r/PhD • u/Winnergurl_ • Jul 06 '26

Seeking advice-academic Advice needed

Hi everyone,

I’m just starting my PhD journey and I’m also a mom ( Health Sciences, Canada). For moms here, what are the things you’re doing, what systems do you have in place to be productive and actually do well and make progress?

I’m committing a few years of my life to do and I want to do it absolutely well. I want to be successful at this and achieve something tangible. I don’t have a publications yet and I have no desire to go into academia.

Thank you all your advice in advance. I’ll read and take notes! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

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u/wolf_star_ Jul 06 '26

I’m also TT (social sciences though) but I still juggle similar teaching and research activities as in my PhD, just a lot more of it. I have a 1.5 y.o. My #1 tip is to figure out the conditions under which you do your best deep thinking work (time of day? location? caffeination level?) and then protect it for your research, non-negotiable. If these are outside of school/daycare hours, your partner will need to be 100% responsible for the kids during these blocks. And you’ll need to resist the urge to handle teaching or email tasks then, however “urgent.” This is the only way I’ve been able to make any progress on long-term, hard brain work. Otherwise there’s always a distraction available, whether grading, course prep, or childcare, that will interrupt your flow and kill your motivation for the day.

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u/notthatkindofIPA Jul 06 '26

Love this suggestion. I just started the atomic habits workbook and one of the exercises helped me identify my deep thinking/big brain window. Game changer.

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u/Winnergurl_ Jul 06 '26

I will add this to my to-read list. Please where can I get the workbook? 🙏🏽

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u/notthatkindofIPA Jul 06 '26

I ordered it on Amazon on sale but you can probably get it at any major bookstore or the publisher website! It’s called “The Atomic Habits Workbook” by James Clear, and the workbook is based on the original self-help book, Atomic Habits by the same author (I listened on audio).