colleagues who do less work than me. i also definitely have colleagues who do more.

despite taking 5 classes instead of the "maximum" of 3 next semester, i have committed myself to having some free time every day. i've scheduled in yoga classes 4 days a week, phone calls with friends back home 1 day a week, and i plan to leave my evenings after 8 pm free, whether i'm finished my work or not. the sad reality is that you'll have to schedule most hours of your day. work time, free time, all of it needs to wind up in your schedule. i even schedule cleaning and laundry, because otherwise i'll just never get to it.

if you want to do photography, then schedule time for it. it is possible. you will be incredibly busy in grad school, but that's no reason to suspend your life or the things you enjoy. you'll have to remind yourself of that frequently.

[Eigen]

I find it helps to keep grad school as a job. I don't study or read much at home- I have a carrel in the library and an office to do that in. I find it helps a lot when it comes to keeping the two spheres of my life separate.

Past that, it's just a matter of saying "Its 7pm, and I've been at work since 8 this morning. I'm going home." And then going home to spend the rest of the evening with my wife and/or friends.

I find it's easy to get caught up in the undergraduate mentality of trying to finish projects- or to set up goals based on an amount you want to accomplish. For something like grad school (and then a post doc and then hopefully tenure track), there will always be more things to finish- you're never really done. It's not like a school semester. Accordingly, I've found it's better to decide on an amount of time or blocks of time to work in. Spend those times working hard, and take the rest off. This works most of the time, unless I have something come up that has to be done, and then I work it in. But usually I find I'm more productive and it's much less stressful to just say "I want to put in 9 hours of solid work today" and then to be done and go home when it's over.

[aginath]

I set and keep regular schedules. After about 7PM, I try to have any immediate tasks for the day wrapped up, because that's when my husband gets home from work. He also sees to it that I'm in bed around 10:30 every night (it may be closer to midnight before I fall asleep, but at least I'm there). I've spent the last two years blocking off Fridays and Sundays for entire work days of reading/writing as necessary.

Time management is different for everyone and other factors such as writing (desire and ability), course load, advisor expectations, assistantship, etc. figure into your obligations. My availability for hobbies fluctuates greatly, but I still find time to make baby blankets for friends or cook for dinner parties and birthdays every month or grab a few classmates and head to the hills for some hiking.

[cliopatra]

I block out time in my calendar every week for time off, hobbies and other non-academic things. That way I know I'm not free for a meeting at that time and if I do need that time slot then I have to find time to "reschedule" my off-time. I also treat my sleeping hours as hard constraints that can't be ignored. I do occasionally go off schedule, but I try to keep that to things that are unexpectedly added to my schedule, not things that have to be removed. Honestly grad school can take up your whole life if you let it, so I treat the rest of my life not as something that happens after my work-related commitments are done but as something that needs to be actively taken care of and cultivated.

This is a really good approach and I think if you want to say sane, it's necessary! Someone gave me some really good advice after complaining of being stressed and overwhelmed:

"Grad school is not what defines you as a person and it's easy to lose yourself in trying to keep up with everything." Grad school is like a love/hate relationship with someone, you have to set boundaries otherwise it will consume you. You're still the same person when you enter grad school and when you leave it (having matured a little hopefully. I know that was the case for me). You'll always feel guilty and it's all about acknowledging and managing your guilt.

When I say guilt I mean "I could have read a little more" or "I could have spent more time on x,y,z." "I should have mentioned that in discussion" ...etc.

[rising_star]

I schedule things in. Fridays are a lost cause in my department because they're filled with meetings and then colloquium and happy hour. I go to capoeira 2-4 times per week, yoga twice a week, and work out at the gym at least 2 other times for weight lifting. All of these are things that I schedule in just like office hours and the class I TA for.

I have a weird schedule, admittedly. I'll work on campus, work out, go home for lunch and a shower, then go work in the afternoon at a coffee shop, in the park, or at my house. Evenings I try to leave free for relaxation, capoeira, time with friends, etc.

[starmaker]

How do you find time? I'm not convinced that it's as hard as people think. I am skeptical of claims that grad school is just so hosing that you will never have time to do anything else.

I've been a part-time grad student for a couple of years while working a full-time job. I also have a husband with whom I spend plenty of time, and a whole bunch of activism- and service-oriented hobbies. And I run 15 or so miles/week, and I have lazy leisure time to read novels and watch TV and hang out with friends. Now, I realize that being a part-time grad student is a different ballgame, but are you going to tell me that a full-time research job plus being a half-time MS student is incomparable to being a full-time grad student?

To be a little more helpful...treat grad school like a job. Structure your time, make a schedule. I realize that in some fields you might have to come into the lab at odd hours, and there's nothing you can do about that. But, it might be helpful to work in large blocks of time (e.g. the classic 9-5) if you can. Or set goals about what exactly you need to get done that day, and then do those things and go enjoy yourself. Obviously, there will be occasional times when you have to do pretty much nothing but grad school, just like how in a non-academic job there are crunch times when you have to punt everything except work. But those shouldn't be "all of the time." There will be weeks when you don't have a chance to take a photograph, but there is no good reason to pack your camera away for several years.

[Zorah]

I started a doctorate program in May and I work full time. There is no time for anything else, but school and work.

[Eigen]

I started a doctorate program in May and I work full time. There is no time for anything else, but school and work.

Extrapolating from this, if you're working full time (40 hours/week) and pursuing a doctorate, it means that pursuing a doctorate without working full time would allow ~40 hours per week of free time for hobbies, etc.

[ktel]

Everybody spends different amounts of time on different things. I know several people who have very bad anxiety and definitely spend WAY more time than me on studying and homework as a result. I spend 2-3 hours studying, they spend 5-10. If I spent that amount of time on schoolwork, I too wouldn't have much time for anything else. Luckily I am efficient and get rewarded with free time as a result.

[nehs]

EEMSU, you have a unique interest

ktel, I have the same feeling too. Its like everyone is telling me how busy its going to be, but I'm secretly hoping that's not true

fuzzylogician, that's a good idea! I think I should start marking my calendar too.

strange light, yes i hope to find time for my hobbies and other social commitments.

Eigen, those are wise words! I'll have to plan my schedule considering my studies as a job and then putting in all my other activities.

aginath, nice tip there. i think i"ll also set aside a couple of days for my reading and/or assignments. oh and i love making baby blankets too

Clio, I hope I'm not left with too much guilt as I finish my program lol. That's why I want to make sure i leave room for everything.

rising_star, you seem to have well-planned day! I'm going to use my planner more I think scheduling things by the hour instead of what I do now by the day).

starmaker, coincindentally i'm in the same program as you. well, I'm a full-tim MS student(12 credits) and no job or research this semester. so its just the courses.

Zorah,good luck!

eigen, thankfully I don't have any research/job this semester!!

ktel, sigh! so this comes down to efficiency? i think you are right on!

[cliopatra]

Everybody spends different amounts of time on different things. I know several people who have very bad anxiety and definitely spend WAY more time than me on studying and homework as a result. I spend 2-3 hours studying, they spend 5-10. If I spent that amount of time on schoolwork, I too wouldn't have much time for anything else. Luckily I am efficient and get rewarded with free time as a result.

I think you hit on something very important. My classmates would spend SO MUCH time worrying about upcoming seminars, what they had said in class, papers that were due. If they had directed that energy towards productivity I'm sure they would have had a lot more free time.

I think it is all about efficiency, and if you're high strung all the time freaking out about everything and anything, of course you will never have any free time for yourself.

[psycholinguist]

In terms of the actual amount of work, grad-school hasn't been any worse than undergrad for me. It's the nature of it that is different: things you work on are often so much more long-term that it's easy to feel stressed-out by them full-time. As an undergrad I was the sort who got all Type-A during the week, usually did all my homework on Friday night, and only then could relax for the weekend since I had nothing left to be hanging over me. In grad-school I've had to learn to spend a bit of time on a project and then put it aside and take breaks, because when you're working on this many big projects, you can't easily get to the point at which you've run yourself out of homework-assignments and required-reading. I've had to learn to force myself to put the work away at the end of the day and take it easy for a bit. That's all you can do.

If you have any tendencies towards procrastination, I'd say try very hard to do away with them immediately upon getting to grad-school if not sooner (however you need to - academic counselling, self-help books, Zen Habits, resolutions, browser add-ons, anything). I've watched it undermine the grad-school careers of a few people now. Procrastinating is more stressful than actually doing the work, and it totally eats up your time. It's just a habit, but it's so self-reinforcing that it can really be a danger.

[UnlikelyGrad]

My experience is: If you want to succeed, you HAVE to find time for ........ whatever it is that is meaningful to you.

My first year (and especially the summer after my first year) I worked my butt off. I worked hard at school, dawn to dusk, and went home basically only to crash. Weekends I spent working on something unrelated to grad school, something completely stressful. I rarely relaxed.

Finally, some time during that first summer, my advisor ordered me to go home and take a break. She told me I would think better if I spent time out of lab. She was right. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my advisor?

Anyway, now I block out large amounts of time for outside activities: being with my kids, playing games with my friends (I've found friends who are serious board game addicts, like me), taking walks, doing volunteer work. I really think I focus better on my work now, and I'm getting more done.

[StrangeLight]

that's a great advisor. mine would see me with dark bags under my eyes, grey skin, disheveled, and she would say to me, "go home and get some rest." and then when i got home, i'd see an email that said, "i'll need that 20 page report on your research progress by the end of the week." uhhhh...

i learned to say no. i learned to be okay with not finishing my readings. i learned to be okay with being late on anything with a soft deadline.

last year was very busy and very stressful for me. i had a cold for 4 or 5 months. i had intense back pain that nearly crippled me. i would have restless, interrupted sleep but i'd be out for 9 or 10 hours.

i think, more than anything, you need to make time for your health, physical and mental. you're not doing good work on the edge of a burn-out anyway. and if your advisor has to wait an extra week for that paper from you, s/he'll wait. heck, s/he'll probably forget s/he even asked for it.

[Agradatudent]

You guys really sound like you work too hard.