So what does doing a PhD entail? Well, it’s a difficult process but I guess what gets you through is the thought of seeing your thesis eventually printed and bound and being called Dr Robinson.

D – is for DESIRE. Before you embark on a PhD you need to have the desire to do it. That needs to be more than just simply the desire to stay in uni after your masters, you need to have a research project that you know you want to do and that you know you can stick with for a long time!
O – is for OBSESS. You need to totally obsess over your project. A time will come when you are sick to death of it and those days when you couldn’t switch off thinking about your PhD because you were excited about it seem a long way past. But the obsession of doing a PhD and your enthusiasm for what you are doing is what gets you through and if you lose it during your time working for your PhD you need to rediscover it!
C – is for be CRITICAL. So far during my PhD this is the most important thing I have developed. I have not only learned how to be critical in my work but I have had to be critical of myself and my writing and to provide constructive yet critical feedback for my students. Without being critical of the world I will never have research worthy of being called a PhD thesis. So this one is crucial, or critical if you like, to a successful PhD!
T – is for TIME. This is the one thing you do have plenty of. Unfortunately the nature of the PhD means you have plenty of time to think and waste at the start of your time and then when you have so much to do in writing up and finishing your PhD time seems to be against you. So remember that time waits for no man, that the clock is always ticking!
O – is for your OWN work. When going out to do PhD research you should always remember that it is your baby, your work, your PhD. You set the direction, you decide what’s important and at the end you will be able to look back at what you achieved. Of course with some support, especially from your supervisors along with way, but it is YOUR doctorate!
R – is for RELATIONSHIPS strained. Inevitably your relationships will become strained. You have to immerse yourself into your work and this can often be at the expense of friends or girlfriends/boyfriends. You may be living apart from someone you love and over the course of the time in which you are working on your PhD things can change. At the end of it all when you really despair it is reassuring to discover that you haven’t pushed away your friends and they are often all too willing to help you through what is a very demanding time of your life. But a PhD can be rather a mistress!