Journal of Andrology, Vol. 26, No. 3, May/June 2005
Copyright © American Society of Andrology
DOI: 10.2164/jandrol.05008
Is Time on Your Side?
REX A. HESS
"There is never enough time." Scientists have heard this trite
comment and most likely repeated it often throughout their busy careers. Some
of us have spent numerous hours thinking about time and how best to use it. A
quick search of "Google" turns up over 800 million hits just for
the word time. Thus, it appears we obsess over it, often trying to
save it, but never have we been able to create it (even though we sometimes
think we have). Someone once said, "People always make time to do the
things they really want to do." Maybe this is true, but more likely it
is true that "time is what we do."
Once, many of us dreamed that technology (ie, computers, scanners, e-mail,
and the Internet) would solve all problems associated with time, but as we
soon found out, these wonderful impersonal assistants only made us more
efficient, freeing us take on more work, raising our own expectations and the
expectations of others, which can also provide more interesting and
complicated ways to waste time.
I remember as a graduate student spending hours each week in the narrow
halls of the library stacks trying to retrieve every possible article on the
key word epididymis. I have since repeated such detailed searches for
Sertoli cell and ductuli efferentes, but I have done so in a
fraction of the time that it took in 1980. During the 1970s, I could not
always afford the $0.10 page charge for photocopies and had to spend more time
taking notes for each article retrieved. At various moments of frustration,
while permitting my tired fingers a rest, I would think, "What a waste
of time. Surely there is a better way to store and retrieve bibliographical
information. There are better ways to spend my time."
When the first mainframe computer became available to graduate students in
biology, I spent hours writing statistical analysis system (SAS) code in an
effort to help store and retrieve bibliographical information. Personal
computers and databases were not readily available in 1980, the year I entered
Clemson University for graduate training. I completed the coding in 1981 and
used the system very effectively until I graduated in 1983. Later, we
presented the program at a meeting of Poultry Science (Hess RA, et al, 1984.
Using the statistical analysis system with full screen product [SAS/ESP] for
bibliographic filing. Poult Sci. 1984;63[suppl 1]:5). Then, within 1
month of completing the coding and having entered all my bibliographical
references while sitting in the "computer lab," IBM introduced the
first "PC," a computer that was truly capable of handling
bibliographies on the desktop in the scientist's office. However, it still
took several years before good reference software became available, but that
did not matter, as it was obvious to most that the PC would make our lives
better and save us many hours of time. Since those early days in my career,
the personal computer has developed exponentially, but what amazes me the most
is the fact that no matter how powerful the computer grows, the scientist is
never satisfied, and time remains a valuable but scarce commodity. We still
dream that technology will cure all diseases created by time.
The irony of such faith in technology is that for every increase in the
speed of the computer processor, there appears to be an equivalent increase in
the complexity of our lives due to increased expectations and demands for
greater productivity. David Norris once stated: "How you spend your time
is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be
corrected, but time is gone forever...." Therefore, how we organize our
time is becoming one of the more important chores as a scientist, and it may
be a task for which trainees should receive instruction. Within the business
community, there are certainly numerous books and courses dealing with the
topic of becoming more effective in time management. However, it appears that
scientists are typically left alone to sort out this area of their lives. We
now receive training in "Ethical Behavior," "Animal
Welfare," and "How to Write a Grant," but never have I seen
a seminar devoted to "Time Management for the Scientist."
Therefore, the following is a short course in time management.
- Surf the Internet only for specific needs, topics of choice, or known
Internet addresses. Carefully organize your e-mail activity. For example, you
may want to answer e-mail only twice each day at work and once at home. For
some, it is possible to respond quickly to e-mail and thus reduce the
backload. However, this can be very distracting, especially with the increase
in SPAM.
- Browse the Internet at leisure only at specified periods of the day or
week. Keep your favorite web addresses well organized within major categories;
otherwise, you will waste a lot of time.
- Use EndNote® (Thomson ResearchSoft, Carlsbad, Calif) for filing
information. Create numerous libraries. I have one called "Hess
Library," which contains over 7000 references. I also have one called
Sertoli, which contains all references to the Sertoli cell, starting with the
original paper in 1865. The most important library is for computer licenses
and passwords. Be sure to use codes for the passwords, however, in case the
file is stolen. Finally, keep a library called "Notes." This has
taken the place of my previous 6 paper notebooks that I have accumulated over
30 years for writing down those silly ideas and experiments that will never
take place. In 1987, I wrote, "maybe estrogen regulates the efferent
ductules," but that is the only note that I am willing to share.
EndNote® is perfect for this type of library because it can be searched
and sorted to find lists that are cross-referenced. One of the most useful is
a file on cell markers; I have one for Sertoli, one for stem cells, and one
for many others. This speeds up my memory when someone calls to ask for an
antibody to mark specific cell types.
- Use an e-mail system, such as Eudora (QualComm, San Diego, Calif), for
maintaining other lists, such as contacts, as well as for gaining rapid access
to grant numbers and items that may be needed while writing e-mails. Having
some of this information within the e-mail program, rather than in the
EndNote® libraries, is a time-saving decision, but such information could
easily be placed in either location, or both. In Eudora's address book, for
example, it has been helpful to have a nickname titled "Hess
medical." Here, I have ready access not only to the rapidly accumulating
number of problems that I am having as I age, but also to present and past
medicines and physician contacts, etc.
- Use synchronizing software (iSync) to maintain files on your laptop
computer that are identical to those on your office and home computers. This
saves hours of time. Also, purchase a calendar system that will permit you to
read the entries from home or wherever you find an Internet browser (I use
iCal).
- Keep a to-do list next to your computer, and cross off every item that you
complete. I like to split the page and keep the longer-term projects on the
right and the short-term chores on the left. The online calendars also are
effective to a point, but they are still not as quick as a good pad of yellow
paper. I have watched some who use PDAs effectively, but it takes time to
become efficient in using them. If you don't spend the time up front, you will
waste a lot of time using them.
The Rolling Stones' lyrics "Time is on my side, yes it is..."
will always ring true in certain parts of our lives, but for the scientist,
time is never on your side. Therefore, we must continually re-evaluate the use
of time and try new ways to make better use of it.
In closing, enjoy the following ageless quotes:
- "I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a
time." Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000), Charlie Brown in
"Peanuts"
- "It is difficult to live in the present, ridiculous to live in the
future, and impossible to live in the past. Nothing is as far away as one
minute ago." Jim Bishop
- "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
Annie Dillard
- "Time spent with cats is never wasted." Colette
- "There is no time like the present." My mother
- "Time makes more converts than reason." Thomas Paine
- "Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and
sometimes you weep...." Carl Sandburg
- "The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a
time.... Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time for that is the stuff
life is made of...." Benjamin Franklin
- "Even a dead clock is perfectly right twice a day. Nobody can be
right all the time." Sri Chinmoy
- "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven; / A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a
time to pluck up that which is planted; / A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up; / A time to weep, and a time to
laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; / A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing; / A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a
time to cast away; / A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak; / A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of
war, and a time of peace." Ecclesiastes 3:1–8
Footnotes
Trainee
Congratulations to the graduating class of 2005, and best of luck to all of
you. For those of you who are still knee-deep in the trenches of training, ask
yourself these important questions: How often do you find yourself behind on
deadlines? Do many days pass and leave you wishing you had a few extra hours
before the sun went down? Is organization something you are always striving
for, but just can't seem to fully achieve? In this issue's Trainee Page, Rex
A. Hess, Professor at the University of Illinois, offers some very helpful
tips for those of us who could use assistance managing our time more
effectively.
