Trust me, I'm a doctor: a PhD survival guide

So, you’ve decided to do a PhD… now what? In this essay, the author provides some advice for beginning PhD students—basically sharing what he would tell his younger self. Doing a PhD is a transformative experience, but the process is challenging—not merely on an intellectual level but also psychologically. To overcome these challenges one needs a certain mindset and a bag of tricks. The author offers some help for getting in the right mindset, and shares some of his own tricks for studying, research, and productivity in general.peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=vece20status: publishe