PhD Life

Mastering work habits during your PhD.

Good work habits are important throughout our professional careers. Your PhD offers you a chance to perfect them. Knowing how to manage your motivation, time, productivity, and prevent burnout whilst also ensuring you keep developing is key to thriving in any career whether that be in academia or beyond.

Pomodoro Technique to enhance your PhD productivity.

The pomodoro technique is a popular method to improve productivity whilst keeping you motivated. This post provides a succinct breakdown of the pomodoro technique, how to use it, the evidence to support it plus a few handy apps to help you implement this into your daily routine.

Tips for your PhD final year.

PhD final year is that last leg of the race. This is where we reap the rewards of our hard work. This post strips it all back, exploring two core objectives that you need to focus on to bring your PhD home and set you up for success afterwards.

Setting goals for the year ahead.

It’s always great to focus on setting goals for the year or the months ahead. This post provides a framework on how to identify your goals, which direction to move in, and more importantly, how to construct and design your goals so they can be fulfilled.

Optimising your PhD productivity.

Productivity is a constant battle and challenge we all want to get better at. Being able to optimise this during our PhD but also outside of our profession can really lead to more positive and impactful outcomes in the long term. This post provides some tips to take your productivity to the next level.

Tips for your PhD first year.

Rather than figuring out how to make the best start to your PhD first year on your own, we’ve condensed down our top tips to help you hit the ground running and set yourself up for success in the long-term.

Redefining a healthy work-life balance for your PhD and beyond.

Identifying what a healthy work-life balance is integral to having long-term career happiness. PhDs find themselves with poor working hours which comes at a cost. Certainly, work-life balance should be a key consideration when making career choices.

Reigniting your PhD motivation.

Losing motivation during your PhD is almost guaranteed. Taking a break for a short period of time won’t do any harm in the long run, however when we lose motivation for too long we need to find a way to get back into the groove.

Managing your finances during your PhD.

Managing your finances during your PhD can be one of the biggest challenges whilst studying. Learning how to live below your means and better manage your money is essential to creating positive habits for your future.

Battling PhD perfectionism.

Academic environments and PhDs can be catalysts for perfectionism, a feeling most PhD students are familiar with. Fortunately, overcoming perfectionism is mainly centred around how you frame and think about your goals.

Refining your PhD presentation style.

Doing a presentation during your PhD is inevitable. This post provides tips on how to improve your storytelling to engage your audience and hit your message home. Containing two free downloadable templates that you can use.

Pushing past PhD writer’s block.

Writer’s block shows up for almost everyone during their PhD. This post provides some guidance on how to push past it and improve your productivity.

Combatting PhD analysis paralysis.

Analysis paralysis is that feeling where we over analyse, keep tinkering, and ultimately avoid following through or submitting a piece of work. This post provides a breakdown of analysis paralysis and a useful analogy on how to overcome it.

The importance of setting boundaries & saying no during your PhD.

Setting boundaries and saying no during your PhD encourages others to take accountability for their work, provides you with better time management, and enables you to focus on the things that really matter.

Hacking PhD procrastination.

Procrastination during your PhD shows up for everyone. It’s important to check in with yourself to see why you’re avoiding certain tasks. On occasion, you might actually be able to use your procrastination to your advantage – read more to find out how.

Should I quit my PhD?

Wanting to quit your PhD is a normal thought, almost every PhD student has a moment when they want to quit. This post provides some additional thinking points when deciding whether this is the right decision for you.

Setting yourself up for PhD success.

Doing a PhD is one thing, but how should you maximise this opportunity to achieve PhD success? This post provides a break down on what to prioritise and how to make the most of your PhD for the long term.

Preparing for your PhD viva.

Preparing for your PhD viva or defence can be extremely stressful. This post gives you some tips and tricks on how to prepare, be ready, and nail it!

Taking a break from your PhD.

Taking a break from your PhD can be unfamiliar and difficult. Sometimes we need a break to be imposed on us. But when we get some breathing room, what should we do with it?

Managing your PhD supervisor.

Learning how to manage your PhD supervisor is a difficult yet important part of your PhD. This post outlines some tips on how to manage them.

How to write your PhD thesis.

Writing your PhD thesis can be a confusing and overwhelming task. It’s essential to look into what a PhD thesis actually consists of and what your university’s requirements are. After this, it’s all about starting early and pacing yourself. A free downloadable progress tracker is also included.

How to get published during your PhD.

Getting published during your PhD should be a key goal. This post outlines six steps on how to do it successfully.

The importance of writing throughout your PhD.

The importance of writing throughout your PhD can pay you dividends in the long run. Not only can it help maximise your published research outputs, but it can also save you valuable writing time for your thesis.

PhD burnout and what to do when it arises.

PhD burnout happens to all of us during our PhD. Feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, drained, and overwhelmed is often due to chronic stress. Take a minute to stop and create some down time for yourself.

Developing better interpersonal skills during your PhD.

Having good interpersonal skills is essential to having a successful career, especially if you plan to leave academia. During your PhD, it’s important that you don’t neglect your interpersonal skills, you should be making a conscious effort to improve them!

Time management tips for your PhD.

Tips on how to have good time management throughout your PhD. Stop spreading yourself too thinly, overcome your guilt, and start paying attention to the quality instead of the quantity of your work.

Explaining your PhD to your friends and family.

Explaining your PhD to others can be difficult as they don’t always understand what a PhD is. This post breaks down how to explain your PhD in ways that make sense to everyone.

Creating the perfect conference poster.

A step-by-step guide on how to create the perfect conference poster.

The benefits of teaching during your PhD.

Teaching during your PhD improves your employability, gives you a break from your own PhD, and can help generate a bit of extra cash.

Imposter syndrome during and after your PhD.

The challenges and solutions to dealing with imposter syndrome during and after your PhD.

Black Lives Matter (in Academia).

Black Lives Matter – a viewpoint of racial inequalities in academia.

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