No Closure

The thing about a PhD I am realising, is because it takes so long to finish, you never really feel like you've achieved anything. So for 4 years (everyone thinks it's 3 but let's be realistic here) you will most likely feel like you've not achieved anything meaningful because the work is still not finished. At the end of the day, a PhD is just one really big document. You gain satisfaction when you complete it and send it off to examiners, but it always comes back with request for changes. By that stage, I'm sure one would be so over it. Until the day comes when they say you've passed, I think you won't feel the complete sense of satisfaction.



To survive the drawn-out suffering, you break down the PhD into stages; confirmation, completion of Study 1, completion of Study 2, completion of Study 3, write up, etc. In between, there are other mini-goals you can have; submit paper to conference, receive acceptance from conference, presenting at conference for the first time, submit article to journal, receive acceptance from journal. Then there are the odd bonus achievements; being nominated for best paper award, winning best paper award, receiving any other conceivable academic honour, etc.



But I bet nothing feels as good as actually finishing.