Prioritising – work, play, and remembering that you need to sleep

Undertaking a research project is a lot of work on its own. This is especially the case when it’s your first time doing one and, as in my case, it’s on a topic you know very little about. We then need to balance this work with all of life’s other necessary tasks; exercising, keeping up some semblance of a social life, trying to get off of your campus in the middle of the woods to find sustenance, and that most time wasting of activities – sleep. It seems that, at times, even these things take a certain amount of scheduling to fit in.

Despite this already daunting amount of work there are some of us who choose to take on even more with which comes the challenge of knowing what to prioritise and when. I am both a member of our campus events team and leading our campus festival, Silfest. Both of these extra commitments involve quite sizeable amounts of work, time and cooperating in teams. If I drop the ball or take too long to do something, it slows everyone else down.

When you have other people relying on you or short deadlines looming, such as a whole event you have to organise for the weekend with only 4 days to do so, sometimes your own work can end up taking a back seat. In our times of ‘instant communication’, it can feel especially pressured to get back to people without delay. I, in fact, had to actively stop myself from replying to emails and various messages during the time it took me to write this.

There are many ways to go about dealing with all of your tasks and I think it’s important to remember to do it in a way that works best for you and to adapt as your work needs and your own personal needs change.

To offer an example, for me, schedules and timetables just don’t work. My priorities shift depending on what needs doing most urgently. And then the inevitable happens: something goes wrong with your project, you’re approaching a big deadline for the festival you’re running, you agreed to write a blog post you probably didn’t actually have the time to write – but people are relying you to do it so you’re going to have to prioritise and work it out. . It’s times like these when you have a lot that needs doing in a short amount of time that it can get overwhelming.

For me, if I have multiple things to do that all are urgent in their own way, I like to prioritise them by the amount of time it will take me to do them. The faster they are the quicker they’ll get ticked off my mental to do list and the less I’ll feel I have to do, and therefore the less overwhelmed I’ll feel.

Understandably though, this doesn’t work for everyone which brings me back to my earlier point of doing what works best for you, even if it doesn’t seem to be the ‘right’ thing to do. Another important aspect to remember is that you can always reach out for help and be honest with people if you’re struggling. Most people will understand where you’re coming from and open communication can take away that added stress of feeling like you have to keep up appearances that you’re on top of everything.

At the top of my list of priorities currently (apart from my own well-being that is) is my research project. There are moments when I worry that my other commitments may be encroaching on the time I should be using on it and that they’re skewing my priorities. This is when I start to consider doing what I think many of us have been taught is something we shouldn’t ever do – quitting.

Dropping out of my other commitments would most definitely free up a lot more time, make it a lot easier to work out my priorities, and keep my project where it should be. However, the idea of letting people down, the pressure of feeling like it would be a failure to quit, and the valuable experience I know I’m getting from doing them, stops me from doing so. However, for some this may be the answer. Cutting down one or two commitments could help to give them the time they need to more fully commit to what they have left and prioritise most highly. It’s time we learnt that it’s ok to say ‘no’, and sometimes necessary.

Fortunately, for now, I’m managing to find the time to fit everything in without compromising on the quality of what I’m doing (and if the quality of this blog suggests otherwise, I’d rather remain blissfully unaware of it). However, if there comes a time when that’s no longer the case, I’ll have to re-assess my priorities and do what needs to be done and shake the stigma that quitting equals failing.

I feel that we’ve also been taught these days that if you’re not doing something productive at all times then you’re doing something wrong, but sometimes taking some time to rest and do something you enjoy is important to stop you from being overwhelmed.

So, sort out what your priorities are, work in a way that is right for you, take some time for yourself, and don’t be afraid to reach out for help and admit it if you’re having a hard time.

Holly Paget-Brown