It’s the start of term in the UK and whilst there is a buzz of excitement around campus, there is also a sharp edge to that excitement; “Have I done everything that needs to be done?” Now does not feel like the time for reviewing planning. So, let’s keep this simple. Review the use of your planning tools. Failing to use them properly means that they won’t be as useful to you. You will become less efficient as a result. For example, I know that the Bullet Point Journal methods

Continuing this series about planning, I’m trying decide if I need to explain what mind-maps are, or just need to convince you about their use; or you simply want some ideas on software and tools. Well let’s make this simple for this holiday time of year (well, in the UK at any rate) – you can search other sites if you want to find out what they are and I advise you to ditch the software. So let’s get on to convincing you: Decide upon your time-frame (this week, this month, t

Lists are a great short term management tool. They seem to belong to the old advice, never put off until tomorrow what can be done today. When you are as busy as you are, you need to minimise the burden of trying to remember stuff. Lists help bear the cognitive burden of remembering the things you want to get done; great! But actually I also like to consider the advice of Oscar Wilde and General Franco which seem to fly against this Carpe Diem advice. Oscar Wilde’s attitude t

As I said back in January, this one is simple. The more complicated the matter the easier it will be to deal with by talking rather than writing. I think many of us instinctively understand this, but talking to people, isn’t that a bit ‘close’ or even presumptuous of me? I have rarely (if ever) regretted choosing to telephone about a complex request rather than email. But mostly I email. My cue to pick up the phone is when I’m finding the email difficult to write or if I need

Here’s another piece of advice that I received as a novice researcher, from Dr Karen Carpenter: Plan on a Friday, not a Monday. My immediate response was What?! But planning on a Monday is my nice relaxing introduction to the week ahead, and how am I going to relax at the weekend if I’ve started the mental cogs whirring on Friday? No way! However I knew that Karen was an experienced and very sensible person, so why shouldn’t I trust her and give it an honest go, despite my sc

Some years ago I was joined in my department by a colleague who was setting up a new programme. It was quite a large job and she had lots of competing priorities. As is common in academia she had the additional pressure of the post being temporary. So much to do and so little time to do it! In our meetings it was obvious that she was becoming stressed. She wanted to plan but was afraid that a. she had no time and b. our boss would think that she was wasting time on planning.

Have you broken your New Year’s Resolution about being more organised? Don’t beat yourself up. Becoming more organised takes a bit of practice. Even if you are quite an organised person, as you progress through your career you will inevitably take on more administrative responsibilities and this means more organising. Different tools suit different people but the basic list of tools are all similar, regardless of whether you use digital and virtual tools, or paper-based metho