Don’t just survive, thrive

 

The aim of this course has been to do three things:

  • To demystify the essential elements of writing a PhD and managing that process;

  • To help instil a useful writing habit with a sensible drafting process; 

  • To help you thrive, rather than merely survive, the PhD process. 

It is important to understand that some of the feelings you may have when doing your PhD - loneliness, frustration, things going wrong with your research, failure, procrastination with your writing, debilitating perfectionism and general imposter syndrome - are not confined to you. They are everywhere in the doctoral space because you are achieving something great and anyone that takes this on will feel some or all of those feelings at some point in the 3 years. It is inevitable. Doing hard things makes us question whether we can in fact finish them.

You can. You will. And you will learn so many things about yourself that you didn’t know before. You will grow as scholar, and as a person, and these 3 years should be a time of joy. Three years dedicated to study and opening your mind is a wonderful, precious opportunity that should be enjoyed to the fullest extent possible. Those times come rarely in our lives. It is time of great opportunity, but beware of accepting every opportunity that comes your way. Manage your timeline carefully, because overcommitting yourself to extra ‘opportunities’ can come at the cost of finishing on time.

Remember, the 5 characteristics of successful PhD students are:

  • Intrinsic motivation;

  • Perception of their own competence;

  • Good supervisory relationship;

  • Completion within 3 years;

  • Active participation in PhD programme activities.

In this course we have explored the importance of having a multi-faceted and robust set of internal motivations that you can draw on in the tough times. I have tried to remind you of your competence, and to recognise that feelings of imposter syndrome and perfectionism are normal in the doctoral space, but with a growth mindset and committed reflection, these can be overcome. It takes practice! We have explored how to manage a supervisory relationship to get the most out of it: professional, respectful, bounded. I have constantly reinforced the importance of managing your timetable, effective planning and having a writing practice that creates the conditions for productive and happy writing. Lastly, we have tackled the methods and importance of social writing in order to combat the sometimes isolating experience of the PhD.

Underpinning this programme is the philosophy of Sword’s approach to productive writing: making sure we attend to the behavioural, artisanal, social and emotional aspects of our writing practice that will make the PhD writing experience more enjoyable, focused and productive. Check on your progress by revisiting your writing profile here.

Enjoy the PhD process and remember: take ownership of your PhD by taking ownership of your behaviour, time and emotions. This is your time to thrive.