- Study hard. There is no replacement for studying hard. Even if you're a super smart kid (everyone claims to be), if you don't study, there is no way you can finish your PhD successfully. I see a lot of examples of this.
- Be organized. One of the most difficult thing in PhD is to be organized. Studying hard is necessary but not sufficient. I see a lot of people who watch movies, reading blog posts while in the lab. I always wonder why they're coming to the lab as the home probably the most comfortable place to do such activities. I believe that the lack of plan and organization are probably the main causes of these behaviors. I suggest to do a plan ahead of time for your day/week/month/semester. I usually plan things in a semester basis at the high level and then arrange my months, weeks and days accordingly taking conference deadlines into account.
- Be focused. Focus on the work you're doing and eliminate most of the distractions including smartphone notifications, checking emails, talking with your friends etc. You never know when the idea or solution comes to your mind. Being focused make this process easier. To make it more concrete; if you never dream about your work at nights, then you're not focusing on your works (I mean it!).
- Choose a good colleague. You may double/triple the number of publications and shorten your PhD quest, if you choose a good colleague(s) who complements you. Try to avoid people who have the same skills as you have. To give an example, if you're a good coder, you probably don't need someone who can code. But if you feel lack on data analytic then someone with that skill would be very useful for you. Always think the relationship as a trade. There should be a mutual benefit. As I understood in a hard way, unfortunately academia is a mean place. You will see bunch of people who just try to write their names in articles by writing a few lines of code. Put your friendships behind when writing papers. People need to understand the importance and difficulty of executing works and writing articles. It's not an easy endeavor!
- Own your idea. As a naive person, I always thought that why companies are patenting such basic stuffs which are usually not as innovative as I expected. However, industry (and academia too) is a mean place, you'll find people who steal your ideas (and even execute it). So be cautious of this kind of people, they usually identify themselves by being so selfish and try to be someone that they're actually not. It's always a good idea to talk about your works and ideas with people, however choose the ones who can contribute to you.
- Know what to expect from your advisor. Your advisor is there to help you. However, you should always seek for it. Professors usually manage more than 4-5 person and they tend to be super busy (not to mention other stuffs). Hence, it's your responsibility to keep your advisor up to date and fresh. Professors like people who do their jobs, so try to be present in front of him/her with some results or ideas. Be neat, to-the-point when explaining something or asking for help. Note that your advisor is not just there to help you on academically. After some time, you should feel comfortable to talk with anything with your advisor. If you don't, then you probably feel guilty of lagging behind, not doing what you supposed to do etc.
- Be collaborative. Most of the innovative works come from collaborative efforts. So you should feel comfortable when working with other people. During your PhD, you should at least do one work with others other than the people who're in your lab. In this way, you'd understand how different people working outside your lab and environment.
- Write. Write as much as you can. From the early phases of your work to later phases, you should always write your ideas/implementations into a well articulated article. Frequently, I found myself finding solutions to the problems that I'm dealing with when I'm writing. So writing also stimulates thinking. Never miss this opportunity.
- Present your work. Whenever you find time, talk about your works. Try to attend conferences, workshops and other events where you can talk about your works. Doing some work is great and help you to finish your dissertation, but if you couldn't present it, you're in trouble. To be a good presenter, watch/listen great presenters, take notes and improve yourself. Always double check your presentations with your advisor to get early feedback.
- Know your field and the people in your field. You should be very comfortable to talk about your field with other people. You're supposed to be an expert of the field after the graduation, so be prepared for it. In addition, you should know and follow the prominent people in your field. Make arrangements to meet them in conferences, internships and other occasions. Even emailing would help you to get introduce yourself. Don't forget that they're not just the people in your field, they're also the ones who review your articles, proposals. So it's better to start growing your professional network in the early stage of your career.
- Be prepared for bad things. This might include thinking of leaving PhD. I believe everyone has this feeling at some point of his/her PhD. So never feel alone on this. However, if you think about this constantly, then it might be a good idea to do it. I always think that if you'll fail, try to fail early. Life is short, do not waste your time.
- Once you graduate. You should be able to generate ideas, write proposals, execute your work, present your work individually without your advisor's help. If you're at this point, then it means you're ready to graduate.
(This post was written in a short period of time, I'm planning to add more things later...)
For a more detailed story/advices, please see Phillip Guo's PhD Grind: http://pgbovine.net/PhD-memoir.htm
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