I'm going to actually respond to this in some detail, because I think it merits some real reflection.

1. The thing about don't lose the only copy of your dissertation is big and it's good advice. Your computer may die. Your laptop may get stolen. Do absolutely keep backups. https://twitter.com/biodilarastro/status/1324109053220417536

I also strongly recommend a scrupulous filing system. Have the current draft somewhere, and all previous drafts labelled by date saved somewhere else. The first thing you do when you start work is save your old draft, dated, into the old draft place. Not the same place.

2. Don't move houses.

This one is just stupid, and barely requires any response. Very few people move just for the fun of it. Move if you need to. Obviously. Expect that it will eat into your work time, and try to plan for that, but you know. It happens.

3. Don't start a relationship.

Not only is this not good advice, it's terrible terrible advice. Working on a PhD can be very isolating. If you can find someone to help you be less alone, do it! But you should both recognize that they may not be seeing you at your best.

4. Don't have a baby.

This is complicated, and here's why: on the one hand this is part of an all-too-common attitude that PhD students are in some kind of prolonged adolescence. Don't take steps toward adulthood until you're an adult! That's garbage.

Doing a PhD is more like having a job than like being an undergraduate student, and anyway part of being an adult is making your own choices about your personal life. This advice can get in the sea. If you want a baby have a baby.

But that said...

Raising a child is a time commitment that never goes away. If you're not taking a leave year, make sure you're ready to prioritize childcare, especially if you're a man in a hetero relationship. It is not right to expect your partner to do it all while you're off dissertating.

Also, usually PhD students don't have a lot of money. So it's smart to think of that.

I had one kid during my MA, my second was born just before I started my PhD, and I spent a lot of time as primary caregiver. It was very hard sometimes, but I regret nothing.

4. Don't adopt a pet.

Y tho?

Don'ts 2, 3, and 4 all boil down to the same advice: don't do anything that will make you prioritize anything else over your PhD. But that's dumb. Big dumb.

Doing a PhD is a full-time job, yeah. It's not a 525,600 minute-a-year job! It shouldn't be, anyway. And if someone is trying to tell you it is they are exploiting you and you should tell them to fuck off.

Oh wait, no pet was 5 in my numbering. Anyway. I can't think of one good reason why you shouldn't get a pet.

6. Do write every day (even 15 minutes).

Great advice, generally. I like to set a short word-goal for every day. But rest days do and should exist. I like 5X5 as a minimum: at least 500 words a day 5 days a week. More than that is golden.

7. Make deadlines for yourself (and rewards for meeting deadlines)

That's probably good advice on the whole. You'll find that if you write every day you're likely to meet those deadlines just because days add on to each other, though.

Self-deadlines and self-rewards work for some people but not for others. You know you. Do what works!

8. Maintain a healthy social life.

But without having a partner or a pet, right?

This is good advice, though. No island is a PhD student, right?

I just noticed that I ended two sentences in that four-sentence tweet with "right?"

Bad form, Paul.

But seriously see above re: PhD can be isolating. You're going to be spending a lot of time with your own thoughts, in your own head. You've gotta get out of it sometimes.

9. Join or create a PHD support group.

I guess. Some people are jerks though, and want to tear you down more than they want to support you, so a) don't be one of those people, and b) only hang out with fellow PhDs who make you feel better.

10. Create a set day or time for editing.

This is A+ advice. Everyone is different, but for most of us editing is a chore. Do it regularly at set times and get it over with.

11. The whole thing is captioned "how to have a normal life" and I hate it.

There is no normal. Academics sometimes imagine ourselves in a rarefied special environment distinct from the "real world" but again, that's stupid. Where does scholarship happen if not the real world?

That's a real question.

There are workaholics and misanthropes and people just going through the motions and people who are drifting until they find something better and people who believe themselves to be imposters and people who are weirdly competitive and want to destroy everyone else EVERYWHERE.

Academia has its distinct issues, sure. But they're still normal issues.

What you should be aiming for is not a "normal" life, but a happy life. It's ok to be happy. It's ok to enjoy your work and it's ok to enjoy the parts of your life that aren't work.

My biggest "DO" that isn't on this list is: Do find joy in your work. It's work, sure, and hard a lot of the time, and some required tasks will be things you kind of dread. But it always makes me sad when people come out of a PhD hating their topic.

If you don't find joy in doing your research and writing then I think you should get out while you still can.

As for my own "don'ts"?

1. Don't fetishize your own suffering. You're not a better PhD student--not a better academic--if you're miserable.

2. Don't think of the PhD as a means to an end. If you don't feel it's a valuable end in itself it's not worth it. If it leads to something else that's a bonus. But there aren't enough jobs for it to really be job training. I wish there were, believe me. But there aren't.