Hi everyone,
This week hasn’t exactly gone to plan for me, with my lab work not producing the expected results (leaving me wondering around scratching my head with a puzzled look on my face) and a bit of a grilling about my research in a lab meeting.
Overall, this left me in a tired and fed-up state by yesterday afternoon. So, I stubbornly finished what I had planned to do, updated my lab book and went home to have a break and relax.
Now, I feel much better and so I thought I would write a blog to encourage my fellow PhD sufferers to think positive as well!
Results are results even if they are unexpected. You just have to keep ploughing along problem-solving as you go. If you already knew what the answer was, you wouldn’t have a research question. It is admittedly frustrating when things don’t go to plan, but there is nothing you can do to change that, apart from creating a new plan!
In your PhD you have to be resilient! Plans change, ideas are created and dismissed, different people have different opinions on your research. This doesn’t mean you should keep working on something of little value, but you do need to be a bit stubborn as things can take a little bit of time! Despite this, you still need to be open to change and exchange of ideas, so it is a bit of a balancing act!
It’s also difficult to measure your progress- everyone is working on different projects, so a pace that is appropriate for them may not be for you. This is something I have found particularly difficult to deal with during my PhD, as I haven’t always been sure of when enough is enough as I think I have mentioned before.
However, I have learnt that all you can do is try your best, speak to as many people as possible for advice and turn all PhD experiences into positive ones! It’s not about what happens, it’a about how you think about it afterwards!
All the best to my fellow PhD’s!
Share your comments and feedback