Planning, goal setting, making a to do list, organizing, prioritizing, managing your time - these are all words that get thrown around when talking about planning in grad school.
A recent article in University Affairs by Elizabeth Wells, states that academics should spend about 25 percent of their time planning.
Anytime someone puts a number to something, it's always going to get a response, such as "That's way too much time!" or "That doesn't seem like enough time!"
My opinion? I think the amount of time you spend planning is going to depend.
Dr. Wells estimates that she spends about 25 percent of her time planning and that is why she recommends that to others that she works with.
She says that planning requires you to be proactive, rather than reactive, and academics can often fall behind if they are not proactive enough.
This part I 100% agree with for anyone -- if you don't spend SOME time planning, then most of your days will be filled with reacting.
For example, sometimes if I don't get my course prep done early enough, I'm rushing through it on the day that I teach. As a result, I don't feel like I'm focused when I am teaching or facilitating, so I use this feedback to avoid this the following week.
Does that always work? Most of the time. This is why I really like self-regulated learning as a framework for the work in grad school because it is cyclical and focuses on planning, doing, and reflecting. Some students will use more of those stages than others, but the emphasis is that what you do is based on who you are as a learner, your past experiences, your individual differences, the learning environment, and many other contextual aspects.
So, how much time do I spend in a week planning? I usually spend about 30 minutes to 1 hour a week planning and this is the same amount I spent in grad school.
However, I spend 100% of my time self-regulating my learning.
Because I have been working for years on self-regulating my learning, I have a good idea of how I get things done. First, I start tasks (once I have good task understanding, of course), set goals, do the work, while simultaneously reflecting on if the work I'm doing is what I wanted.
These days, most of the work I'm doing is predictable. When I do reach tasks that are more challenging, I do spend more time planning those individual tasks.
So, how much time should you spend planning in grad school?
If you follow the 25% guideline, that would be about 8-10 hours per week. You may think that is way too much for you.
But, if you're struggling to get work done, you may find that spending more time planning could be helpful.
Or, you may find it more helpful to just get started with a task and then go back and do some planning if you're not progressing as you thought you would.
My final thought on planning in grad school is that you should make sure you are doing some planning, but you may need to start working first so that you can figure out if you are on the right track.
However much you choose to plan each week, make sure you are spending some time planning so that you can be proactive. A habit I picked up doing my PhD is to plan my next week (loosely) at the end of the day on Friday so that I can enjoy my weekend and not worry about next week's work.
Finally, remember that yes, planning is a vital part of self-regulating your learning, however it's not the only part.
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