Finding Time for Research and Writing

Madison, Wis.—Feb. 21 — If you’re a faculty member struggling to find enough time to write and do research, you might benefit from the advice of Mary McKinney, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and professional coach who is the founder and director of Successful Academic Consulting.

During the February 21 online seminar “Time Management for Academics,” McKinney offered participants several recommendations for having enough time for writing and research:

• Block out your time for your research and writing priorities first, rather than letting these tasks revolve around other scheduling commitments. You can block out this time as you would for another appointment, McKinney said. When people ask for that time, you can let them know you’ve got another commitment.

• Try writing in frequent bursts, rather than infrequent marathons. Robert Boice’s studies of faculty have found that short-term, frequent writers—those who write for 30 minutes a day, for example—produce more pages and are more likely to get tenure than writers who devote long but infrequent blocks of time to writing. “Eight hours is just too long to sit down,” McKinney said.

• If anxiety understandably gets in the way of you addressing your biggest priorities, try doing a “tolerable ten,” or a commitment to spend just 10 minutes on an anxiety-provoking task. You might find that the 10-minute session expands into something longer, McKinney said. But if it doesn’t, you are still restoring your own faith that you can indeed make progress.

• Make it easier to do the right thing—and harder to do the wrong thing. Put a note on your office door saying you’re working on an important deadline and ask not to be disturbed until, say, 10 a.m., McKinney recommended. Cancel your cable or loan out your TV. If you’re a compulsive email checker or web surfer, choose to use a slow Internet connection or work at a coffee shop where there’s no wireless access.

McKinney also addressed strategies for managing email and teaching time.

If you missed the DATE seminar and would like to order a transcript or CD of the event, visit http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/cds/599668-1.html.

For more information, please contact David Burns, publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109 or dburns@magnapubs.com.