Working at Weekends – A Sign of Devotion or Delusion? #PhDTips

As PhD researchers, it’s easy to compare ourselves to others – especially when it comes to working patterns. Because the ‘success’ of our project ultimately depends on our data, we can quickly conclude that the ‘good’ scientist works as many hours as possible to fit in the maximum number of experiments. But to subscribe to this idea puts us under enormous pressure – pressure to be the first to arrive in the lab, the last to leave and even to work at weekends. Putting in more hours creates the impression that we are automatically giving ourselves a greater chance of finding that elusive significant result.

Yet this goes against the ‘work-life balance’ that the most successful people in life manage to master; where time and energy are devoted to career plans, family, relationships, friends, hobbies and spirituality rather than focusing exclusively on one area. I’ve found that if I burrow myself too deeply into my project and cut myself off from the world, then I quickly burn out: if I try to look at a database, it all appears as a jumbled mess; if I need to write a report, the words simply won’t come. At that point, I know I have to down tools and grab my paints or head out to the hills for a long walk.

It’s better to avoid getting to this point of breaking down in the first place. Yet, if I spend too many weekends outside the lab, I am gnawed by guilt: “Think how much more quickly I could be progressing!” So, I have learned to follow a loose alternating pattern of ‘one weekend on, one weekend off’. For my weekends off, I try to arrange an activity in advance to stop myself from being sucked into the default mode of thinking “I may as well do some work today”. Even though non-work related activities can make me feel lazy, I always come back more refreshed and find I can blitz through assignments more easily. It also stops me from getting too embittered about my project and stuck in ruts with my thinking. Often, a new interpretation of a result or a new idea for an experiment come when I am doing something completely different. And if I can arrange to do these nourishing activities with friends it really becomes well-spent quality-time, making me feel less hard done by on the other weekends when I choose/need to spend some time with my thesis.

Ultimately, we all come to a point of diminishing returns: even if we spent hours and hours more on our experiments than we currently do, the return would be imperceptible. Meanwhile, the other areas of our life – parts that all influence our ability to actually last the course of our projects – suffer. One institute where I did a summer research project was manned throughout the night and at weekends, allowing all its scientists 24-hour access. Some of the people I met there never seemed to leave the building. It felt like a competition to log as many hours as possible and soon enough I fell into the trap . But rather than make a great breakthrough, I reached one of the lowest points in my life and my physical and mental health deteriorated badly. I wish now I had had the sense to pace myself and to enjoy a bit of the surrounding area and its culture – especially as I may never have the chance to again.

So if you constantly compare your ‘hours’ to your peers, stop and ask yourself: on your deathbed, will you regret not spending more hours in the lab? Deep down, you know the answer.

Caroline Wood is midway through a PhD studying parasitic weeds at the University of Sheffield. When she’s not agonising over her experiments, she loves to write and will cover most scientific topics if they stay still long enough.

In her spare time, she enjoys helping at public outreach events, hill walking and escapism at the cinema. She blogs at:

http://scienceasadestiny.blogspot.co.uk/