Achieving professional success is sometimes far in the distance. In this post, we talk to Ricardo Duarte, an industrial PhD student at Imperial College London about how the Grid method helped him feel confident and achieve professional success.
Whether you’re leaping into a new career venture or are simply trying to steer the current course, we have the perfect method to put your priorities in order and support you in delivering results on healthy terms.
We’ve invited Ricardo Duarte to sum up his experience using the Grid method and give you an example of switching from ideas to action.
Ricardo discovered the Grid method by attending our Grid – PhD student success workshop. The four Grid quadrants are currently helping him structure his time into:
- research work;
- his personal life, such as meetings with friends;
- career development – Ricardo’s ideas for his future beyond the PhD now have a space to be considered: they no longer drain his energy as some nebulous uncertain future;
- time off to recharge his mind, body, and spirit and delve into personal hobbies.
Why professional success was hard to achieve before
Ricardo mentions that upon starting his PhD, he had put together a To-Do list that would have actually taken a whole three years to achieve. While the idea seemed sound, in practice, such a list proved overwhelming and paralizing.
My lists were not constant at all, and that was not very helpful.
Ricardo Duarte
He was so concentrated on his wish list that he did not realise most of his tasks were actually goals. This is where the Grid can help achieve professional success because it allows us to link goals with actual tasks. The gridding process starts out with making a Yearly or Monthly Grid, which is the perfect place to catch those longer-term goals and aspirations. Then, you ‘downsize’ your practice into Weekly or Daily Grids, respectively to convert them into tasks. It is this step that actually creates focus on getting things done! By having your goals in mind and pursuing bite-sized tasks you can do in one sitting, the Grid is the perfect system to help you take concrete actions towards your desired future.
How you can get results with the Grid method
We asked Ricardo, ‘In what way did the Grid help you most?’, to which he replied:
To separate all of my passions and crazy ideas in a way that could actually integrate in my future plans.
Ricardo Duarte
Adding goals into your planning that you’re super passionate about gives you a bullet-proof productivity method. The Grid helps by coaching you into getting things done, staying in balance, looking after yourself and your wellbeing, and fundamentally making better decisions, over time.
If you commit to using the Grid, you will soon notice how your days have more flow, your activities less drag, and you gain more confidence over being able to complete tasks that were never there before. Hence, we can safely say that Gridding develops critical inner strength and self-awareness along with your vision, ideas, and plans – this is the key ingredient for having a life and career that’s both successful and balanced.
Grid can help you not to overload your work days with tasks that would take 3 years to complete. Over the course of one week, I noticed that having very specific goals which you can complete was much more helpful.
Ricardo Duarte
A method that can help you do well and feel well
If you’re a young professional or a PhD student, you will no doubt need a system to keep you organized, on track and motivated! The Grid method helps you develop your ideas into tangible results, while keeping track of what’s achievable and how you can best use your time to manage the tasks and also recharge. You’ve got all the space you need to fully take care of your personal life, work, your career aspirations and most importantly, yourself. We invite you to explore how a Grid can change your life, like Ricardo did.
Achieve Professional Success with these Resources
1. Grid Introduction Course you can start today!
A great way to start is our Grid Introduction Training – this is an immersive, self-paced online course designed to:
- walk you through the Grid basics,
- help you set excellent foundations with helpful worksheets,
- get you on your way to managing your aspirations in a creative, yet organized manner.
We’ve got a blog that details the course here. This is the best way to support your professional success right now, yet at your own pace. Why wait?
2. Get Productive Grid Book
If you’re more comfortable with reading or listening, Dr. Magdalena Bak-Maier’s Get Productive: Grid book is another great way to get started with the Grid method. Both the course and book are suitable for first-time Grid users, but each has unique exercises and different content.
3. A live 90-min power session and connecting with like-minded people
If you’re unsure which to choose, you can always sign up to our Grid Clinic. The Grid Clinic is a wonderful 90min small group powerful coaching session to help get you introduced to the power of this method and help you move from where you are towards more clarity and structure.
Parting thoughts
Let’s face it. It’s never too late or too early to focus on being well and doing well. This is especially key when we’re making that initial transition from school to a professional job. Such transitions can be hard to make but at Make Time Count, we’re dedicated to helping you thrive because we believe in the power of the human spirit. We just know that we all do better when we have the right tools and we can help with this. The rest is up to you!
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