1. As I come to the end of my first year as a PhD ‘student’, ‘researcher’, ‘candidate’, whatever your preferred tipple is, I thought I’d do a thread on experiences I’ve gone through so far and the thoughts I’ve had regarding #PhDLife and life in general

2. A PhD is hard, you’re doing something brand new for yourself, but also for science (the whole reason for your PhD). For me it’s coding and I find it bloody hard work, but whilst it’s difficult and challenging, it’s also rewarding when you occasionally do something right

3. A PhD is individual, don’t expect to have your hand held (and nor should you want too). It’s a great way to express yourself and follow your interest, but it’s quite easy to get side tracked onto something which may not be ‘directly related’ to your PhD. I love side tracking

4. Self-motivation. A PhD is yours. But, only you can make you do work and achieve goals, normally set by you. Be optimistic but realistic, you ain’t gonna have a Nature paper in your first 5 months which I found out nice and quickly

5. Run with your ideas. Whilst I say side tracking can be a distracting factor to your PhD, it can also unlock so many doors which you never thought possible, even if those ideas are not yet currently possible and/or useful. Run Forrest run

6. Ask for help. A PhD is designed for you to flourish and express yourself, but you can’t do everything yourself, and if you can, then lucky you. Be that a supervisor or fellow PhD student, ask for help. That‘s all.

7. Go to events (outside of COVID applicable) - the ‘free’ lunches make your day SO much better

8. Get involved in teaching and/or demonstrating depending on your PhD. It’s a great ‘break’ from your PhD and is still rewarding and useful in day to day, especially on career decisions

9. Keep track of your progress. Despite days feeling you have achieved nothing, you probably have. From massive data breakthroughs to figuring where line numbers are on a well document, you will have learnt something new. Remember it. We as PhD students are always learning

10. Praise yourself. A bit like progress, day to day, only you will know exactly what you have achieved. Could you have done what you did today, yesterday? If not, that’s a win. Don’t be down, be happy, optimistic, we are learning at a scale probably never done before

11. Don’t quit. I’ve thought of quitting and doing something else, doesn’t every have thoughts? I’ve thought I’m not cut out for this. But, those thoughts give you nerves, drive to say ‘sod it, you know what, I can do this’ - I think these thoughts push you further

12. DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHER PHD STUDENTS. I break this rule every other day - some PhD students may have 25 Nature papers and a Nobel peace prize at 25, but you don’t need to worry about that. It’s your PhD (and we all will get one) - @nature one day

13. We all do PhDs for different reasons. Me? Because I wanted to research glaciers. Does this mean I’ll continue in academia afterwards? Not necessarily. I’ll do whatever makes me happy. Whatever makes you happy, you do it

14. Drink. Drinking helps

15. That’s the thread completed - any new PhD students starting may hopefully get some use from it or people who have done a PhD ! Happy Wednesday everyone

#PhDLife @AcademicChatter

16. Forgot one (sorry). Avoid working weekends, I rarely work weekends (unless I have too) but often work slightly longer days (7:30/8am - 6pm). You choose your hours, your days. Whatever works for you, do it. I just like my weekends