Dan and James share their thoughts on a recent paper (https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009124) that proposes ten rules for improving academic work-life balance for early career researchers and the figure from this paper that became a meme.
Here are the rules:
Long hours do not equal productive hours
Examine your options for flexible work practices
Set boundaries to establish your workplace and time
Commit to strategies that increase your efficiency and productivity
Have a long-term strategy to help with prioritization, and review it regularly
Make your health a priority
Regularly interact with family and friends
Make time for volunteer work or similar commitments that are important and meaningful to you
Seek out or help create peer and institutional support systems
Open a dialogue about the importance of work–life balance and advocate for systemic change
Dan mentioned an app he sometimes uses to track his time, called Timery (https://timeryapp.com/).
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Music credits
Our outro music is by Lee Rosevere (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/)
Episode citation
Quintana, D.S., Heathers, J.A.J. (Hosts). (2021, August 2) "137: Ten rules for improving academic work-life balance", Everything Hertz [Audio podcast], DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/7F3KN