Six Months In: My Tricks

I’m about six months into my PhD. Long enough to realise it’s less about working harder and more about managing my energy. I wanted to share a few habits that have stuck with me so far.

Energy

I go to group sessions with a personal trainer, mostly because they’re booked in advance so past-me already made the decision. I get to skip the mental fatigue of negotiating with myself on whether I go.

I also take 5g of creatine every day. It’s been linked to better cognitive performance and lower depressive symptoms, especially in women (Juneja et al., 2024). I occasionally take 10g on days when I’m especially tired, after reading that it may help when you’re sleep-deprived (McMorris et al., 2006). It’s not a replacement for sleep, but I do notice a difference in clarity.

I’ve also accepted that morning Lainey is basically a zombie. Not the fresh, apocalyptic sprinter kind. The bent-neck, half-conscious one. To work with her rather than against her, I make my mornings as low-effort as possible. I use a sunrise alarm clock, which makes early starts less abrupt. Breakfast and lunches for the week are pre-prepped. Stocaí are laid out. I like my mornings to be military. It’s what got me through early morning shifts as a weather observer at Dublin Airport.

Accountability

When I’m avoiding something, I set a timer for fifteen minutes. Telling myself “just fifteen minutes” is usually enough to get going. Once I start, I keep going. I either use an online timer in the corner of my screen or a gravity cube timer on my desk.

Just like with the gym, if I tell someone in the office I’ll see them at 9am the next morning, I’m far more likely to arrive then.

Keeping Track

I keep a list of what I complete each day. Not what’s left to do, but what’s done. When a week feels unproductive, it tends to tell a different story. It’s helpful to reference before going into supervisor meetings.

Every Sunday I time-block the following week in my calendar, including travel time and social plans. I adjust it afterwards so it reflects the hours I actually worked. It gives me a clearer picture of where my time goes and reduces the Sunday scaries that tell me I should always be doing more.

I use separate Google profiles for work and personal browsing, which cuts down on distraction (online shopping). Once a month, I clear out my inbox and sort everything into folders.

Research Systems

I use Zotero and keep a shared Group Library with my supervisors. I organise papers into section folders that reflect the structure of my thesis, and then use tags on top for narrower ideas or to mark exactly where a paper fits.

I always write while I’m reading. Each chapter has its own LaTeX file, and I write directly into it rather than keeping separate Word or Google Docs notes. What starts as a short summary often turns into a comparison between papers once patterns begin to appear.

Within Zotero I use a simple highlighting system: yellow for general interest, green for methods, red for directly relevant material, blue for references I already have, and purple for research gaps. The key is not to overdo it with the highlighting. Words and phrases, not entire pages.

I work in VS Code so I can move easily between code and LaTeX. Keeping everything in one place makes it easier to switch between the two.

As I prepare my first journal submission, I’ve been reading books like How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper and Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks. Understanding what each section of a paper is actually trying to do makes the process far less abstract. Once the structure is clearer, the writing becomes more mechanical and less intimidating.

Perspective

PhDs can shrink your world if you let them. Hearing other people rant about their struggles helps you realise your own aren’t the be all and end all. It’s a two-way street. You get perspective, and you get a sounding board when something isn’t working.

Having something outside research helps too, whether that’s a hobby, a side project, or anything you do for its own sake. It means a bad week in the PhD doesn’t become a bad week full stop.

Six months in, it’s mostly been about minding the small stuff: sleep, food, movement, and starting.