Time Management for Career Success

Like many of us, Ben Franklin was a busy man and in moments of self-reflection, recognized his deficiencies in a number of healthy habits, which he termed “virtues.” As I reflect on pathways to academic success, I find that these virtues have been critical to the success of many accomplished friends and colleagues whom I have coached throughout the years.

These include:

• Set aside time for focused efforts.
• Always look for ways to do things better and faster.
• Set very few priorities and stick to them.
• Turn down things that are inconsistent with your priorities.
• Spot trouble ahead and solve problems immediately.
• Finish what’s important and stop doing what is no longer worthwhile.  

Time and efficiency

Whether you are prioritizing patient note completion, play with friends and family, or academic work, it is often critical to find ways to improve and optimize your time. For me, focusing my hardest tasks when I am mentally clearest (typically first thing in the morning) is critical to doing the most work in the least amount of time. In addition, this allows me to take advantage of personal opportunities later in the day or after work to connect and find joy.

Prioritization

In addition to optimizing time when you are at your most efficient, taking time to understand your priorities allows you to do more with less. The first step is to understand your core values (e.g. family, education, advocacy, sustainability, research, quality…) and then focus your efforts on those tasks which will get you to your goals.

This is true whether the goal is to get out of work earlier with notes written, to educate others, or to regularly get publications submitted. This also allows you to streamline commitments so that you focus your precious time on the things you care the most about.

Proactive focus

A proactive stance is critical to make sure that you focus your efforts on the results that you care about. For example, it is easy to get distracted by an interesting research question outside your area of interest before you have established your niche, but this won’t serve you well if you are trying to show people where your expertise lies. In addition, turning over responsibilities that no longer fit your goals can give someone else an opportunity to stretch their wings.

The need to proactively focus is especially important at the beginning of your career when people don’t yet understand what topics you are interested in discussing for talks and publications.

If you are interested in defining your niche, focusing your academic productivity (including papers, presentations, and organizational involvement) in order to more quickly get promoted or move into leadership roles without feeling overworked or stressed out, we would love to have you schedule a time to talk!