Hello!
Doctoral studies typically require several years of work for students to successfully complete their research plan. From my experience, since I started my journey, it has become clear that tangible progress in such a large project can take months to materialise. At the same time, balancing tight deadlines with other long-term goals calls for careful planning to ensure sufficient progress on all frontlines. Nonetheless, managing our energy and efforts on a short-term basis is essential to help navigate demanding periods and avoid burning out. Hence, having recently finished a challenging semester, I would like to share some of my approaches to deal with exhaustion that help me keep moving forward in such phases.
4. Respecting a daily full-stop
Design realistic work sets
First, I have noticed that I am particularly prone to feel exhausted when carrying out repetitive assignments over several weeks. In such situations, it helps me to plan my day as a workout routine. For each task, I begin by identifying the minimum goal I can complete comfortably, measured in terms of time (e.g., 20 minutes, like the Pomodoro technique) or quantity (e.g., review five papers, two lectures). Next, I weigh the frequency of each task depending on their deadlines (e.g., course exam in two weeks) and total size of the task (e.g., filter a few hundred papers). Ultimately, this helps me design the set of repetitions (e.g., 2:1, 1:1:1 for a group of two or three tasks, respectively), which can also be adjusted depending on the time of the day for some particularly demanding tasks.
On a different note, since my work is mainly done at the computer, I sit for many hours every day, leaving me with an uncomfortable and somewhat painful sensation, especially in my legs. Therefore, I incorporate some form of exercise between each task (see here) to alleviate this struggle and set a more explicit boundary between each repetition.
A man on a thousand mile walk has to forget his goal and say to himself every morning, ‘today i’m going to cover twenty-five miles and then rest up and sleep. - Leo Tolstoy
Ultimately, reaching our target number of sets for each day gives a rewarding sense of achievement amid seemingly endless tasks, which is gratifying and motivates further progress while also being a useful metric to review what we achieved.
Intermittent napping
Next, feeling well-rested is another vital element to work productively. In my case, I have observed that even after a good night of sleep, my eyes can get tired of looking at the screen the whole day and may even be accompanied by headaches. Furthermore, if I reach this state, I generally need to stop completely as I become light sensitive and cannot do more work. Therefore, I typically include some short naps throughout the day that effectively counter the feeling of tiredness in my eyesight. These range from five to seven minutes, replacing the exercising between tasks mentioned above, to 15-20 minutes after one or two complete sets. I must add that I do not always fall asleep in these periods; instead, my goal is to briefly pause all visual stimulation and allow my eyes to recover.
Given the wide adoption of remote working due to the pandemic, it is now much easier to incorporate such moments in our routine. Specifically, as I do not have to commute, I can stretch the workday a bit longer while being flexible to take such breaks as appropriate, which positively impact my productivity.
Musical energy boost
As hinted previously, background music is essential in my daily work. More importantly, given how challenging it can be to concentrate while feeling exhausted, I have noticed that consistently playing a given playlist at the start of every work set alleviates the effort to reach a focused mental state. Furthermore, designing playlists for different tasks (e.g., reading papers, writing notes) further creates some sense of variability on a somewhat cyclic work plan.
Furthermore, I also keep a playlist of all-time favourites songs that immediately make me smile and feel energised. Usually, I include some of these songs in the queue of other playlists or simply play them in sequence for a sudden burst of energy. To be practical, it is not as if I could instantly continue working for several hours, but they certainly lift my mood and help me look at the work ahead with a positive attitude.
As a side note, there have been times where I would keep ambient music playing during my naps, as it induced a genuine sense of mental freedom that would make such breaks much more pleasant.
Respecting a daily full-stop
Finally, I would like to remind the importance of protected moments in our day without any form of work. By defining such a clear separation, I actively disconnect from my duties and focus on other fulfilling tasks that help me recover mentally. For instance, I try to include some form of workout at the end of the day, mainly if I stayed at home, that allows me to release stress and feel physically tired before bed.
At the same time, on the weekends, I aim for longer exercise sessions (usually by going for long runs) that allow me to enjoy some quality time outside and distance myself from my workspace. If I am not feeling like running, I found that mindfully completing my grocery shopping and chores already has very positive effects.
Furthermore, nurturing social relationships with friends, family, or a significant other is another great way to spend quality time and talk about topics outside work. Even though I often get absorbed in my own duties, I have experienced and recognised the positive impact of spending time with others on my mental health.
Conclusion
These are some of the ways I deal with the feeling of exhaustion in my daily routines. Nonetheless, everyone has their own working style and please listen to your body and take breaks as appropriate for your needs. I do not wish to promote people to work until they are completely burned out but rather possible ways to manage energy levels in these challenging times. Please feel free to share your thoughts and approaches.
Have a great day!