Hi all, I'm a phd student who studies motivation! I thought I'd write up a quick summary of my strategies that have kept me at a lower stress level these past few months. My main problem has been feeling over overwhelmed by huge to-do lists. I would sit down with the exact same to-do list everyday which was horrible for my mental health. How could I be so organized and determined, but still so unproductive on a weekly basis? I found I literally had to stop planning and working so much. Here's the idea:

1. Make a basic list of your responsibilities. Being broad at this level has helped me. Mine looks like:
   1. Classes 1, 2, and 3
   2. Research
   3. Teaching
   4. Group Meetings
   5. Self-care / Free time / Meal prep
2. Create a grid that goes like this. You an add more chunks of time but using just the standard 3 helps me to not feel overwhelmed.

||M|T|W|R|F|S|Sun|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Morning||||||||
|Afternoon||||||||
|Evening||||||||

3. Arrange your basic responsibilities into the grid. Try to follow these guidelines.

1. If possible, only one responsibility per block. Don't worry about putting recurring meetings in here if you already use a calendar for that. This is not a calendar.
2. Take one day fully off, if possible. That day should just be some combination of self-care and free space. I choose to put self-care when I feel like I should be productive in other ways (cleaning, grooming, cooking), and free space as literally free. Adjust according to your needs but the key is flexibility.
3. Every day should have either a free space or a self-care. Every. Day.
4. Try to optimize productivity. I write my absolute best on Sunday evenings. That was the first block I reserved for research.
5. Follow this routine as close as possible.

Alright, that's my basic scheme. The reason this helps so much is that I never have to worry about choosing what to work on at any moment. I also get to sit down and make a day-specific to-do list which becomes much easier to tackle than my entire to-do list at once. I know what I'm doing today, I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Beautiful. Hope it helps!

**Side note:** Also eat well. Stop just drinking coffee. Go to therapy maybe. If your anxiety is what's causing you to burnout and hate graduate school, you won't find any cure besides medical help. Take care of yourself first!