Tips for managing your PhD

Olga Tereszkowska-Kaminska MSci

As a final year PhD student, soon to be submitting my thesis (fingers crossed!), I feel I have successfully completed my doctoral research.  Over the past four years, I have developed new techniques to find novel histone modifications, and, though at times challenging, it has been such a rewarding experience. The first couple of years involved a steep learning curve as I tried to figure out how to find a good work-life balance. I would like to share a few tips I learnt during my PhD, which may help you too. Whether you are just starting your PhD or are already halfway through, I hope my personal experiences will help you succeed! 

Tip one: Plan your week 

Although this may seem obvious, I can’t emphasise enough how important this simple task is. Taking some time on a Monday morning to write to-do lists for each day that week gave me so much peace of mind. Since I knew my day already had a rough plan, my mind was free to relax during my morning walk to work. I am prone to overthinking, and if you are too, I highly recommend writing down your tasks for the day. That way you don’t have to constantly hold an imaginary to-do list in your brain and stress about forgetting something (which happened way too many times over the past few years). Another great perk of this is that you get to look back at all the items you ticked off at the end of the week and feel great about how much you’ve done. This way you can go into the weekend satisfied and ready to have a much-needed rest. 

Tip two: Ask for help 

A PhD is full of problems that you must solve, and if you haven’t encountered them yet, you will. But remember – this is normal! You are training to become an expert in your PhD topic, and overcoming problems with your research is a key part of this. But the chances are you are surrounded by other PhDs and Postdocs who have answers to your conundrums, so use them! They are happy to help and have probably been where you are right now. If they don’t have the technical knowledge to help with your problem, then sometimes even explaining what you’re struggling with to them can help you work out what the next step might be. It’s crazy how many times I was struggling with an experiment by myself, only to mention it to someone and then immediately solving the issue I was having. So don’t make my mistake – instead, go and ask for help! Away from the PhD, help remains readily available. If you are going through a hard time during you PhD, make sure to lean on your family and friends. They don’t have to understand your research topic to be there for you when you need them. The university also provides a counselling service which I highly recommend. There is no shame in asking for help when you need it: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/studentsupport/mental-wellbeing/counselling-service/ 

Tip three: Have hobbies 

The key to surviving the PhD is to sometimes forget about it. Take time in the evenings or weekends to do something else. Being active is one of the best ways to switch off, whether that be taking a dancing class (I highly recommend Mersey Swing!) or getting a membership at one of the university gyms. You’ll get a chance to meet people from outside of academia and explore more of Liverpool. It’s sometimes difficult to remember that life outside your PhD exists, but getting out of that bubble is so beneficial for your mental health. 

I hope that these tips are helpful and that the rest of your PhD is just as rewarding as it was for me. Time really does fly, and you’ll be at the end before you know it, having learnt so much about yourself and your research. Good luck and make the most of it!