Time is very limited in a rigorous PhD program. It was important for me to build certain habits for my own sanity, health, motivation levels, and happiness.

I think the most important routines to grow are for health, relationships, development, exam preparation, and budgeting.

Health

Doing a PhD can definitely take a physical toll on your body. I think the majority of people in my cohort (myself included) developed some sort of back pain and strain. I even started clenching my teeth at night, which I had never done before. The intense work coupled with feelings of imposter syndrome and adjusting to a new environment also takes a mental toll. I personally experienced imposter syndrome and compared myself to other peers and PhD students from other departments.

I think that everyone was quite cognizant of the ways in which these physical and mental stresses affected their bodies and everyone was surprisingly diligent in trying to proactively stay healthy. Common ways in which people prioritized health were: going to physical therapy, going to psychological therapy, walking pets, and exercising. I really appreciated that while I could see everyone working extremely hard studying all day, people did take some time each day to go on a walk, go on a run, go to the gym, talk to a therapist, etc. The nice part too is that almost everyone commuted to class by bicycle! I loved this because even if I felt I did not have time to do a specific type of work out I wanted, I still got in 30 minutes of cycling a day. I had heard that Davis was a pretty healthy environment, so I was very happy to see this in practice. Even our faculty were very supportive and active themselves - many professors also commute by bicycle, play sports, or go on hiking trips. Some professors even host “life office hours” to discuss anything about life!

Health is something I take very seriously, and being in an environment where the type of lifestyle I lead was not only respected, but encouraged, was very nice. My health routine consisted of waking up at 6am, doing yoga before checking my phone, eating breakfast, riding a bicycle to school, studying/attending classes, eating lunch, studying/attending classes, riding my bicycle back home, eating dinner, and sleeping before 11pm to ensure I got at least 7 hours of sleep each night. I also played ultimate frisbee for two hours, twice a week. I did a lot of meal prep and ate out very rarely, which helped me maintain a healthy diet. I am also normally really bad at drinking water, but I tried really hard to stay hydrated!

Relationships

I think that building and maintaining relationships are extremely important for inculcating a supportive environment for yourself. No one in our cohort was actually from Davis, but I noticed that everyone did put in effort to maintain connections with loved ones back home. We inevitably also built friendships with one another, either through studying with people in our offices, spending time doing cohort activities, or making plans to meet outside of campus.

When I moved to Davis, I immediately added the timezones of people I wanted to maintain touch with on my phone and made an effort to stay in touch. Mostly, this materialized in the form of me randomly cold-calling friends and family while commuting by bike (with only one headphone in, so I could still hear my surroundings!). But I also made some plans to talk to my friends. I was lucky enough that some friends visited me and that I was also able to travel and see some friends and family during breaks. I attended all department social events and tried to organize other events for our cohort as well. Staying connected with all of my family and friends really helped me feel supported during stressful periods and I appreciate all the well-wishes they sent me before exams!

Development

It is hard to build a specific routine for personal/professional development, but I tried my best to get started by participating in the following activities:

• Seminars: At the beginning of the quarter, I paid close attention to the invitations to join specific email lists and marked on my calendar when seminars would be held for specific fields. I set a goal for myself to attend at least one seminar per month in a field I was interested in. There were also options to meet some speakers throughout the day they visited. I initially did not sign up for any as I did not have my own research to speak to them about. But some professors really encouraged me to meet with them to get advice and hear different perspectives on how to navigate entering the research topics I was interested in, which I did and enjoyed!
• Mentorship opportunities: At UC Davis, the Graduate Student Association matches first year students with buddies, based on interests. I really appreciated meeting with my mentor and tried to come prepared with questions and honest reflections.
• Networking opportunities: I tried to attend all of the department events to get to know professors in a more casual setting. Since the main outlet in which first year students connect with professors is through the first year sequence, I felt that I did not know too many of the professors whose research interests overlapped with mine. I emailed a few professors to meet with them and solicit advice about my summer plans. To my delight, all professors I emailed were more than happy to meet with me and all gave me really encouraging feedback and advice! I know that professors are all extremely busy, so I tried to enter these conversations with some specific questions regarding what advice I was seeking.
• News: I love listening to and reading the news. It helps me feel like a more well-rounded global citizen and it inspires many research questions. I ensured to include news in my daily routines.

Finally, I like to document the steps I make towards any personal growth. I used to maintain this habit while working and found it extremely useful in identifying patterns, figuring out what new skills I needed to build, and sharing my progress with my mentors. I also personally like having a record so that I can feel accomplished in what I have done and motivated to do other things. Here is my current list.

Exam Preparation

I think everyone in our cohort developed their own exam routine based on the study habits that worked for them. As I reflected on in the previous post, I began studying for exams 2 weeks before each test. I found it most helpful to begin studying for exams by making a plan/mapping out all the practice problems I wanted to complete, creating study guides to summarize main concepts, and working with a study group. I liked starting to prepare early for exams because building the study guides and skimming through the problems I intended on practicing normally inspired many questions that I could ask my peers, TAs, and professors without feeling like I was learning something last minute, since I knew that it took me longer for concepts to sync in. Some people preferred to study in a more concentrated manner closer to the exam date than spread out like I did, but I think it worked for them!

During this 2 week period of studying, I was also extra cognizant of being on my phone. What an easy way to waste time! I made “focus/work mode” my friend.

On the day of any exam, I had a very specific (and maybe superstitious) routine. I would wake up, make a bigger breakfast than normal (with eggs!) and go to school at my usual time (7:45am). I would review my study guides and review the problems I had practiced. I would stop studying within an hour of the exam and try to go for a walk before or get some sunlight if the weather was nice. I get really nervous cramming or seeing others study right before, so I tried my best to step out of the office. I think the key is just to find out what works for you and follow it through!

Budgeting

Being a full time student means not working full time. As such, I found it extremely important to budget. I know this is very old school, but in college, I had built myself an expense tracker and budgeting tool on excel, which I continued to use while working and in the PhD program. I know other people who use apps to track expenses as well. I was very diligent in checking that my fellowship and teaching assistant payments were going through and marking all expenses. I think this was key to ensuring I could budget for all of the trips and activities that I had planned.

Contents

Jump to the next parts:

• Reflections: This post describes some practical tips I have for finding academic success and feeling socially connected.
• Resources: This post includes all the study guides I made and organizational tools for streamlining studying.

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