Work less to achieve
more:
lessons from the world’s
most productive researchers

Introduce your neighbour:
• Name
• Expertise or discipline
• What inspires or
motivates them most
as a researcher

A productivity mystery

Become more
productive to spend less
time working. Spend
less time working to
become more
productive.

Lessons from the world’s most
productive researchers
Humility
Trust

Lessons from the world’s most
productive researchers
More than a third of UK
academics responding to a 2012
UCU survey said that they worked
more than 50 hours a week. Two
years later, that figure had risen to
more than two in five.

Spend time every day or week
working directly on your most
important priorities. Even if you
only spend 10 minutes, the
impact of making incremental
but regular progress can
transform your levels of
motivation, and help you
become significantly more
focused.

Say “yes” to say “no”
Recall your most Stretching,
Motivational, Authentic,
Relational and Tailored goal
and the things you need to
prioritize to reach it. Imagine
yourself reaching those goals
and be inspired. Say
“yes” to that, and you
will discover that
saying “no” to
everything else
becomes easy

Don’t let your newfound ability
to say “no” make you selfish.
Spend time helping others too.
You don’t have to spend the
majority of your working day
prioritizing your own stuff, but
make a habit of prioritizing the
things that are most important
to you on a regular basis.

Where we draw the line between
work and home is largely
arbitrary. There will always be
unfinished tasks on our to-do
list, no matter how late we work.
You cannot work well without
resting well. If you are serious
about becoming
more productive, you
need to become
serious about resting
well.

My story
Why are you a researcher?

1. Identify whether there are
unhelpful stories you tell about
yourself and loosen your grip on
them
2. Look for evidence-based, new
stories based on your strengths
and achievements and linked to
your values
3. Work hard to replace unhelpful
stories with more helpful ones,
looking for new
supporting evidence
to help it
outcompete the
old, unhelpful
story

Your story

Draw an identity pie chart
(here’s mine)

Exercise 1
• Draw a circle
• List parts of your identity
• Put most important ones into pie chart
• Size of segment = importance to you (not time
spent)
• Write underpinning values next to each segment
– Some segments may be values
– Some may not link to values
– If you are struggling to get to the level of values, think of
qualities, character traits, beliefs or principles that
underpin them

Reconsider how your identity as
a researcher fits into your
broader identity as a person,
which parts of your identity link
to your values and are most
important to you, and how much
time you spend in each part of
your identity

Exercise 2
• Redraw pie chart making
each segment
proportional to the amount
of time you spend on
average being that part of
yourself
– Some segments may
disappear
– Some will be new
• Are the segments that are
smaller/absent in your
time chart linked to
important values?
• What could you do to
spend more time in these
areas?

My identity pie
(top) versus my
time pie (bottom)

Spend more time doing things
that are aligned with your
identity and values if you want to
reconnect with yourself, and
reaffirm (or reshape) your
identity and values. If you don’t,
then you run the risk of
becoming what you spend your
time on

What are your priorities?
• Identify important identities
(large segments) and
values
• Consider which of these
you feel the loss of most
keenly (if they’re squeezed)
• Identify your top 1-3
priorities
• Identify at least
one action to
take you
closer

Make a short cut to the lessons
that you have learned about
yourself, summing up your
identity and values in a single,
memorable guiding principle (or
empowering word, phrase,
metaphor, image or motto) ready
to call to mind when you are
faced with your next big decision

Exercise 3 (for later or over lunch)
• Look over your pie charts
• Sum up your identity and
values in a single,
memorable, empowering
word, phrase, metaphor,
image or motto
• Short and memorable for
easy access
• Example…

Empathy

Knowledge through love;
love through knowledge

Building on the things you
identified to align the time you
spend with your identity and
values in Exercise 2, come up
with more actions, including
things you want to spend doing
and being, in the short and longer
term

Change how
the majority
of
researchers
in the world
generate and
share
knowledge
so they can
change the
world
Lead my research
teams with
empathy and
humility
Become a global
thought leader
through my
books, magazine,
podcast, blog,
social media and
training
Grow a research
team that can
generate new
evidence for
training while
freeing up my
time
Spend more
time training
researchers,
with my family
and in spiritual
practice
Obtain
research
funding
Write 4* papers
Gain new
experiences
generating impact
from my research
Retain and
build
credibility
as
research
leader
Create stable
jobs for my
business team
and empower
them to achieve
their aspirations
Motivate the
team to achieve
more and get
better work-life
balance
Be an
inspirational
academic
and
business
leader
Engage with
more
researchers via
social media,
podcast, vlog,
magazine and
blog, and sell
more books and
courses
Experience
peace and
contentment
Be the father
and husband
I want to be
Run the
world’s
largest
research
impact
training
company,
reaching into
the majority of
the world’s
Universities
by 2020
Being steps
Doing steps
Key:
My Theory of Change

Exercise 4
• Identify what you want to spend time doing and being (e.g.
doing a new role, being more confident) in the short and
long-term to align your identity and time pie charts
• Visualise a day in your future when you are doing and
being these things, and compare to a day this month:
– Which aspects are most similar/dissimilar to imagined future?
– Do you ever get glimpses of that ideal future? What are you
doing when this happens? How could you do more of this?
– Can you build on things that are already taking you to that future
(e.g. personality traits, processes or actions)?
– What aspects of your current reality are furthest (or taking you)
away from your ideal future? Can you do anything about them?
• What practical steps might you take to start getting to
where you have visualized?

Before making a plan, see if
you could aim higher to
make a more motivational
plan. Are the things you
want to do and be in your
idealised future Stretching,
Motivating, Authentic,
Relational and Tailored to
your unique strengths and
capabilities?

Stretching
Develop goals that stretch you. Even if you only
get part way there, your progress will bring you
rewards that will increase your confidence and
sense of self-efficacy, which in turn will increase
the likelihood that you build on your progress and
get even closer to your goal

Motivating
Make goals that motivate you. Often the thing that
holds us back is not a lack of resources or ability,
but a lack of ambition. We need aspirations that
are inspirational enough to push us to the next
level of thinking and action

Authentic
Don’t adopt someone else’s goals; instead,
develop your own goals which are authentic to
your dreams and abilities, which you believe you
can achieve. People who believe in themselves
set higher goals that they are more committed to,
find more effective strategies for reaching their
goals, and are more likely to respond well to
negative feedback when things don’t go according
to plan

Relational
Develop goals that are other-regarding rather than
self-regarding. Consider how achieving your goals
could create win-wins for others around you. Living
life in service to goals that are purely self-seeking
can become one-dimensional and emotionally
draining over time, compared to relational goals
that seek to benefit others, which emotionally
energize and inspire

Tailored
Tailor your goals to your unique values and
abilities. Make sure your goals build on,
consolidate or enact your values and identity,
rather than taking you further away from who you
are or want to be. Make sure your goals build on
your strengths, seeking these out and reminding
yourself of your capabilities as you seek your goals

Exercise 5

Four steps
To take achievable
action towards goals
✔
✔

Identify activities
1. List activities and identify
the first experiments
you’ll try to reach your
goal (we’ll do this next)
2. Map pathways:
backtrack from your goal
to the activity/step that
immediately precedes it,
keep going till you reach
where you are now. Look
for alternative more
effective pathways (I’ll
provide an example)

Change how
the majority
of
researchers
in the world
generate and
share
knowledge
so they can
change the
world
Lead my research
teams with
empathy and
humility
Become a global
thought leader
through my
books, magazine,
podcast, blog,
social media and
training
Grow a research
team that can
generate new
evidence for
training while
freeing up my
time
Spend more
time training
researchers,
with my family
and in spiritual
practice
Obtain
research
funding
Write 4* papers
Gain new
experiences
generating impact
from my research
Retain and
build
credibility
as
research
leader
Create stable
jobs for my
business team
and empower
them to achieve
their aspirations
Motivate the
team to achieve
more and get
better work-life
balance
Be an
inspirational
academic
and
business
leader
Engage with
more
researchers via
social media,
podcast, vlog,
magazine and
blog, and sell
more books and
courses
Experience
peace and
contentment
Be the father
and husband
I want to be
Run the
world’s
largest
research
impact
training
company,
reaching into
the majority of
the world’s
Universities
by 2020
Being steps
Doing steps
Key:
My Theory of Change

Innovate
Experiment: try out the
first ideas on your list to
create concrete
experiences that you can
learn from, and as new
ideas arise from what you
learn, you try these ideas
out in successive
experiments that take you
ever closer to your goal

Innovate
Learn and adapt: learn
from experiments that go
wrong rather than viewing
them as mistakes
Start small and grow:
start your experiments
small in safe spaces with
people you trust, learning
what works before going
big

Exercise 6
Try something new (experiment):
• Review actions from your SMART goals sheet or the
identity/time pie exercise
• Choose one work and one personal (easy) action you
could start in the next month or two
• Design an activity/experiment:
– What do you want to achieve that will take you towards your
priorities?
– What will you do or be to achieve this?
– How will you know if it isn’t working so you can adapt?
– If it works, what future activity might you build on this, to take
you even closer to your priorities?

Next steps
• Support:
– Can I follow-up to see where you are in 1-3
months from now? Or,
– Who else could you share your goals with?

Conclusion

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@fasttrackimpact

Get a reply from Mark to any query within 1 week:
send via Madie (pa@fasttrackimpact.com)
www.fasttrackimpact.com
@fasttrackimpact

How to write a highly cited paper

Introduction
• You don’t have to be a Prof to write a highly cited
paper
• I learned how to write a highly cited paper during
my PhD and as a result have 10 PhD papers cited
>100 times
• I regularly write for more specific audiences where
attempting to generalize will reduce the value of
my work for them
• However, writing the odd highly cited paper
doesn’t do your career any harm
• My approach works for most disciplines but it is
unlikely to work if you are in arts and humanities

My Google Scholar profile

Demonstrate three things
• Make the significance, originality and
rigour explicit
• Argue the case and evidence your claims
• Make the claims prominent e.g. summary,
introduction and/or conclusion
• Where possible, push back with stronger
arguments to retain these points if
challenged by reviewers
• For example…

Text extracted from introduction of Stringer LC, Reed MS, Fleskens :, Thomas RJ, Le QB, Lala-
Pritchard T (2017) A new dryland development paradigm grounded in empirical analysis of
dryland systems science. Land degradation and Development

Text extracted from introduction, abstract and conclusion of de Vente J, Reed MS*, Stringer LC,
Valente S, Newig J (2016) How does the context and design of participatory decision-making
processes affect their outcomes? Evidence from sustainable land management in global
drylands. Ecology & Society 21 (2):24

Text extracted from introduction, discussion and conclusion of Reed MS, Allen K, Dougill AJ,
Evans, K, Stead SM, Stringer LC, Twyman C, Dunn H, Smith C, Rowecroft P, Smith S, Atlee
AC, Scott AS, Smyth MA, Kenter J, Whittingham MJ (2017) A Place-Based Approach to
Payments for Ecosystem Services. Global Environmental Change 43: 92-106

The power of a good title
• Shorter titles (ideally <90 characters) get
more citations (Letchford et al., 2015)
• Make your title as ambitious as possible
without overstating claims
• Make particulars (e.g. specific systems or
geographical locations) more general
where possible
• For example…
Before After
Consultancy ToR: Synthesis
Publication on CGIAR Research
Program on Dryland Systems – Legacy
and Future Recommendations
Sounds like consultancy/review work
A new dryland development paradigm
grounded in empirical analysis of
dryland systems science
Sounds like new empirical work that
makes a theoretical contribution
Project title: Involved - what makes
stakeholder participation in
environmental management work?
Sounds like a general introduction or
literature review
How does the context and design of
participatory decision making
processes affect their outcomes?
Evidence from sustainable land
management in global drylands
New empirical work answering
specific question of global significance
Report title: The UK Peatland Code
pilot phase evaluation
Sounds like national significance only
A place-based approach to Payments
for Ecosystem Services
Sounds more internationally relevant

Summary

How to spend less time online

1. Curate your digital footprint
 Focus on platforms that give you maximum
reward for minimum time input
2. Monitor your social media use:
 See if you can save time in your working day
 Ask “should I be doing something else”
3. Know why you’re online
 Get yourself a social media strategy
Three ways to spend less time online

 Audit your profile
 Your University profile
 Your other online identities
 Prune/cultivate your online identities
 Remove/make private non-professional ID
 Bring coherence via a central connecting
identity e.g. University profile, LinkedIn,
personal homepage using Wix or similar
 Focus on platforms that give you most benefit
for least time input…
1. Curate your digital footprint

Try an experiment:
 Try an experiment:
 How big is your news-shaped hole?
 Try replacing it with tailored news and other
content via Twitter
 See if you become more efficient in your
intake of news whilst adding value to your
network
2. Monitor your social media use

Average week day news intake:Average week day news intake
90 minutes 35 minutes…
…including active
engagement & outreach via
social media
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn

1. What offline impacts do you want to achieve via
social media?
2. Who are you trying to reach, what are they
interested in & what platforms are they on?
3. How can you make your content actionable,
shareable and rewarding for those who interact
with you, so you can start building relationships and
move the conversation from social media to real
life?
4. Who can you work with to make your use of social
media more efficient and effective?
3. Get yourself a social media strategy

The numbers game
1. Set up a professional (project or thematic)
account(s) from which you can promote research
to specific audiences
1. Curate your top 3 tweets; follow/unfollow
strategy
2. Read and engage from your personal account
The numbers game

Social media
strategy
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Training by researchers for researchers
www.fasttrackimpact.com
@fasttrackimpact