Embarking on a PhD means having to project manage…

For someone like me (who is probably an undiagnosed neurodivergent), this part of my PhD project has been the most difficult.

I take notes in my notebook, laptop and iPad but I have a very habit of never returning to those notes and never finding the time to consolidate them so that I have them in one place. This also has made it incredibly difficult to keep track of my progress. Clearly, I know what the problem is and what needs to change to bring more organisation into the way I work, but implementing these changes and staying consistent has been the most challenging aspect of my work. I underestimated how much I would need to manage and keep track of and I have now fallen a bit behind.

As I am still on my PhD journey and only 8 months in, I really have nothing else to offer in this blog post. I just came on here to vent a little bit and to share what is currently on my mind…I also hope to find more people who might be going through the same thing…so that we can vent about it more together, lol.

I am thinking about taking on a project management course – something that I can get a certificate in so that I can use it in the future when I get back into looking for work. I have also just decided (literally 5 seconds ago) that I need to set a day or 2 aside in my week to only focus on admin. This would consist of organising all my notes, filing paper versions of my documents in the right place and labelling everything on my devices in a better way to make it easier for myself to find things. I also want to use those days to actually read over all my notes – from meeting notes, to random thoughts that I might have jotted down during my day. Lastly, I plan to use those days to organise new meetings and converse with my supervisors. I will get back on here in a month or two and let you all know how that all works out.

Otherwise, I have found some great resources on Etsy that have already been very helpful for me, I just need to actually start using them efficiently. I am currently trying out this excel document: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1674827684/dissertation-planner-thesis-planner-phd?ref=yr_purchases

My goal for July of this year is to finally be more organised and to work more efficiently…maybe one day I can develop some excel templates of my own that might be helpful to others as well.

Have a good weekend all! Good luck with everything.