| I did a phd and really enjoyed it, a lot of my friends did as well and hated it. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter: Note this advice is only if you're average or feel average. If you're a superstar and you know it please disregard (but in that case you're probably not reading this anyway). 1) I had a professor who was very strong in the field and could point me to high impact work and steer me clear of useless activities. 2) I got a good stipend. I do not recommend borrowing money or living wretchedly for a phd. 3) My professor hit a good balance between pushing me to work harder and puling back when I felt I was going to hard. 4) I avoided doing much work as a TA as much as possible. I did the minimum amount that delivered reasonable value to the class and the students. 5) I avoided working weekends and the evenings. Conversely I put a lot of pressure on myself to do work during work hours. 6) I would occasionally work holidays and weekends (this only applies to European phds which get 5+ weeks of vacation. Do not go below three weeks vacation. ) 7) I did not try to be "a hero " I didn't do crazy ideas without discussing with my professor first. I didn't take more than the minimum amount of classes and select material that seemed extremely relevant. 8) I worked a job first (2 years). This made me really appreciate my phd a lot more and gave me a lot of much needed time management and interpersonal work skills. 9) i avoided reinventing the wheel at all costs. 10) I learned to say no and said no often 11) I always yes to social activities 12) I did hiking on the weekend and running during the week. 13) I prepared for a non academic career often. 14) on special occasions I would disregard all the above and work really hard on something. I cannot say how often this happens and it's kind of a spiritual question. Probably no more then 3-4 times a year is sustainable and sometimes not even every year. My goal the whole time was to be a 'forgettable' student. Forgettable in that I tried to avoid being memorably good and avoided being memorably bad. Of course there were genius peers I worked with and worked the weekends and evenings. I think this was right for them as the act gave them joy and they were producing great results. Conversely some people ground too hard and still didn't have very much to show. If in doubt and you're freaking out do less. If you're not in doubt and you're getting complacent do more. |
15) I made time to do whatever impulsive thing my mind felt like doing in my free time. I love video games and after a decade avoiding them because I felt like they were a waste of time, I got back into them.
16) I still had total freak outs from time to time. I vividly remember googling plumbing classes at community College. (Nothing wrong with plumbing! I bet for 10% of readers the right answer is to drop out of your phd and go into trades)
17) try not to get drunk too often or high too often. A bit on Friday is ok (you need to self monitor)