Career Guide 01 April 2019

Time management for scientists

Many scientists juggle dozens of tasks and projects at the same time. Adopting effective time management strategies can be a challenge. It’s important to strike a healthy work-life balance. Here’s a guide to getting it right.

Articles

A year in the life: what I learnt from using a time-tracking spreadsheet

A low-tech solution helped Megan Rogers to increase her productivity and maintain a good work–life balance.
- Megan Rogers
Career Column15 Mar 2024 Nature
My productivity waxes and wanes — and I’m learning to account for it

Understanding that our bodies and minds are capable of variance day by day is an important step to becoming a more balanced scientist.
- Camila Souza Beraldo
Career Column4 Mar 2024 Nature
Why I use Notion to organize my PhD research

Maya Gosztyla describes the database tool as a ‘second brain’, helping her to coordinate her work.
- Maya Gosztyla
Career Column24 Oct 2023 Nature
Time tracking for early-career researchers: a practical guide

Time management isn’t taught at graduate school, but a better understanding of how you pass the hours can help you achieve your goals.
- Linda Nordling
Career Feature8 May 2023 Nature
Hate working weekends? Try a time tracker

The thought of time sheets in academia might fill you with horror, but they could help you to prioritize tasks, says Inger Mewburn.
- Inger Mewburn
Career Column23 Mar 2023 Nature
AI writing tools could hand scientists the ‘gift of time’

ChatGPT might not yet give us sparkling prose. But it can free scientists up to focus on more-stimulating writing tasks, says John Tregoning.
- John Tregoning
Career Column22 Feb 2023 Nature
How to manage your time as a researcher

Tracking goals on various timescales can help scientists to make the most of their days, says Maya Gosztyla.
- Maya Gosztyla
Career Column5 Dec 2022 Nature
How to find, read and organize papers

Maya Gosztyla decided to rethink her approach to research papers after she had trouble keeping track of the published literature.
- Maya Gosztyla
Career Column7 Jul 2022 Nature
Tips from neuroscience to keep you focused on hard tasks

Understanding cognitive control can help your working life, says David Badre.
- David Badre
Career Column15 Mar 2021 Nature
Webcast: How to work from home effectively as an early-career researcher

Nature spoke to researchers coping with the pandemic to get their advice on working from home.
- Jack Leeming
Career News26 Mar 2021 Nature
Why scientists with children who have disabilities need a different career trajectory

As lockdowns ease, Olivier Pourret hopes that academia will take on board lessons about how to redefine career success.
- Olivier Pourret
Career Column8 Jul 2020 Nature
Shared parental leave: making it work for the whole family

Lynsey Bunnefeld and her spouse took advantage of shared parental leave following their son’s birth, and this is what it taught them.
- Lynsey Bunnefeld
Career Column9 Oct 2019 Nature
Six easy ways to manage your time better

The amount and quality of what you achieve are crucially dependent on how effectively you manage your time. Andrew C. Johnson and John Sumpter propose some simple steps that scientists can take to improve their time management.
- Andrew C. Johnson
- John Sumpter
Career Column22 Mar 2019 Nature
How to use ‘20% time’ to manage pet projects

Inspired by a Google initiative, Carsten Lund Pedersen describes how he balances personal projects and the demands of a research programme.
- Carsten Lund Pedersen
Career Column17 Jan 2019 Nature
Workplace habits: Full-time is full enough

Some scientists are fighting a toxic belief that a 50-hour working week is 'slacking off'.
- Chris Woolston
Feature1 Jun 2017 Nature
Time management: Seize the moment

A successful leap from postdoc to lab head requires tight control over time and tasks.
- Jeffrey M. Perkel
Feature21 Jan 2015 Nature
Turn off your e-mail and social media to get more done

Distractions are a fundamental aspect of the modern world, but we don’t have to become hermits to avoid them.
- John Tregoning
Career Column13 Sep 2018 Nature
How a hobby can boost researchers’ productivity and creativity

A regular pastime can ease mental stress, improve work–life balance and help scientists to reach innovative solutions in their work.
- Julia Rosen
Career Feature18 Jun 2018 Nature
Why you need an agenda for meetings with your principal investigator

A list of talking points can help with navigating potentially difficult topics and sticky negotiations.
- Tess L. Veuthey
- Samuel Thompson
Career Column12 Sep 2018 Nature
Too many tasks

A heavy administrative burden keeps top academic scientists from doing science, argues Adam James
- Adam James
Column13 Jul 2011 Nature
Lab life: Balancing act

Many researchers struggle to take time off from the lab. But scientists should try to improve their work–life balance.
- Quirin Schiermeier
Feature12 Dec 2012 Nature
Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

Scientists starting labs say that they are under historically high pressure to publish, secure funding and earn permanent positions — leaving precious little time for actual research.
- Kendall Powell
News Feature26 Oct 2016 Nature
On my way to being a scientist

Thomas M. Schofield details the stages on his path to a career in research.
- Thomas M. Schofield
Column8 May 2013 Nature
Juggling research and family life: honest reflections from scientist dads

Five fathers describe how they and their partners combine parenting and careers.
- David Payne
Career Feature27 Nov 2018 Nature
How to turn your interests into a career

Scientists are merging their life’s passions with their academic studies, and coming up with new fields in the process.
- Emily Sohn
Career Feature14 Nov 2018 Nature
Satisfaction in science

Nature’s survey offers a snapshot of salaries and career paths in the scientific sector.
- Chris Woolston
Career Feature24 Oct 2018 Nature
Leisure activities: The power of a pastime

From painting to punching to aeroplane-jumping, the hobbies that scientists pursue offer a vital escape from the laborious life of the lab.
- Chris Woolston
Feature1 Jul 2015 Nature

Time management for scientists

Articles

A year in the life: what I learnt from using a time-tracking spreadsheet

My productivity waxes and wanes — and I’m learning to account for it

Why I use Notion to organize my PhD research

Time tracking for early-career researchers: a practical guide

Hate working weekends? Try a time tracker

AI writing tools could hand scientists the ‘gift of time’

How to manage your time as a researcher

How to find, read and organize papers

Tips from neuroscience to keep you focused on hard tasks

Webcast: How to work from home effectively as an early-career researcher

Why scientists with children who have disabilities need a different career trajectory

Shared parental leave: making it work for the whole family

Six easy ways to manage your time better

How to use ‘20% time’ to manage pet projects

Workplace habits: Full-time is full enough

Time management: Seize the moment

Turn off your e-mail and social media to get more done

How a hobby can boost researchers’ productivity and creativity

Why you need an agenda for meetings with your principal investigator

Too many tasks

Lab life: Balancing act

Young, talented and fed-up: scientists tell their stories

On my way to being a scientist

Juggling research and family life: honest reflections from scientist dads

How to turn your interests into a career

Satisfaction in science

Leisure activities: The power of a pastime

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