Happy Doc Student Podcast

The Myth of Time Management with author Mark Woods

Heather Frederick, PhD Episode 6

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#6 The Myth of Time Management with Mark Woods

In this episode, I speak with Mark Woods, the author of Attack Your Day Before It Attacks You. 

We don’t manage time. We execute activities. Stop focusing on managing time and get conscious about the types of activities you want to execute. The skills Mark teaches are skills that will help not only doctoral students but anyone working from home with others or working as part of a virtual team. 

Do you feel overwhelmed? Stressed? Burnt out? The biggest challenge we have today is work-life balance.

Three gifts we ALL get each day:

1.     Time

2.     Personal Energy

3.     Choice

Skill #1. Color your choices – Activities are never neutral; they impact your life in a positive or negative way. 

Before you engage in any activity, when you get interrupted, and/or when you hear a notification -  Ask yourself: What color is this?

Red: STOP. These are activities that require you to STOP; must be taken care of ASAP. 

Green: GO. Activities that are valuable and enhance your life/project. 

Yellow: CAUTION. This is a bit tricky and requires making a decision – these are things that likely need to be done but not right away. Does this activity add value? Does it align with my current goal(s)?

Grey: NO. Time suckers; don’t have high value to work or personal life. TV, cat videos, etc. Too much of a good thing is often a bad thing.

Productivity Tips: 

Under plan your day: Most people over-plan their day (try tracking your time to see how far off you are). Pick the TOP three. Practice tracking your time; it’s an eye-opener!

Planned Spontaneity: Planning when you will do a “grey” activity, how long you will spend on it, and then hold yourself accountable. This will help you be MINDFUL.

Turn off notifications? YES! Because each notification is an interruption and the amount of time it takes to refocus post an interruption is about 15 minutes! Not needing to refocus will give you more TIME! Use airplane mode when you are writing. 

The other skills (to be discussed on future episodes):

#2: Arranging

#3: Tracking

#4: Flexicute

#5: Focus

Find Mark at: Attackyourday.com

·      New book releasing early 2021; pre-order now 

·      Accountability membership program

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