Harsh truths for a happy PhD

In this video, I share with you the harsh truths for ensuring that you have a happy PhD.
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 -Expectations
1:04 - miserable PhD's
2:18 - play the game
3:18 - egos
4:55 - lying
6:06 - laziness
6:57 - reactions
7:55 - being liked
9:00 - decision-making
10:21 - comparison
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[@PhD_Author]

Agree about lowering expectations, your research probably won’t win you the Nobel prize but be something you can be proud of for the rest of your life, a personal achievement that makes you happy.

[@YamanoRyuu]

tfw there isn't even a Nobel Prize for your area of research lol

[@Nerd3927]

Never openly criticize your self. Let others do that if they feel the need. I often hear people say "I made a big mistake ". I always encourage people to formulated it as "I have learned " Small detail but makes a lot of difference in vulnerability.

[@miri4006]

Sounds like that would also be a great thing to not only implement in your communication with others, but as well in the way you think about yourself. It's a lot more rewarding to focus on things you learned and to see mistakes as a chance to grow and get better instead of letting them tear you down. Thank you!

[@martinzapata7289]

Same advice my father gives me, 100% correct!

[@flightlesschicken7769]

Why not? Why shouldn’t you acknowledge if you messed up?

[@Nerd3927]

@@flightlesschicken7769 There is a fine line between Bart Simpson "It wasn't me!" and going around telling everyone how stupid you are. That is a coping mechanism but a very destructive one.

[@flightlesschicken7769]

@@Nerd3927 Ah I see. So the trick isn’t not acknowledging your mistakes but to not dwell on them too much and to not fixate on them in relationships to “how stupid you are”. Thanks

[@warrenchu6319]

What fabulous advice. I had always regretted not doing a PhD but now I see what’s involved so I have no regrets. The reality is very sobering. Thank you so very much.

[@avengine1]

Thanks so much for the video. I always ask question to myself "why I am doing this? what's the use of all this pain and suffering?". I still do not have any answers to those questions. My Ph.D. has become a fight with myself. I am working hard to be better than yesterday. Your video has given me a perspective on this lonely pilgrimage. Thanks Andy

[@janakidevi9177]

I am also thinking the same. Where are you from Abhinav?

[@Davide608]

mah listen I was hella worried about this anxiety and depression thing against phds as I do suffer of those, and I've seen one of your videos saying that it could have been a bad thing to have a past history with these issues and embarking on such a project. But the truth is: It depends what made you depressed in the first place. Now that I'm a few months in, for me this opportunity gave me a social reason to be/exist, I feel like I'm finally spending my potential as a person and it worked really well for me as a strong energy burst to get my shit together, my life working and become a better version of myself. I've beaten many of my fears and I wake up happy and willing to do stuff. So really it depends. And I have to do predawn experiments too ... as an introverted non morning person the fatigue is there... but still. I'm happy.

[@rapamune]

Thank you for prividing us with hard truths

[@boxeriain]

I really like your stoicism emphasis here.. and also that sort of Buddhist idea of worrying about things that ARE within your control; not without it.

[@abhinavgoswami41]

💯

[@ignatiolu863]

I believe the same thing happens not only in academia but also in the industry, depending on the type of job you're looking for. Especially when you work with ex-academics.

[@nigelv9907]

Having just started a PhD I am loving your advice! I am still in the 'I will do the most amazing things ever' stage of planning, so the 'lower your expectations' recommendation was welcome! FYI, I tried to sign up to your newsletter but wasn't able to on your website, the input field seemed to be missing. Keep on making videos, they are appreciated!

[@chloe_steward]

I agree 100%!! Thanks for another excellent video, Andy!

[@mariannepfly1906]

Love your videos Andy! Thanks for other resource info too, wasn’t aware of those. Love your channel :)

[@Mechanical.Design]

Thank you so much for this video, it helps a lot !!

[@archanavittal5458]

Thanks. This was really helpful.

[@minnujayapal242]

You always save me when I have a bad PhD day for any of the reasons you mentioned above… thanks Andy

[@natashazlobinsky4662]

I submitted my PhD this past Friday. I have been following your channel throughout that journey and I really appreciate your blunt honesty. I wish I knew beforehand that my PhD wasn't going to be, and didn't need to be, Nobel prize material. My expectations were really high so when I realized I was not reaching that high standard of completely groundbreaking research, I felt terribly disappointed. But now that I've handed in, I'm still proud of what I've achieved. Even if it's not what I expected. Thank you for this dose of truth, @andy stapleton

[@ikramcad7066]

Congrats 🎉🎉 I'm in the process of writing. You're lucky. It took me one failed 5 year phd program to realize and accept this reality. Now the second try I'm much more grounded and happy. Although I still struggle with my perfectionist side.

[@natashazlobinsky4662]

@@ikramcad7066 Thanks! Wow, congrats for giving it another go and getting to this stage. All the best!

[@ikramcad7066]

@@natashazlobinsky4662 I guess I'm hard-headed and stubborn. But I've worked in multiple fields. I might say I love teaching and research... So here I'm again. Wish you all the best. You're the best honestly for getting this far. You should be immensely proud of yourself. 👏

[@me_hanics]

Congratulations! Hopefully I can follow your path one day. How much time did you PhD take, and in which country did you do it? Did you do a masters before enrolling for a PhD?

[@natashazlobinsky4662]

@@me_hanics I took 6 years doing it part-time. I was working throughout. It was done at University of Cape Town in South Africa and, yes, I had done a Masters before. Thanks for asking.

[@nrk260717]

something like “does post doc really train you for the academic job market or is it just the exploitation of your talent and skills” ?

[@Heyu7her3]

Well it's both... the reason why it's exploitative is that it's needed for academia for those who want research positions and the prospect of tenure

[@katomoon6170]

Couldn't agree more. Respect peace and blessings from Uganda - East Africa. Many thanks indeed

[@Aash0999]

Thank you Andy for telling the truth about the PhD journey. Your videos are always great 👏

[@asifjahan5379]

Thanks again!

[@jenstolboom5656]

Andrew thank you so much!! Because of you I finally found my way in academia and I currently do a bilateral phd with a company! I’m really thankful for that. You really helped me to understand academia and all the nasty games going on over there. Love this channel and your approach. I’ll send you a link of my doi when I apply your “how to write an abstract” ;) .Keep going on and you will help a lot of people! Thanks

[@shankariab1687]

Love your videos!

[@supershiba8628]

These videos have helped me so much. I’m finishing my masters but experiencing many of the problems you bring up in your videos. Thank you so much! I hope your channel gets more subscribers☀️

[@christopherward5824]

Thank you for your videos, Andy. I appreciate your down to earth views and guidance about academia and PhDs. I applied today and am excited about continuing the research I started in my Masters. Its people like you who speak truths have been a source of inspiration. Not the hard sell rhetoric where we live in rainbow land. Maybe I was lucky at the beginning of my postgrad when a lecturer asked me what I think a PhD will or wont do for me. I said I expect it will be like starting at the beginning again, that my work is unlikely to be revolutionary. And that I hope at least some poor undregrad will have to read some of my work if only to make an argument that my work was flawed. Then I'll be happy it was read by at least one person. Yes, I am genuinely excited about getting it done and doing the steps to get there.

[@HajdarovicM]

That is on the point (so far, in my experience). Thanks

[@gavinritz6981]

Bloody great mate, helps me a lot in my doctoral journey

[@janakidevi9177]

Are you doing PhD sir?

[@nolanqin]

Thank you Andy ❤❤❤ your style is very cute and your thoughts help a lot ❤❤❤

[@alhaeri1]

your channel is a rich resource for students getting into research thank you

[@mackss9468]

Fantastic video! Stoicism rocks!

[@_elenaio_]

informative video!

[@merdekaagussaputra1504]

you are my awesome PhD mentor from afar. You are awesome. 🎉

[@sultanyaqoob5082]

My masters study at South korea is terrible journey like phd. But seeing your videos boost my courage at certain level. My supervisor always assign other tasks(Field work and project reports etc) so that's why its really hard to conduct research on normal pace. Senors behavior is also non-cooperative. Now i have done masters defense last month and decided to move towards research lab.

[@naromsky]

Wow. You're amazing. Thank you. Also, I could write a book about all that's wrong in this advice... So, thank you?..

[@UnPureMaddness]

Do you have an abstract?

[@akhilmaru6999]

You got me at Stoicism, it is such a beautiful philosophy to follow! I agree to all of your points especially the comparison one. It has been only 3 months starting my phd and I see such awesome and genius sort of people around, who know more and have better intuition and better understanding of things. I feel I lack such insight or knowledge, I'm trying to stop comparing and be myself. So far enjoying learning things, might not find dark matter during my phd but will definitely try to grow as a Physicist. Even if not then Universe is meaningless anyway, so who cares right?

[@seallover9849]

You sound similar to myself! I am also a physicist, but I'm more into the condensed matter stuff. I also enjoy parts of stoicism!

[@petergreis]

Parts of this sound like my Masters program now - It‘s a slog, embrace the suck, shrug off the negativity…

[@KALE18]

I love you because you tell it like it is

[@k-chill8428]

Thanks, great video. Agree with all of these. I'm 10 days away from submitting my thesis and here's a couple of others. 1. Unless you're already in a long-term, well-established relationship, forget about a love life. The most patient person in the world has a limit on how many times they want to hear how you're going to spend another lonely Saturday night sat in front of a Word doc. 2. You have to produce an 80,000 word essay at the end of it. There is no amount of dressing this up. No matter how enticing the intellectual journey or research might seem, if you don't like writing or have problems with writing, don't even bother starting a PhD.

[@nonee915]

How to deal with a professor who hurts your esteem.

[@DSScully]

If they are bullying you, it's inappropriate. It needs to be addressed.

[@janakidevi9177]

How to address them?

[@DSScully]

Address it by self-advocacy and assertively informing them it will not be tolerated. And the University should have policies put in place to further address.. many are starting to recognize the issue. Especially since there's enough peer reviewed literature on the subject that keeps coming out regularly now.

[@tedtalksrock]

“Play the game don’t fight the game.” This gem is worth the price of the entire video. ❤

[@Megaprettygreen]

I noticed that there's a whole new world within academia that's quite different from the outside world. I benefited a lot from the part where you said we should prepare for what's coming (good or bad) and just move on. Thanks.

[@Roonlovesfish3874]

I wish I did lower my expectations. I left my Ph.D. after the first year and seemingly, a high expectation was at the root of it. Edit: Incredible Tips 👍

[@thecaptainindia9790]

Can you make a video on how to decide for future career would love your take ...I am in final year BS degree and still not decided what to do next ?

[@soniakaushik3067]

Ego boosting Point was hilarious 😁

[@ninagilshteyn5591]

I relate so much

[@OiOBlinkingOwl]

It may be interesting to incorporate interviews with other PhDs, students or graduates, onto the channel! Because your degree is one field, having the perspective of others would be really helpful.

[@jc-tu6pg]

andy, i really feel like you could become like the Veritasium (youtube channel) of academia! rooting for you!

[@RanchoPsycho]

I am sandwiched between my supervisor and a colleague, their writing is outstanding compared to how I write , this really has caused me a lot of distress. I always tend to match to their level but that technically isn't possible , the reason why I am starting to lose the enthusiasm I had 3 months ago when I first started.

[@janakidevi9177]

Who will teach us writing in a better way?

[@dac8939]

If you want to make money do a top university specialised Masters or top MBA. Phd is mainly for academia and only a few corporate roles where it is useful. 27 and was on £160k, while my phd buddies were still broke. Phd is really for knowledge, self achievement etc do not do it for money enhancement.

[@zornslemon]

Right now I’m finally having some good results and my supervisor has booked me for a bunch of conferences. I’m terrified that I’ve made a mistake and I’m going to realize it right after I’ve given my last talk.

[@femtogab]

I had to reanalize some results from my master's and it seems now a more complicated problem than it looked like before. I'd say just remember you did the best you could, and if you discover that something went wrong and you need to redo your work, don't be ashamed of yourself. Learning and discovering is a difficult process. It's also a cycle, because you need to come back over and over to certain points. You'll also have an opportunity to discuss with people with different points of view, this will be great to improve your research, so try to enjoy this too, you'll do great!

[@manymoms920]

It's got more to do with skills around project management ( for a big long project ) focus skills to do this big project and mental health because it's a bit of a mind **** in a way, eg. Very taxing on the mind.

[@nrk260717]

Talk about post doc

[@robertnelson3614]

Serious challenge - get past the imposter syndrome-thing that has you believing certain other professionals don't take you seriously because they've been working at a very high level for years and they don't take or treat you seriously because you haven't completed your doctorate yet so they think you don't need to be treated as an equal...

[@94D33M]

Hey Andy, What made you feel that PhD was the right choice for you? I feel I'm ready to take on this challenge, but I'm very self-doubting which is a big barrier other than the usual financial and acceptance barriers

[@kevyelyod1211]

I was going to do a PhD years ago but didn't did masters instead. Would it be worthwhile doing a video on young people in their 20's doing a PhD who have little life experience compared to older candidates if I did a PhD now I would see through all these premadonas and get on with my own work

[@nicoleleung2790]

+

[@carti8778]

dont do it.

[@blondequijote]

*prima donna. You don’t need a PhD to stop writing things how they sound.

[@richardthegingerbo909]

@@blondequijote Pre-Madonna! Before her Material Girl days (daze)

[@gavinritz6981]

Love to buy your ultimate tool kit book writing but my Nortoan blocks it is there another website I can go to

[@janakidevi9177]

Book writing means how to write an article sir?

[@dyspraxialambeth6872]

Great to see what academia is and is not. Being here is like meetings at a water hole.

[@shankariab1687]

Where do you put reading in the daily life of a PhD student? We are always told being in the lab doing experiments and data analysis is the important thing. But for my case I have to read a lot to understand the biochemistry of what I'm doing and designing experiments is very much dependent on my literature review base.

[@andie_Jones]

Reading is very important. I say this from my experience having kids while in grad school. I didn't have all the time to repeat failed experiments or do what someone has done. So I spent a lot of time reading and designing my experiments. This helped me focus on the main goal of my project and remove any secondary experiments that are not useful.

[@mcm0324]

I wish I would have had this advice 2 years ago. I regret entering my Ph.D. program. Biggest waste of money, and it won't do anything for my career.

[@jrwarfare]

Andy I need some advice. My PhD program told me I need to accept this group doing this research topic I don’t particularly like or leave the university. How should I move on to another university without looking like I’m a quitter?

[@tatkirkar]

If you leave, you're not a quitter, but a person who can make their own decisions and knows exactly what's best for them. Making hard decisions and choosing your own way is much more appreciated than just going with the flow. Topic you like from the beginning is not just a personal preference -- it will keep you motivated during your PhD. Sometimes just thinking about your research interest, that particular problem you want to solve, can make you keep going if you're really low (although sometimes certainly you can develop a liking towards topic you didn't know anything about when starting a PhD). You WILL find a group of your dreams.

[@MaicMayer]

I felt almost all those things during my master's study hahahaha...

[@Oldschool747]

I would probably add that you need to learn to say no sometimes as well. If you keep on saying yes to things that the university asks you to do, they will continue to give you things until you say no. This can be detrimental to your research time.

[@Cheesecake99YearsAgo]

Question: Does majority of PhD research ever get used ?

[@ennemuk]

In Europe the great majority of papers published is from PhD students and their work, so yea I'd say so.

[@sharkmug1583]

I feel like all the "PhD" in the video could be switched to "life" - and it wouldn't get any less informative and beneficial.

[@gavinritz6981]

Norton says this: Threat Report This is a known dangerous webpage. It is highly recommended that you do NOT visit this page.

[@khaderabualhayjaa]

00

[@ukironman1]

This guy is so negative he makes me feel bad for no reason.

[@whatisrokosbasilisk80]

PhD sucks, it's good to have it spelled out.