This is the schedule that I'm sticking to for the rest of graduate school (with some modifications per semester). I'm putting it here to stake a claim and for you to hold me to it. Tomorrow is day 1. TANK MODE!
Master Schedule
MASTER LIST // DAILY
8 – 9 AM VIROLOGY, 15 MIN BOOK / 45 MIN NOTES (replace on Friday with reading background info for experimental techniques being used or reading an instrument manual - i.e. know the why behind the protocol. After spring semester, this slot will be taken up by a textbook of choice - probably next is Cell Bio.)
DAILY PAPER – DID YOU READ IT? (Grad student Daniel Stabley told me as a 1st year that the top 10% of grad students will read a paper a day. I want to be in that top percent.)
AMINO ACIDS – 10 MIN STUDY (I've almost mastered the amino acids structures. This study is to make sure it stays that way, and I continually remember their abbreviations and pKa's.)
FEEDLY – 10 MIN SKIM (I'm now following the RSS feed of a large number of journals. By skimming them, I can keep up with topics / subjects that are published.)
MASTER LIST // WEEKLY
MONDAY 4 PM SEMINAR (Just so I don't go brainless and forget this required seminar.)
REVIEW NOTES AFTER CLASS, T/TH (Always smart. Was something I did in college. Why not now?)
TAKE THE CUME (Two more points left to go!)
DID YOU READ A PAPER OUTSIDE FIELD? (I want to read broadly.)
MASTER LIST // FRIDAYS
UPDATE TABLE OF CONTENTS (I have a table of contents for my lab notebook, with comments, and page numbers listing important points. I've kept doing this since I've started so far, per the advice of a post-doc friend.)
REVIEW PAPERS READ – 30 MIN (This is so that I don't forget what I read during the week.)