The PhD Knowledge Base

Your PhD is a monster

Dr. Max Lempriere

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If there’s one thing you need a lot of during your PhD it’s resilience.

It’s helpful to think of your PhD as a monster that’s trying its best to knock you off your feet (and keep you there).

Sometimes it’s successful – it throws curveballs your way that you weren’t expecting. Not always, but sometimes.

But the more you get knocked down, the better you become at resisting the blows in the first place and then getting back on your feet when you fall. Practice makes perfect, and over time you become more resilient.

So it pays to assume things won’t go to plan. Always plan for Plan B, and expect that you’ll get things wrong. Never assume you’ll sail through things, or that everything will go according to plan. It won’t, and you need to be prepared for that (and kind to yourself when it happens).

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