Why autumn is the perfect time to write that grant application youā€™ve been meaning too!
Sep 17, 2024
January is the traditional time for new years resolutions and big plans for the year ahead, but in many parts of the world, especially the Northern Hemisphere, September has always been “back to school”, back to study, and back to lectures for those of us in any way connected to academic years and once the tumult of taking care of everyone else is out of the way October is the PERFECT time for you to focus on things that are important for you! It’s also proven to be, by far, the most productive month of the year1, so why not seize that opportunity?
January is fantastic for dreaming BIG, for setting big step-change type goals; it’s a time packed with potential where you can feel free to reach for the stars; New Year, New You! But September and October, and on into the rest of Autumn is special, and in this article I want to encourage you to seize the opportunity of productivity that Autumn is. Autumn is the ideal time to get things done, to write that grant application you’ve been meaning too, yes the one that you promised yourself you’d devote some downtime too over the summer when it was quiet but never did because things kept cropping up, or you couldn’t find your motivation, or to do things for your own wellbeing: to switch to heathier foods, to build in that 30minutes of reading for relaxation every evening, to get that 20minute walk outside every day. Whatever it is autumn is the BEST time of year to actually make that happen!
Why is Autumn so productive? There are 5 key reasons, which together make up for a profound shift in our energy and outlook, especially in the Northern hemisphere:
- Autumn is a point of profound environmental change. Leaves turn spectacular colours and then fall, this is arguably a more obvious and visual change than the gentler greening of trees in spring, it’s a traditional time to celebrate harvest and be thankful to mother nature for providing and there is a general sense of the relaxation of summer having passed and the world around us gradually finishing it’s natural cycle and preparing for winter. This natural sense of moving on permeates our thoughts and encourages us to get into action.
- Hopefully you managed some relaxation, or at least managed to get outside and get plenty of Vitamin D over the summer months so you are now as well rested and ready for action as you can be. Even if you don’t feel rested, the frustration of having to wait for everyone else who was away on holiday, etc. over the summer period has finished!
- In the human world, there is back to school energy everywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you are a parent, or not, you cannot fail to be bombarded with get ready type ads and products and so on. There are shiny new notebooks, and sharp pencils, and crisp, fresh new clothes (why do children grow so much over the summer holidays?!?), unscuffed shoes and the latest and greatest backpacks everywhere. It’s so ubiquitous the back to school feeling, the feeling that this year you’ll definitely be top of the class, the feeling of knowledge that a brand new notebook gives you, is in everyone’s DNA. Parent, or not you’ll feel it because you’ve probably lived with it every single September of your entire life! It’s a stationary afficionado’s dream; go on treat yourself to a new notebook and some coloured pens…
- Researchers1 have shown that October is the most productive month for everyone, so why not seize the opportunity for yourself, but this year, do something that’s important to YOU; don’t just tick everything off the to do list that others deem to be important! We’re surrounded by all these subconscious drivers which influence our internal self-talk, and decisions. The environment around us creates changes in how our brains are wired, the Back to School energy all around us literally changes our nervous system, so why not seize that opportunity?
- There are only a few months left in the year. That creates tension and drive to get the things done that you wanted to get done this year. But it also means the end is in sight. Unlike in January where the whole year stretches out in front of you and it’s easy to say oh I’ll get around to it October means you MUST act NOW, or it won’t happen. If you leave it any later in the year then the stress of Christmas and New Year will start and you’ll become too overwhelmed to even start, so start now!
- With just a few months left of the year goals also become believable. For example, let’s say you have a domestic goal to cut back on spending a little. How much easier does it feel to say to yourself I’m going to stick to this budget until the end of December, than I’m going to stick to this budget for the whole year. With just a few months left, it’s an easier sprint, you can see the finish line!
Some tips for getting into action and maximising your productivity:
- Phrase the actions you wish to take in positive language. For example say when presented with food options I will make the healthier choice, rather than don’t eat biscuits.. human’s are very good at ignoring the word “don’t” and thus we’ll eat the biscuits! Frame your choices as positive things that you are choosing to do for yourself, rather than someone is forcing you to do, you’re more likely to succeed.
- Concentrate on actions not outcomes. This applies equally to new fitness regimes as it does to grant applications. If you say to yourself I’ll only be satisfied when I loose 10Kg, or when I get that grant you usually leave yourself at the mercy of circumstances. For example, you have zero control over what mood reviewers will be in when they sit down to review your application. You DO have control over editing your application from the view point of a fresh reviewer, you DO have control over making efforts to seek feedback from trusted colleagues and how you respond to that feedback.
- Reward yourself for action taken, and no I don’t mean eat that biscuit! I mean at the end of every day, maybe on the way home, or after you shut down your computer but before you leave your office, just take 30 – 60 seconds to think yes I did this, and this, and that today, I made a little bit more progress towards what I want to achieve. It’s not much, and it will feel corny at first but by recognising yourself as a person who takes action you support your view of yourself as someone who gets things done, and that makes you much more likely to actually get things done! Don’t delay congratulating yourself until the goal has been achieved a) achieving it might be totally outside of your control, or b) it might be so far into the future that celebrating then becomes meaningless in terms of supporting your wellbeing and productivity now.
- Parkinson’s law states that any task will expand the time you allow for it. Yes really! So decide what time you are going to allocate to a task and stick to it, just produce the best possible thing you can within that time and allow yourself to be satisfied with less than perfect. Academic life is characterised by having far more things to do than can possibly be crammed into the time available and is compounded by many of us being perfectionists who have got this far by producing superior outputs. In other words, just doing your best and being satisfied with less than perfect is an untenable concept to many. Tight deadlines will amplify your focus, stop you heading down investigative rabbit holes, for you to narrow your attention and if they’re short enough spike your adrenaline to give you a performance boost (don’t do this too yourself too often, it’s not healthy!) So, give it a go, allocate specific blocks of time to getting things done and see whether you can produce something of sufficient quality within that time, I bet you what you produce is probably very nearly perfect, and certainly good enough!
- If you’ve no intrinsic motivation to get that project finished then just think of the psychological ease you’ll feel going into the xmas holidays, and New Year having crossed a significant project off your to do list!
So there you go, October is the most productive month for many, many people, why not ride the way of energy encouraging you forward?
If you want support we’re always here. We’ve got courses to build knowledge, coaching if you need help developing ideas, facilitated workshops if you want to turn research ideas into collaborative grant applications and specific proposal critical friend support/pre-interview coaching. You can find details of all of these here: https://onlineaccess.researchinfocus.com/store or drop us an email at [email protected]
We believe in you, you can do it!
References & further reading of interest:
1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/priceonomics/2017/12/08/when-do-people-actually-get-work-done/
