How Many Hours Did I Actually Work During my STEM PhD? (Actual Data)

This was a tough video to make. Talking through the topic of work ethic for graduate students is kind of thorny because there is a lot of pressure to present oneself as a smart, hard-working kind of person... the cream of the crop. The truth is that almost every graduate student I've talked to about this topic has struggled with a lot of insecurity (and sometimes worse) when it comes to this. Always wondering if they've worked enough, often pressured externally by bosses who have an abnormal amount of control over their future and/or experiencing a lot of internal pressure from some need to prove something to the world or to themselves. I was no exception to this, but unlike a lot of my peers I (at least at times) took careful notes of how I spent my time. Beyond all the bluster I found that I worked long hours... for extended periods of time, only to crash and burnout and work below-average hours for even longer extended periods of time. When you average it all out for the 5 years of my PhD... I probably worked slightly less than full time, in the final analysis. Ouch. So much for human-dynamo, David.

My advice to someone starting a PhD (or just embarking on any challenging task) is to try to avoid working more than 9 or 10 hours a day (except on occasions where it's absolutely necessary) and instead put your ambition and energy into doing the right things rather than just doing more. Efficiency, energy, and carefully curating the things you choose to do is the answer and it will unlock more success than just burning the midnight oil.

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LINKS
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