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Rate yourself on the 7 secrets and work out what exactly you can do to improve your progress. Topics covered include dealing with your supervisor, writing, being realistic, and hanging in there when the going gets tough.

Table of contents:

Care and maintenance of your supervisor
Write and show as you go: This is show and tell not hide and seek
Be realistic: It's not a Nobel Prize
Say no to distractions: Even the fun ones and the ones you think you must do
It's a job: That means working nine to five but you get holidays
Get help: You are not an owner-operator single person business
You can do it: A PhD is 90% persistence and 10% intelligence

Find out what they don't tell you at Induction that would be really useful if only you knew! We interview 10 PhD students from different disciplines, discuss the emotional roller coaster of PhD study and let you know how best to handle it.

Table of contents:

Mark's story: The human factor as well as the scientific factor
Amy's story: This is not going the way I expected
Andrew's story: Throw the kid into the deep end to see how he does
Anne's story: I love what I do
Margaret's story: Life gets in the way
Daniel's story: You don't want a wing and a prayer to get you through
Sam's story: Having the confidence to say this is what I think
Christine's story: It's been a long process, and most of the time, not very fun
Megan's story: It's like crossing the line without finishing
Jennifer's story: I'm doing something that's making a difference

Three years might seem like ages when you're starting out, but without some strategies, it's gone in no time. Find out about rolling plans, dealing with distractions and interruptions, managing paper and staying motivated.

Table of contents:

Taking control of your time
Priorities - the big rocks
Procrastination
Staying motivated
Overcommitting and saying no
Planning
Daily planning
Distractions
Part-time study and work
Email
Paperwork
Working smarter
Avoidance

Procrastination, perfectionism, over-committing. Sound familiar? Learn how to identify your own patterns, find out what might be behind them, and work out what you can do to tackle them so that you can get your thesis finished.

Table of contents:

The secret life of the PhD student
What is self-sabotage?
The down side of self-sabotage
Defeating self-sabotage
Overcommitting: it's enough already
Procrastination: I'll start when I feel like it
Perfectionism / writer's block: It's not a Nobel prize (sadly!)
The ultimate defeating SELF-SABotage tool
20 excellent excuses for not starting work on your PhD