Hello,
This page lists helpful resources for academics. As with any academic, I have struggled with stress, anxiety, burnout, and procrastination (and more)! There are a few things that have been helpful for me and it would be terrific if any of these resources could be of help to you or others around you.
For those interested in PhD
Many students ask me if they seem right for pursuing a PhD program. I cannot give them an answer because I do not know. Yet, there are a few things I wish I had known.
I usually say that writing a PhD dissertation involves a substantially different process, compared to taking courses or writing your term report in three major ways. (1) It is not about consuming knowledge, but about producing knowledge. This requires a unique set of mindset and skills. (2) Finishing a PhD thesis takes a LONG time, which also presents new challenges. (3) There will be little gratification coming from external evaluation. This could mean that you might want to change your source of motivation.
A lot of students with high grades in college like to pursue a PhD because they like studying (or at least relatively). This was certainly my experience. I had very little idea about what research was. In my university (in Korea), I took courses in a large lecture hall and tried to consume every little thing in the readings and lectures. I had little training in critical thinking or in-depth analyses. I did not have close interactions with faculty members. However, I thought I liked studying because I was good at consuming knowledge quickly. That meant that I had some analytical skills because without them I could not internalize the knowledge efficiently. Yet fast forward to my first seminar in PhD, I was shocked to find out that you were expected to critique published articles and books! What?!? Then, we were asked to advance the literature by filling the gap! What?!? The issue becomes even more frustrating when you embark on your own research. Nobody is going to tell you whether you are right or not, because nobody knows (even you who do that research). This means that you want to approach "knowledge" critically, including the knowledge that you claim to be producing. Therefore, it is important to be productively stupid in research and let go of the obsession to be "right." Some are more comfortable with this than others.
All perfectionists suffer. Being a perfectionist means you are afraid of negative evaluation. Yet producing research in the vast ocean of ignorance means your work has room for improvement because that is how knowledge develops. There is no "perfect" research. Being a productive, but more importantly mentally healthy, researcher requires that (1) you feel comfortable accepting your ignorance and limitations; (2) you do not rely on external evaluation to motivate your work; (3) you have a constant work rhythm that does not depend on whether your research looks successful. These points are also related to the length of the project. Until PhD, your academic project is at most for a year (and substantially less for most projects except for BA or MA theses). You have a deadline that calls the project "done" that will give you some gratification. In PhD, it is not clear when you can call your project "done," It took about a decade for me from the initiation of my PhD project and publication of the book.
This page lists helpful resources for academics. As with any academic, I have struggled with stress, anxiety, burnout, and procrastination (and more)! There are a few things that have been helpful for me and it would be terrific if any of these resources could be of help to you or others around you.
For those interested in PhD
Many students ask me if they seem right for pursuing a PhD program. I cannot give them an answer because I do not know. Yet, there are a few things I wish I had known.
I usually say that writing a PhD dissertation involves a substantially different process, compared to taking courses or writing your term report in three major ways. (1) It is not about consuming knowledge, but about producing knowledge. This requires a unique set of mindset and skills. (2) Finishing a PhD thesis takes a LONG time, which also presents new challenges. (3) There will be little gratification coming from external evaluation. This could mean that you might want to change your source of motivation.
A lot of students with high grades in college like to pursue a PhD because they like studying (or at least relatively). This was certainly my experience. I had very little idea about what research was. In my university (in Korea), I took courses in a large lecture hall and tried to consume every little thing in the readings and lectures. I had little training in critical thinking or in-depth analyses. I did not have close interactions with faculty members. However, I thought I liked studying because I was good at consuming knowledge quickly. That meant that I had some analytical skills because without them I could not internalize the knowledge efficiently. Yet fast forward to my first seminar in PhD, I was shocked to find out that you were expected to critique published articles and books! What?!? Then, we were asked to advance the literature by filling the gap! What?!? The issue becomes even more frustrating when you embark on your own research. Nobody is going to tell you whether you are right or not, because nobody knows (even you who do that research). This means that you want to approach "knowledge" critically, including the knowledge that you claim to be producing. Therefore, it is important to be productively stupid in research and let go of the obsession to be "right." Some are more comfortable with this than others.
All perfectionists suffer. Being a perfectionist means you are afraid of negative evaluation. Yet producing research in the vast ocean of ignorance means your work has room for improvement because that is how knowledge develops. There is no "perfect" research. Being a productive, but more importantly mentally healthy, researcher requires that (1) you feel comfortable accepting your ignorance and limitations; (2) you do not rely on external evaluation to motivate your work; (3) you have a constant work rhythm that does not depend on whether your research looks successful. These points are also related to the length of the project. Until PhD, your academic project is at most for a year (and substantially less for most projects except for BA or MA theses). You have a deadline that calls the project "done" that will give you some gratification. In PhD, it is not clear when you can call your project "done," It took about a decade for me from the initiation of my PhD project and publication of the book.