PhDs: a survival guide

 A five-step survival guide for all those who are about to start a PhD.

1. Eat healthily and exercise regularly. I know this sounds kind of intuitive, but your mental health is likely to take a beating throughout your PhD, so you might as well ensure you are at least physically healthy. Regular exercise is always a pain and a struggle, so perhaps consider joining a club so that the exercise is regular and there are people motivating you to push on. Also, don't fall into the trap of eating junk food because it is convenient, plan ahead so that when you are about to collapse after a long day at uni there is already a frozen meal ready to re-heat. Trust me, sitting behind a computer or a microscope all day, you will put on the pounds if you don't look after yourself.
2. Make time for social events. Without your mates you will have no one to bounce ideas off and just let off some steam with. During your PhD, it is likely your friends become your surrogate family, but to have friends you have to be a friend. So, try your best to turn up to events.
3. Organisation from the beginning. You've all heard it before and I reiterate: if you fall behind due to unforeseen problems, prior planning and staying on top of things will likely help you to meet that deadline or give you some time to come up with a contingency plan.
4. Choose a supervisory team and your readers wisely. So often I have seen students who have supervisors that are too busy, or just plain too scary to talk to. Furthermore, a friend of mine was dragged over the coals by an annoying reader for no apparent reason, there were no criticisms or feedback, just contradictions to the other readers because he/she could. If someone gives you a tip-off that a potential reader or supervisor is busy or unlikely to give you good feedback, can them. Don't waste your time.



If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't...

5. If something doesn't feel right, stop, and reconsider your options. We've all heard a story about someone who did something in their PhD because their supervisor wanted them too, even though the student didn't feel it was right, then 3 years later the student finds out their gut feeling was right and they wasted 3 years doing something fruitless. IT'S TRUE. I know eight people where this has happened to them. If you feel uneasy or there are too many gaps in your experiment or model, sort the problem out immediately. Don't wait it out just because your supervisor says it will be fine. Time is a precious, precious commodity.

Spring cleaning

Ah Spring, how I love thee! The smell of flowers, the warmth of the sun, the displays of reproductive prowess in animals of all kinds.... and then to be stuck in an office. To address this issue, I've been dragging out some journal articles and highlighters to find an excuse to sit guilty-free on the grass outside. My excuse is that I need to brush-up on what I call "old knowledge" - the things that you should know, and did know, but have forgotten as they fell in line behind all the other things you should know. I'm calling it my "mental spring cleaning", dusting off old knowledge and putting it, nice and fresh, back where it belongs.

I've been working on fixing up my files of data (so that I can run better models) while I wait (still!) for equipment that I need to run my selection experiments with Drosophila serrata. It's been a long and tedious process, and I still have plenty data to go through. I keep telling myself that no matter what, I can only improve the quality of my research through repeatedly re-doing it. The only problem is pushing through the boredom and the lack of motivation. I always complain about it, but writing is not so bad, and I look forward to getting back to the stage I was at a few months ago where I was writing. My motivation at this point is derived from small self-rewards for reaching a "mini-goal", rewards such as a can of coke, or a walk through a park. My first mini-goal for today was to make a list of mini-goals. Check. I got a can of coke. I am winning!