Time Management Essentials - for PhD Candidates & Postdocs (4-weeks pure video course v1.1)
Premium Course
Easy
Premium Course
Easy
Day 01 - Welcome & Intro
8 Lessons
This lesson welcomes you to this course and gives you an initial introduction to the importance of time management. No one but you is responsible for your project.
Introduction to the three big areas: I) Define your direction • set clear goals • define clear projects/clear topic • decide! II) Plan your time • long-term (Masterplan) • intermediate term (weekly planning) • short-term (daily planning) III) Control your inner state • concentrate • relax • motivate yourself
Course overview (taken from the 2-days live online version). In any version of this course you get an overview of all the topics we look at.
About your trainer, Dr. Matthias Mayer. About his backgrounds in art and computer science, and how he found his passion of being a trainer and coach.
Why defining the test phase of several weeks right after taking this course is highly recommended.
Already during the course, please collect specific feedback, like suggestions for improvements, but also what you like especially well - using this document. Please share it with us briefly before the course ends.
Premium Course
Being effective and being efficient is both very valuable. However, they are not the same! There is a big difference. And, one of them is 100 times more important than the other. Understand and apply it to your life.
Day 02 - Set goals
2 Lessons
Probably you already set goals. In this lesson you get recommendations how exactly to do so and how to deal with goals. Many people mistake wishes for goals. You learn, what smart goals are, and when even the structure OKRs makes sense. From now on, have written down yearly, quarterly and weekly goals.
Day 03 - Understand what a PhD is
1 Lesson
The three golden rules for successfully finishing a PhD thesis project.
Day 04 - Plan long term
2 Lessons
Create a long-term plan of your complete PhD thesis /postdoc project. You can download the Gantt chart template and create your own individual plan based on the recommendations given.
A couple of recommendations how to work with your master plan, once you created it.
Day 05 - Decide!
1 Lesson
Becoming a great decision-maker will let you save time and feel better after your decisions. Here you will learn why it makes sense to decide fast, to decide until you feel a certain relief, and to decide often. Enjoy growing your decision-making muscle!
Day 06 - Some general thoughts - Supervisors - Reading recommendations
3 Lessons
Aim at living a fulfilled life and becoming the best version of yourself. Take care for yourself and your physical and mental health!
Eight guidelines for dealing well with your supervisor. Since this is one of your most meaningful relationships, make sure you are able to install and maintain a good relationship here.
Day 07 - The 2 most valuable things you can do
2 Lessons
Do you want to keep an overview of all important tasks and to do's? Then use the daily lists and calendar method: write down all your to do's in daily lists and your appointments in your calendar. Always have a clean table: only put the things there that are necessary to complete the current task, plus your daily lists book and your calendar. Kissing your frog every day is one of the best ways to be highly productive and successful. Do this from now on, every single day!
Day 08 - Set priorities I
1 Lesson
Distinguish between urgent and important things and set your priorities accordingly. Know your favorite go-to quadrant and maximize the percentage of time spent there. Very insightful self-reflection exercise!
Day 09 - Set priorities II
2 Lessons
Pareto's law, or the 20:80 principle, describes how we can create a great outcome focusing on only a few tasks and in only little time. Focus on these highly effective subtasks first!
How to efficiently create your text in six steps. Following this method allows you to overcome the writer's block easily. Also, it is one of the most effective ways to produce high-quality text in only little time.
Day 10 - Relax!
3 Lessons
Please prepare yourself and try this relaxation method at least a couple of days.
After lunch, do a power nap, relax deeply or go for a walk. Consider this guided deep relaxation as a daily source of relaxation. It will increase your concentration and focus thereafter.
About the relaxation exercise. Think about how you can integrate it to your life. Daily!
Day 11 - Concentrate!
3 Lessons
Consider your biorhythm when creating your daily plan. Do not miss use peak times for simple tasks. Re-set your current default off daily structure.
Premium Course
Fight the saw-tooth effect, one of the most poisonous effects created by distractions! Have silent hours!
Apply Francesco Cirillo's Pomodoro technique for gaining maximum concentration and focus. By using this method, you will quickly learn three essential things: to assess durations much better, to resist distractions, and to even compress time.
Day 12 - Structure your day
1 Lesson
Create your own blueprint of your ideal workday. Reflect about a meaningful morning ritual followed by productive sessions. Decide when you will kiss your frog, when you want to try out pomodoros, and when you do low-energy tasks. Use this blueprint to align all upcoming workdays.
Day 13 - Plan weekly
1 Lesson
Weekly planning is the binding element between long-term planning and daily planning. Do it every week at the same time. Here you learn about the five steps necessary.
Day 14 - Finetune and adapt your system
4 Lessons
Most of the time we are not able to exactly meet our plans. Here you learn about the four options to choose from, when you realize that you deviated from your long-term plan.
There is nothing like multi-tasking. However, you can work on several projects during longer phases of time, one after the other. Here are some considerations on how to set-up such phases.
Day 15 - Get familiar with AI
1 Lesson
Saying “No” is essential for personal success and setting boundaries. Don’t be everybody's darling! Instead, learn to properly set priorities and say “No”. You also learn about an exercise, how you can practically train this yourself.
Day 16 - Install powerful habits
3 Lessons
About the myth of motivation and how to stop procrastinating by starting with baby steps. Meet the value of the elephant microtome.
To become good in time management requires to be able to install new positive habits in your life and to uninstall that habits. In this lesson you will learn six techniques how to install new powerful habits.
Day 17 - Use proper tools
2 Lessons
Every day, many times you decide about these three things. Learn, that these decisions are independent from each other and learn to make good decisions each time.
Day 18 - Collect your learnings and prepare for the time after this course
2 Lessons
This session supports you collecting your most valuable takeaways from this course and preparing your upcoming test phase by setting crystal-clear, realistic goals.
Final recommendations for successfully installing the insights you gained during this course in your upcoming life. Also, I want to share with you an offer you should think about. * Please note that the discount mentioned in the video only applies to the regular prices of our products. It cannot be combined with any other discounts or reduced offers we make.
Follow
Dr. Matthias Mayer, a seasoned trainer with almost two decades of experience, refines scientists' essential skills - ranging from presentation skills, over time and self management, to professional communication and leadership. With a background in Visual Communication and a PhD in Computer Science, he seamlessly merges artistic expertise with scientific understanding and precision. He creates highly dynamic, interactive on-site and online seminars for Max Planck Institutes, EMBL Heidelberg, HZB, WZB Berlin, and many more institutions. Join his transformative courses here at ysa, smartly enhancing your scientific journey by refining crucial skills.
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.