1. It’s perfectly normal to feel like you have no idea what you’re doing.

Starting a PhD was a completely new experience for me, especially because I came to it later in life (around 28) after having had a job for a few years. The structure of a PhD is usually completely different to any job you have had – you are working on your own on one project for up to four years or more, your main point of contact is your supervisor and usually you don’t have fixed working hours. This means that you need to structure your own working day, while trying to make friends and figure out your research (and many students also work in addition to doing their PhDs). It’s a lot and no wonder many PhD students feel lost at the start.

Therefore, it is a good idea to try and use the first six months up to a year of your PhD as the adjustment period. Give yourself time and don’t punish yourself for feeling lost, it’s normal!

2. Everyone else feels lost too.

In my first year we had a department Christmas party for us PhD students in early December. Before that, when I asked a colleague about how their PhD was going they would tell me it’s all great and positive, and in response I would lie and say that everything was great for me too. But it wasn’t, I was struggling a lot and feeling lost but felt especially like a failure because all of my colleagues seemed to be doing great.

By the time of the Christmas party, I had gotten really tired of lying and for the first time I answered the question about how my PhD was going truthfully – it was not going well and I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. To my surprise every colleague that I was honest with said that they felt the same but were too afraid to admit it to others.

After that Christmas party we were all a lot more honest with each other about how we were doing and it really eased the pressure we were feeling to be perfect.

3. You don’t have to be perfect.

Think of the PhD as your apprenticeship during which you are learning how to conduct proper research. No one is born a researcher, it is a set of skills that are acquired, and they can’t be acquired over night. It takes time and patience.

I would advise you to set yourself realistic goals for each six months or year. If you are not sure what goals are realistic for your first year talk to your supervisor and colleagues. You can also consult your handbook, or online PhD communities (e.g., just type ‘PhD group’ into your Facebook search and you’ll get numerous groups to join, or if you prefer to use Twitter follow @AcademicChatter for example).

I spent the first six month mostly reading literature and felt like I was not doing enough and was just wasting my time, but it turned out that was exactly what I was supposed to be doing at the start.