Speaker 1: The first thing you need to avoid is being paralyzed by options or fear of failure. Now that's easier said than done, but this is the thing you've got to realize, is that all research is research because we don't know what's going to happen. We have an idea, but sometimes we don't know what's going to happen at all, so we have to do research. That means not even your supervisor knows what you want to do. So many PhD students come to me and they're waiting. And I ask them why they're waiting. They're waiting because there's a number of things they're unsure about. Now the thing about being a PhD student is you need to embrace the uncertainty. You've got to get really comfortable with just not knowing what the future holds and also being wrong. Now I know some supervisors are super angry when you do something without asking or you take the project in a direction they don't want it to go, I get it. But most PhD supervisors are going to be happy if they see progress if things are failing, progress if things are working, or progress in your thoughts in how you are approaching your research project. So don't fear. Don't just wait for the right time because the right time doesn't exist. Keep moving through your PhD. Now this one is a little bit tricky because I used to be a PhD co-supervisor for some students and this is the thing, is that when we had a meeting they would come in and they would talk at me as if they didn't need advice. But the reason they're coming to me is for advice and so they have a resistance to feedback that is detrimental to their project and our relationship. So remember as a PhD student, you are the apprentice. Even if you are later stage and you think your supervisor's an idiot, you have to go in with that apprentice mindset, sit there, take some notes. The one thing I used to do is take notes of everything they used to say. They love it. They love you seeing you take notes. Oh yeah, and they're thinking to themselves, oh, this is absolute gold. They've never thought about this before, by the way, because a lot of supervisors don't prepare for meetings. They just like spill off the top of their head. But you've got to just be like, yeah, okay, write it all down, write everything down they say and then think about it later when they're not around. The thing is, is that if you are resistant to feedback, you do actually miss the little nuggets of gold that exist in all of the word salad that they chuck at you during a meeting. So don't be resistant to feedback. In fact, embrace it. Don't dominate the discussion, the meetings with them. Even if you think they're stupid and they're saying the wrong stuff, ask questions, get more information. This supervisor meeting is about extracting information from them and then synthesizing on your own at a later date. So don't be resistant to feedback. Certainly don't argue. I had people arguing with me in a supervisor meeting and I was like, well, it's just tiring then. Just go and do what you think and come back and report. I don't mind it, but I'm not here to argue with someone about something. So don't be resistant to feedback. Be an apprentice in those meetings and provide suggestions by all means. But later, remember, it's your project. You're doing the actual stuff so you can completely ignore them if you want and do what you want anyway. But don't be resistant to that supervisor meeting feedback because there are some nuggets of gold that you'll need. Do not isolate yourself at all. There are some moments in some PhD careers where you do have to just knuckle down and sit in that dark, dingy lab and just do stuff with your hands and your head. But, and by head, I mean mind. I don't mean like, whatever. But here's the thing. Even though there's moments of extreme isolation in a PhD, you need to make sure that you're speaking to people outside of your research field, outside of your research group. Start talking to people and don't isolate. So many great ideas come from just speaking to someone new or asking someone about their research. I know it's particularly difficult because a PhD can be isolating. You've got your project that you're working on all on your own with your supervisor, but do not isolate. Trust me, the creative juices get flowing once you sort of see new ideas, speak to new people. So do not isolate completely because at that point, you end up in this downward spiral where you just sort of like are on your own all the time. You don't feel like there's anyone there to help you and there's no way out in your mind. So keep that communication up. Don't isolate and certainly don't stop communicating with the important people on your project, which is any other students that are doing something similar, your PhD supervisor, your co-supervisors and just your cohort that are doing your PhD because you can say, this is really tough and they can say, yes, yes, it is really hard. Let's just go to the pub. Top PhD students have a superpower that I've seen time and time again pop up with students that I look at and go, wow, you are the best and I'm a little bit jealous. And it's this, is that they know they need to produce results. They are very good at not getting sidetracked. There are so many things in a PhD that can sidetrack you. Also, if you're like me and you've got new shiny thing syndrome, after sort of like a couple months working on something, you're like, ooh, what's over here? This looks pretty good. I'll just spend a little bit of time over here and you completely ignore everything else that's happening that you've sort of like built up the momentum with and then you just get sidetracked. Don't do that. Try your hardest to finish what you started and say no to things that are just sidetracking your progress. The one rule I set throughout my PhD and I highly recommend you do the same thing is that you produce a table, a graph or schematic every certain amount of time. For me, it was every week. I could produce a graph every week, even sometimes if it was a two-point graph, which is a straight line, ding, science is winning. But a two-point graph can tell you the start of something. It can sort of like help you along the path of a new discovery. So if it's a week, great. If it's every two weeks, great. If it's every month, just make sure you are producing a graph as quickly as possible. Graphs, tables, schematics, any sort of result that is visual that you can put on a PowerPoint and show your supervisors, just make sure you do that. Don't get sidetracked. If you stayed to this part of the video, well done because this is the most important thing that you need to know about and that is do not stick to a plan that is failing. I see so many people holding on to something that will just go nowhere, a new project direction that is just a dead end. Now here's the thing is that quite often, your supervisor doesn't have that sort of sixth sense about your project that you build up over a couple of years. And there's a point in every project, every project I've been in, where there's sort of like different avenues you can take. And you've taken this one avenue and it's just not working. So you do have to backtrack a little bit and take a new path. That is probably the number one thing that people who complete a PhD quickly are able to do. They understand that this is gonna take so much effort so they're looking for that new low hanging fruit and they're always sort of like adjusting their path based on the results of their experiments. Sometimes I see PhD students just get into a rut because they just push and push and push and there's nothing at the end. There will never ever be anything with our current technology or understanding the world. You'll never be able to get to the end of where you're going. So stop if you feel like you've reached that part and take a little backtrack and try again in another thing. Supervisors quite often want you to persevere down a particular road when in fact, you should just say, you know what, this is the evidence I've got for why I should stop doing this thing and this is a more fruitful area that I want to go into. So don't stick to a plan that will never ever work. It will waste your time. It will make you stressed and also it will just make you think that everything about a PhD and research is bad when in fact, you're just digging in the wrong area. So don't stick to a plan that is not working. You've been warned. If you like this video, go check out this one where I talk about the 10 brutally honest lessons about doing a PhD and it'll help you get through those hard times.