“To spend too much time in studies is sloth”
Francis Bacon, Essay (published 1625) 219
Time
Charlie Munger used to say, ‘I want to know where I will be when I die, and then I am never going there’. I am obsessed with time, not the geographical location of when I will become actuarially mature. Indeed, you do not worry about time until you know you are going to die, until you become aware of your own mortality. As someone who is doing a mid-life PhD, I am desperate to ensure that the time I spend on it will be no more than is necessary. To help me attain this goal, I have a schedule. This blog will explain my schedule and hopefully it may benefit you in some way.
My daily schedule
To keep me on track to finish my PhD in 3 years, I have a daily schedule. This is my schedule, not yours. It is this way so that I can follow it and be disciplined. It is not written in stone, but I understand that if I do not stick to it, it will be impossible to regain the lost time. And I do not have any spare time.
My schedule reduces my anxiety and makes efficient use of my day. I have a long day. It starts just before 5am and ends at midnight. Because of this, I have set my day up in such a structured manner to help me execute it every day.
Morning routine
I did not want to be overwhelmed by the potential rigidity of a fixed schedule and risk not sticking to it every day. It has evolved into something I actually enjoy and is intrinsic to meeting my targets.
At 4:45am, I rise to take my dogs for their morning constitutional. Monday and Tuesday are fine, but Wednesday morning is the strain for me. I do not know why, but Wednesday is difficult. I feel good the other days but ‘hump day’ nearly breaks me.
I return home and begin my morning chores. I have to stretch and do resistance training, then shower and get ready for the day. After a 4 or 5 mile walk with the dogs plus my exercise, I feel pretty good. The dogs require feeding and walking afterwards (but just around the block) and then I have my breakfast and prepare for university.
Give some serious consideration to your diet. If I was to have a heavy carb breakfast, I would be asleep about 10am. I have found what works for me and I believe it adds to how I feel from the exercise and walking.
After all the physical benefits I have enjoyed so far, I try to get some mental balance to help me throughout the challenges of the day. If you can fit in some sort of meditation or prayer to prepare your mind and spirit, the benefits are stupendous. Afterwards, I walk just over a mile to the train station and after a short train journey, I am unpacking my bag for a 9am start.
When I am at the office
I am a simple person. Therefore, it is easy to negotiate with myself and come up with a reward system. The first thing I do of a morning, is review where I finished the previous day. Then I write out what has to be accomplished for the day. Sometimes, this takes 10 minutes, other times it can take an hour.
What I do not do, under any circumstance is open my emails, social media or look at my phone. I have to do the most mundane task first, re-organise my priorities and get my mind in gear. Looking at all the peripheral distractions will not help me, so I do not do it.
I then get 1.5 or 2 hrs. of good, deep work completed whether this is reading or writing. By now it is lunch time, and I am in a good place. My mind, body and soul feel good and I know I have applied myself to my PhD and can objectively show what I have achieved that morning.
Before I embark on lunch, I reward myself with checking emails etc. This is limited no more than 10 minutes. I bring my own lunch and usually leave my desk to have a change of scenery. If any my cohort are going for lunch, we will usually sit together and talk of anything but PhDs.
Following lunch, I complete another 1.5 or 2 hrs. of good hard work. This is usually reading or writing. If I am in full flow and know what I am writing about and have the structure of my writing in place, I will keep going for as long as possible.
I sometimes can go down rabbit holes and when I find myself doing this, I will stop whatever activity I am currently on, make some notes for the following morning, and begin another task. Usually, these tasks are the tasks I do not like doing, such as administration paperwork, applying to the ethics committee, emails and reading any communications from the faculty. These are activities that have to be completed but do not necessarily advance my PhD.
At 5pm, I begin my journey home, knowing that my day has been full but productive. I can assess what articles I have read or be easy in the knowledge that my wordcount significantly increased.
It continues at home
I am home before 6pm. MY wife will be getting in around this time and we spend some time catching up and of course, attending to the dogs. By 6:30pm, I am in my office studying for my law exams.
I follow the same structure of when I am at university. I review where I last left off and then get 1.5 or 2 hrs. hard work completed. This is when I am so thankful to the support I receive from my wife. I am fortunate enough that she cooks my dinner and I usually eat it at my desk whilst studying.
I will then do chores, such as washing the dishes and once again, thank my wife and catch up some more. At 9pm, I take the dogs for their evening walk. After this, I spend some further time with my wife before she goes to bed and I will read or sit tests or write for another hour or so.
After showering and getting ready for bed, I retire about midnight to begin the process the following day. I follow this every day during the week. Of a weekend I still rise early and walk the dogs but the day is not spent working on my PhD. I will study for my law exams but only for an hour or two. Saturday is for catching up with my normal household tasks. Sunday is for sailing.
Final thoughts
If you are waiting for inspiration, or putting off what you have to do so you can read a book to motivate you etc., know this, you are just losing time. No person, book, podcast or social media influencer, will complete this PhD journey for you. You have to do this every day, for 3 years. It is a massive sacrifice.
If you do get writers block or you feel overwhelmed and lose your joie de vivre for the PhD, there are some tasks that can help you. Review your schedule, re-iterate your responsibilities and obligations and write. Even if it is for 5 minutes. Write for 5 minutes. You may go longer than 5 minutes. But do not leave there until you have written for 5 minutes. You will get your mojo back.
I know what my obligations are and what I have to do in order to complete my PhD in 3 years. I cannot wait, procrastinate or be distracted. I follow my schedule every day and do not deviate. Do you have your schedule complete?