🗣 overworked grad student
You can actually have a productive week of grad school WITHOUT burning out.
Getting a graduate degree is tough. Between classes, work, TA duties, research, and your personal life, BURNOUT FEELS INEVITABLE. And if you’re like most of the grad students in my community, you don’t feel like there is any room to drop one of your responsibilities to lighten your load.
And you’re thinking that if you could just get ahead by working over the weekend or during an academic break, then you could manage the next week better. Then you could breathe again.
But the next week is exactly the same. More work. More all-nighters. And no time for YOU.
The truth is that the amount of work on your plate isn’t the biggest issue.
The biggest problem is the belief that everything you are doing will make the same amount of impact on your graduate experience and life.
But that’s just not the case.
If you could learn to focus on the tasks and responsibilities that align with what YOU want for yourself, then you could spend less time on the things that don’t matter as much...creating MORE TIME for you to spend with yourself and your family.
But if you continue to try to do everything perfectly, you will always be stuck in a cycle of overwhelm, procrastination, and burnout.
And since you are here, I know that being stuck in that burnout + procrastination cycle is not what you want, is it?
And you’ve likely said to yourself, “Why do I feel like I’m doing so much but I’m never sure if I’m spending enough time on the right things?”
Time management IS a struggle in grad school.
What do you see every week? An endless list of tasks to get done without a clear idea of where to start.
What don’t you see? Anyone sharing how to get it all done.
And what do you hear? That this is just how grad school is. Everyone is overwhelmed and struggling.
What if, occasionally, you could figure out how to manage your time, actually get work done, and complete your to-do list?
What if you could have your most productive week ever?
What if you learned a new way to plan your week, introduced accountability, and stopped going at it alone?
Imagine how it would feel if you had your most productive week ever.
What would that look like?
The above are the accomplishments of some of the grad students who went through the 3-Step Productive Week Framework inside of The Focus Method! They got all of this done in just one week. And on Saturday, when I asked them how they felt, they said they didn't feel burnt out at all!
In fact, they were still motivated to get more work done!
And it’s also only a small piece of the academic puzzle. When we struggle with time management, it’s likely that we also struggle with planning, organization, or communication.
These are the four components of a system called project management, which is something I never learned in grad school. But I do believe that project management is essential for combining success in academia and living a fulfilled life at AT THE SAME TIME.
According to the Association for Project Management (APM), a project is
a unique, transient endeavor, undertaken to achieve planned objectives…a project is determined to be successful if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria within an agreed timescale and budget.
What stood out most to me in that definition is that a project must have a planned objective and it must be time bound. And yes, there is mention of cost as well. I think that in academia, everything we do has a time or energy cost that we should consider as we plan our projects.
This is a long list and it doesn’t even include your personal/life responsibilities…or hobbies!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a system/framework to manage is all?
Do you ever struggle with staying focused and motivated in grad school?
Do you ever get so overwhelmed that you fall into a black hole of procrastination, from which there is no escape?
Ok, that was dramatic. But it’s happened to me!
And there was only one thing that worked to get me out of my unmotivated, unproductive funk:
Accountability can be the difference between making plans and schedules but still getting nothing done and actually following through on those plans.
You wake up each morning knowing exactly what you will work on for the day and how long each task will take.
Imagine that you understand exactly which tasks are most important and which tasks to spend the most energy on.
You work on high-level tasks when you are feeling most productive and not when you are feeling drained.
Imagine that you' have created a schedule that optimizes when, where, and how you work best.
A schedule that prioritizes your most important and impactful tasks.
So that you never have to feel like this again:
There are so many moving pieces in grad school, and I was trying to take every opportunity presented to me, becoming overwhelmed with research, work, and my academics. I got into this cycle of burning out regularly.
The resources Toyin created for The Academic Society helped me figure out what I need to be prioritizing according to my main responsibilities and my values. Toyin's process helped me create a solid structure each week, where I could put in self-care and me-time to prevent and stop the cycle of burn out.
I wish I would have discovered Toyin's resources much earlier in Grad School!
Mary, Master’s Student in Sustainable Development Practice
I took a fulltime job when I was a fourth year doctoral candidate. I know, not a great idea, but it was necessary. I became overwhelmed by my dissertation. I lost focus and motivation, and I felt like a failure. That all changed when a friend told me about The Academic Society.
I signed up for the Project Management for Academics Framework, and for the first time in a long time I became hopeful and motivated. I have since shared The Academic Society with many students and colleagues, and everyone, absolutely everyone loves how Toyin helps process, organize, and plan.
Project Management for Academics helped me get back on track and has become a part of my daily routine. Thanks, Toyin!
-Ed.D Curriculum and Instruction (ABD)
I have the solution for burning out. The key is narrowing your focus and figuring out exactly what you need to work on that will make the most impact so that you're not spending all of your time trying to work on EVERYTHING.
Everything does not have the same level of importance...
That includes choosing which classes are more important than others and choosing which assignment will have the biggest impact on your life, your future, your research, on your grade.
In this module, I teach you how to spend the majority of your time on the things that matter most.
You will discover:
The single most important skill to help you stop wasting time on #allthethings and get time back by working on the right things.
The Easiest way to reset your semester after being stuck in a cycle of procrastination and burnout.
The secret to creating daily to-do lists that align with your goals based on YOUR STAGE of academia
And all of that together helps you learn the skill of PRIORITIZATION.
According to the Association for Project Management (APM), a project is
a unique, transient endeavor, undertaken to achieve planned objectives…a project is determined to be successful if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance criteria within an agreed timescale and budget.
What stood out most to me in that definition is that a project must have a planned objective and it must be time bound. And yes, there is mention of cost as well. I think that in academia, everything we do has a time or energy cost that we should consider as we plan our projects.
Publishing a paper
Completing a successful job search as a search committee member
Writing a letter of recommendation
Applying for a grant
Collecting data
Prepping to teach a class
Writing a test
Advising students
Grading an assignment
committee projects
Writing a paper
And the list goes on…
This is a long list and it doesn’t even include your personal/life responsibilities…or hobbies!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a system/framework to manage is all?
It’s called project management and I’ve created a project management framework designed specifically for academics.
In the project management for academics framework, you will learn:
How to identify what to focus on each day so that you don’t burnout
The secret to structuring your days so that you don’t procrastinate
The most effective way to optimize your days so that you use your time efficiently
The TRUTH about time management that you never learned in school
How would you feel if, for the rest of the semester, you could finally get out of your head, out of your own way, and actually complete your to-do list each week?
Your Most Productive Week Ever is an accountability and productivity framework for grad students that also teaches you time management.
Here's how it works:
1. I teach you my unique way of weekly planning (the productivity accelerator method). I've recorded a planning session that you can watch every single week when you want to plan your most productive week ever.
2. Then I share I how to create a realistic and manageable to-do list everyday by helping you prioritize what is important.
3. There is also an accountability Discord server for members of Focus. In the group, you will share your goals and accomplishments and invite the other members to have co-working sessions with you. You can get sooo much done when you aren't working alone.
In the your most productive week ever module, you will discover:
How to complete assignments before the deadline without feeling overwhelmed and overworked
The secret to following-through on your goals without giving up
The single most effective way to motivate yourself to work.
The EASIEST way to uplevel your productivity
To get this kind of support and daily accountability, most grad students would need to hire an accountability coach or a grad school coach.
And coaches are EXPENSIVE!
A professional accountability coach charges at least $200 per session!
Focus is half that investment!
Let’s set up a scenario:
Lisa is a PhD student. She’s interested in Focus but she knows she only has two more years of grad school left. That’s 4 semesters.
She’s not sure if it’s worth it to join Focus.
$50 a semester?
Would that sound reasonable?
Well, you can join Focus for just 3 installments of $37. That’s it! And you get access to all three modules…FOREVER!
So Lisa would be paying less than $30/semester for Focus!
That’s such a small investment compared to the value that she’ll be getting inside of Focus.
The 3 main modules of Focus will completely transform how you prioritize, structure, and follow-through on your goals in grad school. But that’s only the beginning.
When you join, Focus, you also get 3 MASSIVE bonuses to make your work sessions more efficient and your success in grad school even easier, and tools that simplify everything you do! Starting with…
On the last Saturday of each month, we meet Live on Zoom at 1pm EST to walk through the Project Management Framework together and organize and plan the next month.
Each session is recorded and added to the Focus dashboard for anyone who misses it.
Share your goals in the accountability Discord server and invite other Focus members to work with you!
The combination of multiple responsibilities, sporadic deadlines, and last-minute email reminders make it nearly impossible to feel like your schedule is under control as a graduate student. It can be difficult to keep everything organized and stay motivated each semester.
In this 30 minute training, I teach you 4 practical time management tips that you can immediately add to your weekly routine.
Now, you have two options. The first is to choose nothing and continue working hard and doing your best in your grad program just as you have been. But as you know, if you keep doing the same things, nothing will change.
Are you happy to continue as you’ve been?
Or would you like to join a supportive group of like-minded grad students who are choosing to say no to the endless cycle of procrastination and burnout and yes to the principles of prioritization, structure, and accountability?
You could STOP wasting time on #allthethings and GET TIME BACK by working on the right things.
You could learn to FOCUS on the tasks and goals that align with your vision for yourself.
The accountability that you get inside of the accountability Facebook group. Inside of the group, students share their weekly goals, celebrate their wins, and work together in the co-working space.
It’s easy to be motivated when you have a group of like-minded scholars cheering you on!
No! The accountability group used to be hosted on Facebook, but now it’s hosted on a Discord server and that’s where you will connect with the other students in the program. And that’s where the students meet up to co-work together.
No; once you have paid the price of the program (3 installments of $37 or one installment of $97) you are in the program forever.
Forever! Once you’re in, you get access to the trainings, the group, and the co-working space forever!
Every planning session is recorded. So if you miss out, the recorded will be posted in the Focus program dashboard so that you can watch it whenever you are ready.
Yes! But only if you request a refund within the first 30 days of purchasing the program.
To request a refund, you first need to attend one of the monthly planning sessions (or watch the recording) and 3 co-working sessions. If you still don’t like the program, email me and I’ll refund you.