The PhD Knowledge Base

When things go wrong you’re probably also to blame.

Dr. Max Lempriere

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When things go wrong with our PhDs, we can often try to look outside of ourselves to find someone to blame.

If we get negative feedback during a supervision, we can blame the supervisor for not reading our work properly or failing to understand what we are saying.

Or, if we miss a deadline or feel overwhelmed, we can blame outsiders for excessive workloads.

While other people may have played a role in whatever misfortune you find yourself experiencing, often we also forget to look at the role we have played. We spend so long looking for fault in others we forget to ask ourselves what we could have done differently.

Doing so not only allows you to more realistically work out what went wrong, but it also allows you to see what you can learn and how you can behave differently in the future.

Good luck!

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