When I was contemplating writing this post, the general idea in my head was to talk about the long and arduous path - and Robert Frost’s “road less traveled by” being the difference. This was all I could think of for motivating anyone who is currently thinking, wants to, or has already embarked on this journey. The pattern of the advice was set in my head, its hard work, its the road less travelled, but its going to make the difference. Never did I ever imagine that mid PhD, Robert Frost would make less sense, and Sarah Jessica Parker from Sex and the City would make more. My PhD path till now has boiled down to some extremely relatable words by her :
So many roads. So many detours. So many choices. So many mistakes.
More than 3 years in, I feel these words summarize the trials, tribulations, the wasted time, small successes and that ray of hope, and soon the quashing of that hope due to the burden of what seems like hacking my way through a dense forest to find something. All of this to realize that I don’t really know what I am looking for. Its a tough ask and along the way I found small motivations, guides written by “giants” whose shoulders I could possibly stand on to find the way. I realze that most of the people in this domain went through the same thing and it would have been such a blessing had I discovered some of these gems a little earlier so that I had a little more sanity and a little more hair on my head.
I am going to list all the tools that I found that made my life a lot easier by
- Putting things in perspective
- Showing me that I was not the only one that went through these cycles (its an important ingredient for self-belief)
- Giving me small, tangible, task based advice that I implemented which I believe helped me a lot.
I came across these treasure troves that helped me out a lot and my aim for posting this is that it may help someone else out as well. All sources are duly credited and I recommend you check them out.
-
What is a PhD? A Perspective by Matt Might. Illustrated Guide on how to Survice a PhD Although for the purposes of my post, this slideshow is concise and what I wanted to convey, but I highly recommend browsing and reading his articles. His story is immense, his advice is brilliant and the topics that he discusses are practical.
-
An extremely thorough guide on why you should think about getting a PhD, why it might not be for you, how to apply, what to do once you are in to prepare yourself and most importantly, how to survive it. A Survival Guide to a PhD by Andrej Karpathy.
-
On similar lines as Andrej’s article, this is another comprehensive guide that talks about the entire process with great insights about the qualities necessary to make it through a PhD program. “So long, and thanks for the Ph.D.!” by Ronald Azuma. What makes it stand out for me are the thoughtful quotes that light up each section. My favorite one was the introductory Chinese proverb: “To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” As he says in his TL;DR, If you spend 15 minutes reading the rest of this guide, you might increase your chances of successfully completing the Ph.D. and finishing earlier.
-
It is important to have some feel good PhD humor sources to get you through those times where you feel nothing is going right. Its a fine line though, you don’t want it to be that never ending ditch of meme’s that you can’t climb out of. My go to places are Shit Academics Say on Twitter and PhD Comics.
-
Its tough to say this when you have too much to do and seemingly too little time : but have a life outside your PhD. Act like a normal human being, read those news sources The Wall Street Journal, spend time with your family, go to the movies and anything else that you can afford :smile:
The list is definitely not exhaustive and I’ll see if I can find ways to keep updating it without making it too cumbersome anyone reading. At the end of the day, the purpose is to learm, have a better job offer, and biggest of all, be done ! Good luck !
