Three Years into a PhD - Here's What I've Learned

[PSJayhawk]

1. Have a system. I have over 1,000 academic articles and books in my (printed + digital) in my library.  Have a system for storing and naming them (e.g., Smith2001). Have a system for managing citations (Zotero works well). Have system for summarizing every article/book you read (an annotated bibliography works well). Have a system for everything.

2. Mental health – the struggle is real. Before starting my PhD I served three combat tours in the military with no mental health issues. I thought all the talk about grad student mental health problems did not apply to me. I was wrong. There is always a paper or a dissertation or a (insert whatever) hanging over you. It's hard to disengage your mind. It's hard to be "present" with your significant other. And you always feel like you're the dumbest person in the room. The struggle is real - be prepared for it and seek help if needed.

3. Trust your professors. You may question why a professor is having you do this or that, or making this or that recommendation.  Don't - just try it. They've been there and done that, and there is a reason they ask you to do things a certain way. Don't let the stories of bad relationships with advisors scare you - the vast majority of professors are great people with your best interests at heart. Trust them.

4. Play team ball. Cooperate and graduate. Get to know your cohort. Many of them will have skills you lack, and many will need skills you have. Not only will others help you succeed, but working with your cohort will remind you that you aren't alone. There is friendship to be found in shared suffering.

5. Write strategically.  Try to write everything with a purpose. Have to do a paper for a class? Write it on something that could become a dissertation chapter. Have to do a literature review? Do it on something that helps you study for final exams. Have to do some quantitative analysis? Analyze some data that might provide an interesting context for your thesis.  Try not to write anything that doesn't take you somewhere.