The picture shows the view of the University of Glasgow Hillhead Campus. The photo was taken from the Kelvingrove Park by Dan.

Right now, it feels like an appropriate time to take a moment to glance back, to take stock of everything I have learned over the last eleven months and what I want to take with me into the new one. In that spirit, I thought I would share the four biggest lessons I have learnt in the first year of my PhD. Of course, there are so many more things than I ever could have imagined in this last year but in this blog, I have focused on the lessons I got the hard way so that, hopefully, you do not have to.

Lesson one: Do Everything

When I got accepted onto my PhD I set myself one goal: to say yes to every opportunity I was offered. Now, did I succeed? Not quite. Of course, if you said yes to everything that was on offer you would never have any time to actually do any work, which is after all the reason you are here.

But, I did say yes to as much as I could, even things I did not know I would enjoy. In the last year I have joined in with the PGR Gardening Group, attended guest lectures, and taken part in all sorts of workshops (I highly recommend “Writing in the first year of your Ph.D.”, by the way). And I do not regret going along to any of them, often I enjoyed them far more than I ever expected I would, and many of my favourites were the ones I was least sure about.

Lesson two: Sometimes things will go wrong

This lesson was a hard one for me…

When you are working on something (especially something as personal and such a source of pride, as a Ph.D.) almost all day for months, making a lot of sacrifices to do so, when you realise that you have made a mistake, that something just is not quiet working, it feels as though you have wasted hours, days, sometimes even weeks of your life and you can not imagine starting over again. But what I have realised is that those mistakes are as much a part of the experience as your successes. Yes, you have had a set-back, but now you can see what went wrong and avoid it in the future. And, what I have found is that my biggest achievements have been born out of my mistakes, because the pride I feel when I finally get it right is so much more fulfilling than if I just did something perfectly the first time.

What I have found is that my biggest achievements have been born out of my mistakes

- Dan Dicks

Picture taken by Dan. It shows Daffodils blooming in the garden.

Lesson three: Do not compare yourself when it comes to productivity

This leads on from my last lesson somewhat. But I cannot tell you how many “Study with me” or “Day in the life of a Ph.D. student” Tiktoks (Deliveroo, 2021) I have watched in the last year and, beyond the pretty buildings, the aesthetic study spaces and pastel notes pages what stuck with me the most from those videos was the overwhelming sense that I was not doing enough, that I was failing to achieve my “academic weapon” potential. I rarely spend all day working, my notes are not pretty, and more often than not I have no idea what I am talking about. But I am still here and (as far as my supervisors have told me) I am not completely failing at this.

I still like to watch those videos now and then, they can be motivational and there are definitely “influencers” out there who are honest about their experiences but what I do not do is compare my experience to any of them. We all have to do this at our own speed, in our own ways, and whatever that means for you is just as valid, no matter how good it would look in a sixty-second video.

Lesson four: “Get a life” - Vivienne Westwood

This last lesson is actually one of the first I got; your Ph.D. is not your life. It should not be anyway, though it can be hard to not feel as though it is.

It is so important to have at least a couple of ways to switch off, other projects or hobbies that provide a sense of accomplishment or even just enjoyment. Personally, I like to make watercolours (I am awful), write creatively (I would like to think I am less awful), and get out to Glasgow’s museums, parks, or cinemas, but whatever it is for you I recommend making space for it.

You never know what you might learn about your Ph.D. by taking a step back from it.

Daniel Dicks is a second-year PGR in English Literature. His research focuses on Virginia Woolf and queer phenomenology.