Priority Setting in Academia

Academic life is not a nine-to-five job. The positive aspect is that there is flexibility in work hours. The negative aspect is that the boundaries between work and other parts of life are blurry. Without appropriate caution, work eventually creeps into all aspects of life.

Professors dedicate more time than most professionals considering work/life balance, enduring the stress of on-rushing deadlines, working weekends and nights, always feeling like they should be doing more, and experiencing mental health issues. Flexible work hours can be wonderful or miserable. Time management and prioritization are key.

There is so much time management advice that it is impossible to organize. And everyone has different needs and different demands for different departments and universities. What works for me is the maxim, “There is always time for the single most important thing.”

If you don’t believe this, then think about what happens when you have an impending deadline and are working ridiculous hours to meet it. Then you need to go to the bathroom. The need to stop work and take a bio break quickly becomes the most important thing in your world. And you make time for it. A systematic and mindful approach to prioritizing for short- and long-term time management and decision-making helps to establish boundaries and bring structure to the flexible workday.

The Eisenhower Matrix is a well-known organizational system. The two-by-two matrix considers urgent versus non-urgent items by important versus unimportant items. Most of us reviewed our tasks and realized that we are spending too much time on work that is urgent and has firm deadlines and too little time on long-term projects or those with vague deadlines. Given that many of us are incentivized to write manuscripts, collect data, write books, and seek grants (all long-term and not urgent items), any task not in the non-urgent/important cell is likely not a priority.

This is probably why many big-shot and successful academics do not prioritize returning e-mails, addressing student crises, being on time to meetings, grading papers on time, and can seem a bit absentminded on many urgent tasks. And this mindset creates other problems. Balance helps. Although the Eisenhower matrix is helpful, it may not completely work for academics.

Any task on the to-do list needs to be scheduled. A to-do list where there is no time set aside for completion is not a to-do list, but a wish list. Before every term, populating the calendar is a good place to get started. The order in which you schedule events reflects your priorities. How you schedule events are your time management system. What you prioritize is up to you, but here is a sequence that works for me.

What you must do

This is a two-part priority. The easy part is to enter non-negotiable externally prioritized items first. For academics, these are class times, staff meetings, and other regular events that are scheduled on a strict timeline that you have little control over. The hard part is determining your internal “must-dos.” For me “must do” items on the schedule include being home in time to cook dinner, attending all family medical appointments, and attending all kids’ school activities.

What you are incentivized for

The next priority is the activities required for promotion, merit, career success, and money. These could be writing published papers, grant activities, presentations, workshops, book writing, and whatever else furthers your long- and short-term career. Whether projects are urgent, deadline-driven, or long-term tasks, they are priorities. Enter these items in the schedule until they are completed.

What you need for learning

This is time for reading, journaling, thinking of creative ideas, mind wandering, and meeting with like-minded people for roundtable discussions. Too often learning is something unscheduled that is put off to the non-existent zone of “free time.” Learning is an enormous part of what we do. Schedule it.

What you need for joy, rest, and recovery

Self-care, joyful activities, naptimes, hobbies, and exercise cannot be put off to the fictional land of free time. If the activity is important to you, schedule it. This also includes social activities such as standing lunches with colleagues, happy hours, and coffee breaks.

Time Management Essential Reads

4 Ways to Shield Yourself From the Effects of Time Poverty

Do You Feel Like You Never Have Enough Time?

Implementation

Finally, the discipline to follow the schedule is everything. Scheduling writing time is fine, but if you move and reschedule your writing time to take on every new request or urgent meeting, then your schedule has no meaning. Do not move your prioritized items from your schedule unless a higher priority item arises. Then you can take your bathroom break and return to the high-priority work.

Finally, academic work has a way of creeping into and taking over all aspects of life. Set priorities by entering items into your schedule in the order of priorities that reflect your goals. Taking control is a key factor in work-life balance and stress reduction. It is possible to have so many tasks that you fill your weekly schedule completely and still have tasks left over. Then it is time to use your priorities to negotiate and remove tasks from your schedule with the priority-driven rubric.