The PhD is a strange thing
The PhD is a formless, undefinable, unpredictable, ever-changing, multi-faceted thing – this is why it’s all the more important to get super clear about YOUR intentions, goals and best work practices.
The PhD is a formless, undefinable, unpredictable, ever-changing, multi-faceted thing – this is why it’s all the more important to get super clear about YOUR intentions, goals and best work practices.
Consider these 3 things the very next time you start thinking, “But I suck and I’m failing my PhD because they’re doing better than me…”
Just because everyone else is driving themselves hard, it doesn’t make it more okay for us to beat up harder on ourselves. It’s the opposite: it’s realising that it’s totally, forgivingly okay that we don’t do everything we set out to do.
The one thing that is fucking up your head and your own bloody brilliant, amazing, productive, successful progress is this default setting that all our tricksy brains have that insists on comparing.
You might understand how deeply uncomfortable it can feel to be catapulted into spaces where you feel you have to be ‘on display’ or ‘performing’ a personality that just doesn’t feel good. BUT… how about if we just didn’t respond to those bullshit confidence imperatives?
Whatever you’re up against, what part of you can you call up to rise above and beyond the stuck limitations of other people’s bullshit, expectations, conventions or ‘rules’?
Sometimes, just making the decision that you want to feel a bit better can make a huge difference in your everyday.
Here are a few crucial things that have helped me get to the finish line of my PhD -and pass it!
Sometimes (increasingly) I think that all that’s important is that we each understand and appreciate the value of our own research and writing.
I found myself confronted with a new and sudden ‘truth’ that I simply wasn’t good enough… Here’s how I found my way back.
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