By Szymek Drobniak
Image from Pixabay, @robert_owen_wahl
Time is money – it’s a truism that nobody would dare to question. In our particular type of job – in being a scientist – time also equals benchmarks, indices, track record. The more time we have – the more papers we should be able to publish, the more students to supervise, the more brilliant ideas turn into reality. Interestingly, science also tends to be particularly rich in people representing all kinds of neurodiversity. My hypothesis is that such people are also often particularly creative. Unfortunately, certain kinds of neurodiversity can throw sand into well-oiled gears of our scientific work. Here’s a bunch of recommendations a veteran of ADHD, such as myself, can offer to make the working scientific life of at least some of you a bit more predictable and satisfying.
- Do not discard methods such as Pomodoro as overly simplifying or lacking flexibility (for those not into tomatoes: dividing your work into small, 15-30 mins. chunks, separated by short (5-10 mins.) breaks). Pomodoro may be surprisingly effective in identifying the ways you waste your working time (see what takes you during breaks and what makes them harder to finish), and in learning how to quantise your tasks into well-defined steps. My all-time favourite in implementing this method is the Be Focused app – but the Internet abounds in other options.
- Keeping track of ones’ calendar is one of the most annoying activities. Try to cultivate the following habit: the moment you plan a meeting, receive and invite, decide on a task or receive a task – put it into your calendar. Do not postpone doing this – your few taps on your phone away from permanently recording the task for future and freeing your mind from having to remember it. Also – make it a habit to check your calendar every morning.
- Do the same with a to-do list (yes, you want to have one, desperately). Some picks to consider – Todoist app, Tasks app, or whatever speaks to you functionally and visually. I would also like to preempt a question you surely will have: isn’t using calendar and a to-do list superfluous/too time consuming? It may be – but clever people have come up with solutions that connect to-do lists with calendars in a seamless way. If you want a hassle-free experience, without having to reschedule or move items as new things enter your agenda, consider checking out AI tools that manage your calendar for you. My current favourite is reclaim.ai – I honestly do not remember when I had to manually reschedule anything in my calendar.
- If a task/activity is taking too much time (e.g., because it is too difficult and you’re stuck without new ideas, or it begins to bore you) – leave it for a while (unless, of course, your being chased by a hard deadline, breathing frantically into your neck). Wonders happen when you set a task or problem aside or – even better – sleep with it.
- During the day, deal with the least liked tasks first.
- Don’t be afraid to declare some ours of your day/week as off-limits for others (within the limits of reason and your responsibilities, of course).
- To retain sanity and balance – try to do work at work, and non-work/fun things elsewhere. Don’t mix you working and leisure spaces. And for the sake of all known gods – don’t take work to bed. Some things do not mix well – like oil and water, or work and resting.
Image from Pixabay, @robert_owen_wahl
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