I saw the Ali Abdaal video and recognized this channel that I've come across when looking for PhD content, I found it very helpful as well (although admittedly Ali's content is sometimes a little too hardcore for my liking). I think the third point with the productive hours is so so so important. As a PhD student, you are surrounded by strange hierarchies that exist but no one spells out, and by everyone seemingly being brilliant and fabulous and doing it all in their sleep. The more you work, the better you are, is the logic here. So people kind of perform their working hours and how much they read and so on for everyone to see. This is toxic, but you have to realize how the system works first to notice this. Every since I started planning just 2 hours of work regularly, I feel like I'm really making progress. (I still have days when 2 hours aren't even possible and still burnout phases unfortunately, but I don't freak out about them as much anymore. They just seem to be part of the process.) Maybe people CAN read for 4 hours and still take up information from what they read, but *I* certainly can't. And still I am here, being a PhD student, obviously good enough, working consistenly on my PhD. Thank you for helping dismantling this myth of PhD students working crazy hours! I've come to the conclusion that this time of being a PhD candidate also is a time for us to learn about ourselves and the conditions under which we can do our best work. It is a privilege, a luxury in a way to be able to figure this out but it is important to know this and is really sustainable productivity.
Hearing from you is so good and gives me confidence to keep going in science. Thank you! I'm just starting to get used to write and read a lot of articles as I'm still in a master's degree.
I think it's Neil Gaiman who said that his writing method was that he could either write or do nothing, but for two hours he had to write or do nothing. This was really relaxing, to know that you could do nothing haha
@@morganeua That’s so true ! Here are the exact words Neil Gaiman said on the Tim Ferris podcast : "All I’m allowed to do is absolutely nothing, or write. What I love about that is I’m giving myself permission to write or not write, but writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing after a while. You sit there and you’ve been staring out the window now for five minutes, and it kind of loses its charm. You’re going, “Well, actually, let’s all write something.” It’s hard. As a writer, I’m more easily - I’m distractable. I have a three-year-old son. He is the epitome of cuteness and charm. It’s more fun playing with him than it is writing, which means if I’m going to be writing, I need to do it somewhere where I don’t have a three-year-old son singing to me, asking me to read to him, demanding my attention. I think it’s really just a solid rule for writers. You don’t have to write. You have permission to not write, but you don’t have permission to do anything else."
There are days when I'm absolutely focussed on one thing for 3-4 hours at a time. I love those days. But many days I am focussed on nothing. I've never been diagnosed with ADHD brain. But based on all symptoms -- I'm pretty sure this is something I've been dealing with for 50+ years of life. It's why I wrote my dissertation in such ridiculous spurts. My writing today tends to be the same. I kinda hate it. But it's kinda how my brain works. (I think?) haha! As always -- great video! And great connection with Ali!
My mom was diagnosed with ADHD after 50 and she also did a master's degree after 50! So, yes, everyone's brains focus differently and we've got to figure out what works for us. Because something will!
@@morganeua Your Mom and I came from a generation where ADHD and other mental health issues were approached with a "Stop and get over it" mentality. I actually have learned to love my (probably) ADHD brain. Your channel is one of my favorites. Thanks for all you do, Morgan.
I have the same problem: A full-time job at university, teaching in fall and winter semesters and writing my dissertation. Lately, I have been working on everything except my writing, so thanks for sharing :)
Oh ya, I feel you 😥 It's so hard to prioritize it in that situation. But possible, I think, with the right systems in place! And lots of kindness to yourself!
Oooh I had watched this Ali's video and had loved it, especially because it was a phd related problem and I am a master's student. Didn't know you had your youtube channel before you posted this one though, and wow ! It looks great, your video was clear, well-lighted, well paced and very well edited too. Good luck for the phd ! Can't wait to see more content from your channel :)
I really liked this video, and watched it twice! Key takeaway for me was shifting my "core hours" to first thing in the day. I'm mixing postgrad studies with a minimum wage job. Although I do have some flexibility in my hours, if I study after work (6PM-10PM) the energy, concentration, and motivation are gone. Ripping into study highly caffeinated at 9AM with a deadline of 12PM every day really gets me going. A great idea and working very well for me right now. I believe Stephen King uses a similar timetable. Maybe I should give Ali Abdaal another go. I stopped watching him after a few too many productivity tips involving "Going to the toilet is a special treat where you get to catch up on reading academic journals!". Although, I'm sure he has some wisdom in there somewhere.
Hahahaha, I still think he talks about that, he's just moved on from academic papers to entrepreneurship 😂 Yes, I realized after making this video that writer's routines also make me feel like I don't work enough! Cause people like Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson are like "I write for 6 hours then I take a 2 hour break then I write until I pass out" (I'm exaggerating. But like, not by much.)
Continuous 2/3 hours of focus are the limits of our brain. You can work longer, but not in a productive way. When I say that, as a researcher, I work 10 hours daily, people consider me a "monster." However, work does not involve only studying. The research for papers and books, writing my notes by hand, reorganizing and typing them in Zettlr, and structuring my thoughts all constitute a part of the work. Happy to see you better, Morgan. Have a great weekend.
Great vid, as always Morgan. People mistake the word long for the word well. You can work for a long time, that’s not the same as working well. When working on my Masters, I was also holding down a high pressure job with long hours. I would work on my dissertations between midnight and 2 am and was heading for work by 6am. I could not afford to spend a long time. Before I started I would simply write down 2-3 things I wanted to achieve in that session, do them, then stop. Have a plan, simple steps, “I will do this, then after I will do that” Also understand what is important and when to stop crafting a sentence or paragraph, accept the concept of “good enough” The real secret though is information capture and processing using a Zettle. I use Obsidian and wow what a game changer. It allows you to understand, via links
wow this is an amazing clickbaty but actually real title!! You are being an overachiever for 10 mins straight but this is very satisfying, thank you 😂😂 Good luck with the rest! ✨
This is a rly lovely video to watch as a disabled phd student :) I’m so glad the tips you got helped u and the bit about how long ppl can concentrate for was sooo validating ! ❤❤ good luck w everything
Thanks for sharing the advice you got from Ali. I'm starting a PhD in September, and I'll still be working fulltime as well, so I'm pre-empting the timemanagement problems I could encounter and looking for solutions now. There is a lot of advice on your channel which has already helped me, so thank you for sharing.
Ah, congrats and best of luck! I personally think it's possible to do a PhD alongside full-time work if you know your own work ethic well enough and work consistently when you have the energy
Four hours is way too long a time for me to focus on something, especially as someone who has ADHD. 45-50 minutes is generally the max length of time before I start to loose focus... that's when I take a break and come back to it later!
I certainly can't work for 4 hours in a day normally. That would be an exceptional day. When I was writing my Ma thesis I got in about 2-3 hours of work every day and then I was done. But 3 hours of focused work does not take 3 hours, it takes me about 4.5 hours, with breaks. In preparation of my high school exams, we had exam training. Those training sessions were always 3 hours long, because that was the duration of the exam and with classes always taking an hour, they wanted us to practice being focused for 3 hours (and also see that it's very hard to do so). Oh and what I sometimes do is that I just work for 1 pomodoro on a specific task with the goal being very easily achieved ("write 50 words summarizing the section") and give myself the option to stop after that task has been achieved. If I want to continue I can, if I don't want to I don't have to. I almost always keep working.
Ooh, I love the conditional Pomodoro idea. Also, I guess I should mention that when I do the 50/10 format of work, I count that as an hour of work 😛 So if I did 3 hours 20 minutes of straight work, I call it 4 hours in my head 😂 (but I rarely do)
You can study overv12 hrs but mostly you are taking breaks every hr longer breaks every two or three hrs you eat without looking at work, you change toic at least every few hrs molectlar, macro, social rotated through the day. Execrise slerp eating and rest inc dayys off are importsnt unless you want yo crash
Ahh really glad you liked the tips :) good luck with the rest of the phd!!
Thank you so much, they really helped! And your channel is inspiring as a UA-camr ☺️
Such a wholesome series!! ✨
I saw the Ali Abdaal video and recognized this channel that I've come across when looking for PhD content, I found it very helpful as well (although admittedly Ali's content is sometimes a little too hardcore for my liking). I think the third point with the productive hours is so so so important. As a PhD student, you are surrounded by strange hierarchies that exist but no one spells out, and by everyone seemingly being brilliant and fabulous and doing it all in their sleep. The more you work, the better you are, is the logic here. So people kind of perform their working hours and how much they read and so on for everyone to see. This is toxic, but you have to realize how the system works first to notice this. Every since I started planning just 2 hours of work regularly, I feel like I'm really making progress. (I still have days when 2 hours aren't even possible and still burnout phases unfortunately, but I don't freak out about them as much anymore. They just seem to be part of the process.) Maybe people CAN read for 4 hours and still take up information from what they read, but *I* certainly can't. And still I am here, being a PhD student, obviously good enough, working consistenly on my PhD. Thank you for helping dismantling this myth of PhD students working crazy hours! I've come to the conclusion that this time of being a PhD candidate also is a time for us to learn about ourselves and the conditions under which we can do our best work. It is a privilege, a luxury in a way to be able to figure this out but it is important to know this and is really sustainable productivity.
Yes! Ditto everything you've said here. This week I did about 2 hours/day, except yesterday when I did none. But I still made good progress!
Hearing from you is so good and gives me confidence to keep going in science. Thank you! I'm just starting to get used to write and read a lot of articles as I'm still in a master's degree.
That's awesome! If you go on to the PhD, I hope the master's prepares you well!
I think it's Neil Gaiman who said that his writing method was that he could either write or do nothing, but for two hours he had to write or do nothing. This was really relaxing, to know that you could do nothing haha
Totally. And you wanna be in a state of relaxation when you write!
@@morganeua That’s so true ! Here are the exact words Neil Gaiman said on the Tim Ferris podcast : "All I’m allowed to do is absolutely nothing, or write.
What I love about that is I’m giving myself permission to write or not write, but writing is actually more interesting than doing nothing after a while. You sit there and you’ve been staring out the window now for five minutes, and it kind of loses its charm. You’re going, “Well, actually, let’s all write something.” It’s hard. As a writer, I’m more easily - I’m distractable. I have a three-year-old son. He is the epitome of cuteness and charm. It’s more fun playing with him than it is writing, which means if I’m going to be writing, I need to do it somewhere where I don’t have a three-year-old son singing to me, asking me to read to him, demanding my attention.
I think it’s really just a solid rule for writers. You don’t have to write. You have permission to not write, but you don’t have permission to do anything else."
There are days when I'm absolutely focussed on one thing for 3-4 hours at a time. I love those days. But many days I am focussed on nothing. I've never been diagnosed with ADHD brain. But based on all symptoms -- I'm pretty sure this is something I've been dealing with for 50+ years of life. It's why I wrote my dissertation in such ridiculous spurts. My writing today tends to be the same. I kinda hate it. But it's kinda how my brain works. (I think?) haha!
As always -- great video! And great connection with Ali!
My mom was diagnosed with ADHD after 50 and she also did a master's degree after 50! So, yes, everyone's brains focus differently and we've got to figure out what works for us. Because something will!
@@morganeua Your Mom and I came from a generation where ADHD and other mental health issues were approached with a "Stop and get over it" mentality. I actually have learned to love my (probably) ADHD brain.
Your channel is one of my favorites. Thanks for all you do, Morgan.
I have the same problem: A full-time job at university, teaching in fall and winter semesters and writing my dissertation. Lately, I have been working on everything except my writing, so thanks for sharing :)
Oh ya, I feel you 😥 It's so hard to prioritize it in that situation. But possible, I think, with the right systems in place! And lots of kindness to yourself!
Oooh I had watched this Ali's video and had loved it, especially because it was a phd related problem and I am a master's student. Didn't know you had your youtube channel before you posted this one though, and wow ! It looks great, your video was clear, well-lighted, well paced and very well edited too. Good luck for the phd ! Can't wait to see more content from your channel :)
I really liked this video, and watched it twice! Key takeaway for me was shifting my "core hours" to first thing in the day. I'm mixing postgrad studies with a minimum wage job. Although I do have some flexibility in my hours, if I study after work (6PM-10PM) the energy, concentration, and motivation are gone. Ripping into study highly caffeinated at 9AM with a deadline of 12PM every day really gets me going. A great idea and working very well for me right now. I believe Stephen King uses a similar timetable.
Maybe I should give Ali Abdaal another go. I stopped watching him after a few too many productivity tips involving "Going to the toilet is a special treat where you get to catch up on reading academic journals!". Although, I'm sure he has some wisdom in there somewhere.
Hahahaha, I still think he talks about that, he's just moved on from academic papers to entrepreneurship 😂
Yes, I realized after making this video that writer's routines also make me feel like I don't work enough! Cause people like Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson are like "I write for 6 hours then I take a 2 hour break then I write until I pass out" (I'm exaggerating. But like, not by much.)
Continuous 2/3 hours of focus are the limits of our brain. You can work longer, but not in a productive way. When I say that, as a researcher, I work 10 hours daily, people consider me a "monster." However, work does not involve only studying. The research for papers and books, writing my notes by hand, reorganizing and typing them in Zettlr, and structuring my thoughts all constitute a part of the work. Happy to see you better, Morgan. Have a great weekend.
Great vid, as always Morgan.
People mistake the word long for the word well.
You can work for a long time, that’s not the same as working well.
When working on my Masters, I was also holding down a high pressure job with long hours. I would work on my dissertations between midnight and 2 am and was heading for work by 6am. I could not afford to spend a long time.
Before I started I would simply write down 2-3 things I wanted to achieve in that session, do them, then stop.
Have a plan, simple steps, “I will do this, then after I will do that”
Also understand what is important and when to stop crafting a sentence or paragraph, accept the concept of “good enough”
The real secret though is information capture and processing using a Zettle. I use Obsidian and wow what a game changer. It allows you to understand, via links
wow this is an amazing clickbaty but actually real title!! You are being an overachiever for 10 mins straight but this is very satisfying, thank you 😂😂 Good luck with the rest! ✨
This is a rly lovely video to watch as a disabled phd student :) I’m so glad the tips you got helped u and the bit about how long ppl can concentrate for was sooo validating ! ❤❤ good luck w everything
Ooh, and I see you have a UA-cam channel, too! Now following! :D
As a teacher, UA-camr, and PhD student, I appreciate this video!!! Thanks!
Thanks for sharing the advice you got from Ali. I'm starting a PhD in September, and I'll still be working fulltime as well, so I'm pre-empting the timemanagement problems I could encounter and looking for solutions now. There is a lot of advice on your channel which has already helped me, so thank you for sharing.
Ah, congrats and best of luck! I personally think it's possible to do a PhD alongside full-time work if you know your own work ethic well enough and work consistently when you have the energy
Four hours is way too long a time for me to focus on something, especially as someone who has ADHD. 45-50 minutes is generally the max length of time before I start to loose focus... that's when I take a break and come back to it later!
I've found 50 minutes is also good for me, so I always take at least a 10 minute break then or my focus quickly gets worse!
@@morganeua that's certainly about the time Ali said. 🙂
I certainly can't work for 4 hours in a day normally. That would be an exceptional day. When I was writing my Ma thesis I got in about 2-3 hours of work every day and then I was done. But 3 hours of focused work does not take 3 hours, it takes me about 4.5 hours, with breaks. In preparation of my high school exams, we had exam training. Those training sessions were always 3 hours long, because that was the duration of the exam and with classes always taking an hour, they wanted us to practice being focused for 3 hours (and also see that it's very hard to do so).
Oh and what I sometimes do is that I just work for 1 pomodoro on a specific task with the goal being very easily achieved ("write 50 words summarizing the section") and give myself the option to stop after that task has been achieved. If I want to continue I can, if I don't want to I don't have to. I almost always keep working.
Ooh, I love the conditional Pomodoro idea. Also, I guess I should mention that when I do the 50/10 format of work, I count that as an hour of work 😛 So if I did 3 hours 20 minutes of straight work, I call it 4 hours in my head 😂 (but I rarely do)
Is it still a celebrity crush if they're on UA-cam?
🤣🤣
@@morganeua GUYS!! She noticed me!
You can study overv12 hrs but mostly you are taking breaks every hr longer breaks every two or three hrs you eat without looking at work, you change toic at least every few hrs molectlar, macro, social rotated through the day. Execrise slerp eating and rest inc dayys off are importsnt unless you want yo crash