Day 1 of 180: The Clock Begins!

Parsita
2 min readDec 24, 2020

Here goes nothing!

A working PhD candidate, been working for almost a year now and whilst attempting to work towards wrapping up my PhD, I have had difficulty developing commitment to have an end date. I create and post pone deadlines, I definitely have mastered that.

This is a challenge that I feel ready to start, maybe it’s close to the new year and the whole new year resolution mindset is creeping in…maybe knowing the COVID-19 vaccine is an option this coming summer and I can finally travel with some peace of mind is holding me accountable…maybe the pressure I feel from my advisor, boyfriend and manager are setting me up for this…maybe the thought of removing the Candidate next to PhD title in my email signatures is wearing me down…maybe the thought of getting publications with PharmD, PhD next to my name is sweeping by…maybe maybe many more things, the list is endless it seems! But still I struggle with full commitment!

When I embarked on the PhD trail I was full of energy, naive, and thinking that I would be done in 3 years! It’s been 5 1/2 years now and well let’s say the finish line isn’t super close. Guilt, fear, and peer pressure have been drivers of where I have got since I presented my oral prelim in June of 2019. Obviously with everything that has taken place they have not provided passion, dedication or drive in my day to day.

Today is the day that the daily commitment begins to devote at least 1 hour every day for the next 180 days to working, thinking, writing about my PhD. In the process I will trying to figure out what methods work and trying them, and/ or mixing them up for a few days before I give up on them and move on to the next technique. One technique that will be stable is daily blogging in the evenings.

Some that come to mind:

  1. Waking up at 5am and dedicating my morning before work to PhD work
  2. 20min interval PhD work and 5 min aerobic exercises
  3. 20min exercise then PhD work then shower as reward
  4. Cooking a new recipe for dinner, making jewelry, reading a book, writing poetry or spending time with loved ones in reward for 2 hours of PhD work
  5. Drinking caffeine in am before PhD work while listening to EDM music while working

I’ve already worked for 2 hours today, should probably go to bed soon.

Here goes something!

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