Time

Time is a strange thing. Unquestionably, time is a quantitative descriptor measured in years, weeks, days, minutes or seconds. Unlike their qualitative cousins, quantitative values are generally thought to be concrete, and without subjectivity. Time, though is an outlier. On how many occasions have we all said 'that week really flew by!' or 'that movie was so bad it felt like an eternity'? Clearly, our perception of time is highly influenced by our environment and our activities. If you get down to the physics of the issue, time is relative and is only a means for us to understand our surroundings. It is much more complex (especially when considered in terms of the universe) and abstract than most (including me) would care to consider.

Efficiency and productivity play a large part in my definition of time spent. I will reflect upon days and consider, 'how much did I get done?' and 'what did I do?'. This is undoubtedly a side-effect of being a graduate student who has to deal with long project arcs, and, out of necessity, a considerable amount of time/project planning. Conveniently, experimental research lends itself nicely to gauging time through productivity. All one needs to do is check through their labbook (essentially a scientific diary meets a recipe book) to see how many experiments were done in a given time period. Things get a touch more tricky when the daily routine shifts more towards tabulating data and writing about the results (i.e. writing a thesis).

I must admit I haven't quite started the thesis writing process, but I am in the middle of writing a few manuscripts for publication. Some of the biggest challenges I find are to: a) not get side-tracked on a tangent, thus wasting time; and b) feeling a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. A considerable amount of time can be spent on one paragraph; the wording must be accurate and succinct, the facts must be properly referenced and there must be a narative flow. If you're me, this can take a relatively long period of time to get right. With this in mind productivity and time are much more difficult to assess. Perhaps, when it comes to writing, I need to set aside my analytical and quantitative way of thinking.