Wellbeing

There may be multiple challenges doctoral researchers face that may affect their mental health and wellbeing. These include but are not limited to:

• Lack of motivation and/or purpose
• Lack of self-confidence
• Poor time management
• Lack of focus and/or direction
• Limited support
• Stuck in your comfort zone
• Fear of failure/ taking risks
• Lack of relevant experience

Avoid self-sabotaging behaviour – common self-sabotaging behaviours include:

• Over-committing: you take on so many things that your high priority goals (e.g. your doctorate) suffer
• Procrastination: you put off important or necessary tasks, often until the last minute
• Perfectionism: you want your work to be of the highest and most groundbreaking standard
• Busyness: you look and feel very busy, but in reality, only less important things (such as emails and referencing) are getting done
• Disorganisation: you don’t have a routine or system that makes managing your time and life easier
• Choosing performance-debilitating circumstances: you try to work in a busy or unsuitable location or situation, e.g. cafes.

Being self-aware that you may have one or some of these issues is a first step to stopping the behaviours. Taking action is the best way to solve such challenges.

Challenge your thinking – if you are struggling to break free of sabotaging behaviours, attempt to question the thinking that has led to them.

• Don’t work all the time – breaks are vitally important to ensure you don’t burnout and that the work you produce is actually of good quality. Plan your breaks and time to yourself into your schedule to ensure you get time away.
• Get away from it all – take breaks away and ensure time with family and friends.
• Enjoy other things – it’s important to have a life and passions outside of your doctorate – what fills you up?
• Eat and live healthily – easier said than done, but focusing on basics like nutrition and sleep are crucial to you functioning well.

Further tips to keep positive include:

• Think positively – we know, it sounds a bit vague – but starting with practices such as gratitude for what you have, and how the potentials could be maximised – can get you started on feeling more optimistic.
• Rekindle your enthusiasm and motivation for your research – if this feels like it’s waning, then try some short term tasks to reach your objectives and remember to give yourself small rewards.
• Choose who you spend your time with wisely – there’s research to show that the five people we spend the most time in our lives with end up having a bigger impact on our lives than we realise – so ensure you are in good company! Be around people who don’t tend to complain, gossip or are generally negative. Nurturing positive relationships is key to good mental and physical health.
• Stretch yourself – doing what is comfortable can leave you feeling stuck in a rut. Expand your capabilities by trying new things, and remember that failure is a better teacher than success is, so run towards it!
• Focus – if you feel that your research is drifting, discuss with your supervisor how you can get back on track.
• Assess your work-life balance and time management – see if taking a break from your research can help you get back into it.

• Review and reflect on those who work in your research area – how do they maintain their enthusiasm and perseverance? What could you learn from them? Does your work enthuse you or do you need to consider another career path? Are you the person who lifts the mood for everyone around you, or do you bring the mood down – even if only unconsciously? Sometimes these things can be hard to self-reflect on, but vital to ensure a positive career journey for you and better mental health.
• Inspire others – if you are genuinely passionate about the area in which you work, find opportunities to share this passion with others and to inspire them. There are many ways to go about doing this, from public and knowledge engagement activities, to outreach programmes, online discussion forums or local or regional groups.
• Feeling in control – part of perseverance is identifying where you have a problem and working towards resolving it, which can lead to a feeling of being in control. You can start to do this by creating a productive environment; ask yourself: What are the distractions or obstacles? How can I eliminate or minimise them? Identify people who can support you in resolving a situation and take some action.

• Take stock of what you have already achieved and assess your capabilities – a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) test can help you to analyse upon your career to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. This can be crucial to improve your confidence and to identify the areas for improvement.
• Demonstrate your expertise – how can you further maximise your strengths and capabilities? What opportunities exist outside and within your institution to further extend your skills? Consider the methods of promotion such as knowledge exchange programmes, poster competitions, or giving lectures that can provide further space for you to promote your research and skills.
• Set yourself goals and targets and celebrate your success and progress –give yourself small tasks to achieve throughout the week and then celebrate yourself when you achieve them. Focus on small and simple and the successes will start to build up! Remember to release perfectionism as progress, no matter how small, is always preferrable.
• Stretch yourself and accelerate your growth – once you have successfully achieved the smaller goals, draw up larger goals and set about achieving these in the same way as the smaller ones.
• Identify sources of support – look within and outside of your institution for support.
• Give feedback to others – give feedback and praise where it is deserved, and this in turn will motivate others and will also motivate you.