Is the world coming to an end? There must be more to it than the flu on one. When is my city going to move to more of a complete shutdown? Am I sick or was that my normal allergy sneeze? I don’t think I can work from home for an indefinite period of time. What happens to the students that were about to graduate? Would they really have a commencement virtually? I’m running out of snacks and toilet paper even though I just stocked up yesterday at Costco’s.
COVID-19 and all of the responses and actions taking place worldwide and right in my own city has completely derailed me and my productivity. Or had derailed me until yesterday is more accurate. It’s Day 3 of a forced work from home situation with kids at home and I’m feeling much better that we have figured it out, or shall I say PhigureD it out.
The good news about today’s current situation for those of you on your graduate journey is that you got this. And even if your reality is that you do not agree with this in this moment, let me break down for you what graduate school is really all about.
In my opinion, graduate school is simply just a mechanism to help students figure things out. This is under well-intentioned and helpful programs, to also train students to have a specific expertise and set of skills in a particular field or discipline that are gained through working on a dedicated research project. But if you haven’t figured this out already, this process doesn’t always come complete with answers or a clear next step, and a lot of this journey puts the pressure on you to figure it out.
Figure out how to do a literature search.
Figure out how to think.
Figure out how to ask questions that haven’t been asked.
Figure out how to work past difficulties.
Figure out how to manage having a life during this intense period of study.
Figure out how to do those difficult calculations or statistical analyses.
Figure out how to pass courses successfully while still putting some time into research.
Figure out how to survive with a graduate school budget.
Figure out how to write in this particular way that is required in your field.
…
Shall I keep going? The philosophy part of this degree and the nature of this journey really do unleash in students the ability to figure things out. And once you get to the end of this journey, you will inherently be more confident in every area of your life because you have this instinctual ability to figure things out.
I empathize with you about how difficult and derailing this COVID-19 situation is to your research progress and your normal routines. For some this is a piece of cake because you’ve already mastered how to work from home or work remotely. But for those of you that are new to this, here are a few things to consider as you figure out how to move forward positively.
How can you setup a workspace that will allow you to be productive?
What times of the day are the best for you to focus on writing, analyzing data, or doing aspects of your research that you can remotely?
What extreme measures do you need to put into place so that during those times when you will commit to working, you do not have or subject yourself to distractions?
What are the things that you can do, that will still keep you making progress on aspects of your dissertation work and research?
What accountability can you put into place so that you can ensure you will get things accomplished?
What new ways can you communicate with your peers, advisor, or others so that you don’t go stir crazy or feel alone in the context of social distancing?
What rewards can you put into place to celebrate achievements, big and small, each day (i.e., 2 hours of Netflix for every couples of pages written)?
What do you need to figure out so that you can be in good mental space and get going in this new temporary situation?
Now this is the part where you start to earn your PhD. You implement and act on these things. What works you roll with and what doesn’t work, you figure out a new, better, or different way to move forward. For most, COVID-19 is an extreme situation of throwing one off track however is akin to other things that will come up in the graduate journey that can seem like an impossible barrier to overcome.
You’re PhD baby. This is what we do. We Phigure it Out.
If you have found ways to cope and be productive in light of all that’s happening, drop some comments so others can be encouraged and borrow some strategies.
Until next time,
Renã AS Robinson, PhD
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
