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How do you manage your time/get motivated to do work when there's very little forced structure in your schedule? How do you plan to get work done while still being free enough to spend time with the people who are your social supports?

Specific details: The vast majority of my schedule is self-designed because I only have class two days a week and I only have meetings a couple hours per week. I find myself having a hard time not viewing my time as flexible and when people call, text, IM, or ask to hang out with me, and I usually respond right away since "I have the time". The problem is that in the end I wind up NOT having the time because multiple people will do this to me throughout the day or the week and it adds up. I often don't want to ignore people or tell them no because I have so few friends here that I really do value having those people around; yet, I don't think they understand that I'm not just sitting around doing nothing in my Ph.D. program. It's gotten so bad that people call me all day when they're bored as if I'm just free all the time and I've just been outright ignoring their phone calls. I'm even becoming resentful of my "friends" because I feel they don't respect my need to get things done. I want to have a social life, but I also take my work very seriously; how do I balance these?

asked by FirstAuthor
posted on Oct 4, 2010 7:08:52 AM PST