Head Space

Calm productivity for academics

No longer active

This site is now an archive of my previous work. I have moved all my ongoing writing to https://michael-rowe.github.io/home-michael/

Category: Time management

  • James Clear: Atomic habits

    Atomic Habits explores how tiny changes can lead to remarkable personal transformations. Using a four-step method—cue, craving, response, and reward—Clear shows how to design productive habits and eliminate negative ones. This book offers academics practical tools for sustaining progress in high-stakes, fast-paced environments.

  • Increase your resources

    Being more organised will free up time in your schedule that you can allocate to the activities putting you under pressure.

  • Work-life balance can fuel innovation

    The academic myth promotes an imbalanced life consumed by work. However, discipline in life breeds creativity in work. Structured lives allow academics the mental space for innovation. The key is a work-life balance that cultivates a well-rested mind, ready for meaningful academic contributions.

  • Design your academic workflow to do less

    Improving your academic workflow isn’t about squeezing more things into less time. It’s about spending more time on fewer things.

  • Making space for creativity

    Trying to force creativity through long hours at your desk is counterproductive. Setting aside space for creativity to emerge naturally may help lead to better insights. Sometimes, stepping back is the best way to move forward.

  • Use a weekly review to close open loops

    As academics, we carry countless mental threads throughout our week — unfinished tasks, half-formed ideas, looming deadlines, and scattered notes. Left unattended, these “open loops” consume valuable mental bandwidth, even during times when we should be resting and recharging. Every Friday afternoon, I dedicate time to what might be my most valuable productivity ritual: the…

  • Schedule your writing time

    Start your day by scheduling your writing time so that you make progress on the important, high-value work that is cognitively demanding.

  • Schedule dedicated time for thinking

    Start your day with the high-value work that creates something valuable for society, by setting aside dedicated time for thinking.

  • Using a ‘Now’ file to prioritise projects

    I came across the idea of using a ‘Now’ file in the middle of last year and have incorporated it into my weekly review. The basic idea is that you keep track of all the big projects in your life, and that you consult this file every time you get the ‘opportunity’ to take on…