Happy New Year to you!
As a whole new year opens up, I want to invite you to think about how you organise your planning. PhD research is a journey of exploration and refinement, which unfolds in unpredictable ways and is therefore quite hard to manage. Most people plan by setting deadlines to work towards and this can cause unexpected challenges.
Firstly, it can be very difficult to conceptualise how long it may take to work on a particular project/chapter. Especially when you are new to research it can be hard to know if the deadline you are setting is reasonable or is going to put unrealistic pressure on you. A looming deadline can be incredibly stressful and lead to that awful sense of being ‘behind’ which, in turn, can be paralysing and end up in a demoralising cycle of extensions.
An alternative way of working, which I often recommend, is to use reflective milestones. Unlike deadlines, which impose rigid timelines, reflective milestones encourage a more adaptable approach. You can still set a date to work towards – which gives a focus – but the date is the moment where you will pause and review. So, you work on a chapter for a set amount of time and then reflect on the progress you have made. You may share work for feedback and/or identify unexpected experimental results, evolving theoretical frameworks, or new insights that have emerged during your work period. The idea is to attend to the developmental process rather than a slavish adherence to task completion.
There is no doubt that there are times when you just need to get things written but there are also many moments – especially in the messy middle of the PhD – where it is important to think about what is getting written rather than just pushing to fill a word count to meet a deadline. Reflective milestones recognise the importance of critical self-assessment and honing the skills for identifying productive areas for development. They also foster a sense of progress – as you identify what you have achieved rather than berating yourself for missing a deadline. Over time you will become more adept at setting realistic goals but, along the way, reflective milestones can help keep you on track and celebrate your progress.
You might want to experiment with different ways of planing as you go into this new year. Do let me know how things go for you.
Cheering you on!
Emma