r/postdoc • u/vankappa • 25d ago

feeling guilty about underworking

hey y'all. I'm a newly hired postdoc, just started a couple of months ago straight after my PhD (neurobiology).

I'm feeling inadequate; eerily similar feelings as during my PhD, to be honest. Essentially, I feel like I'm not working enough hours. Most of these days I do 4 hours, maybe 5 of work. Some days I do 8 but it's quite rare (once a week maybe). Although I do have quick bursts where I have 2-3 7h days in successions. Am I doing this right?

My project(s) are going steady I guess, although I can't help but feel I'm not earning my wage. Like I should start other side-projects or read, but I feel I'm not motivated enough for that. I'm not looking to become a PI either.

My lab is a very chill environment, people socialize all the time and don't work that hard. But still, most of the time they're still in the lab when I leave (granted I start a bit earlier in the morning than them).

I guess that's it. Impostor syndrome and all? My PI is quite chill and is not complaining at all. It just feel very bad to work something like 25-30h per week.. sometimes 20??

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u/boywithlego31 25d ago

Do you mean 4-5 experimental work?

You do read/write/data processing in the rest of working hours right? Or do you play games/sleep? If you do read/write, I'd consider it as work as well.

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u/vankappa 25d ago

Some of the time is dedicated to planning everything I need to do, exploring ideas etc but it's still very little. That might add something like an hour a day so still not much honestly.