Solo Session: PhD Iceberg Explained: The Overwhelming downside of PhD productivity tools and hacks

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What if the tools you rely on to boost your productivity are actually holding you back? Are they worth of investment? Join me on the PhD Lounge as we kick off 2025 with a heartfelt reflection on both personal achievements and academic milestones from the past year. PhD students often turn to productivity tools and hacks with the hope of enhancing their research efficiency; however, this episode uncovers the hidden pitfalls associated with these tools. The conversation encourages listeners to critically assess the impact of these tools on their personal workflow and mental well-being.  
 
• Questioning the overwhelming influence of productivity tools  
• Sharing personal year reflections and growth experiences  
• Discussing the financial implications of productivity tools  
• Highlighting the importance of finding suitable tools for individual styles  
• Critiquing the linearity assumption in a PhD journey  
• Exploring the Pomodoro Technique and its varying effectiveness  
• Encouraging a balanced approach to productivity  
• Advising against blindly following productivity trends  
 
Tune in for thought-provoking insights and strategies that promise to transform your PhD experience. If you're a PhD candidate or graduate and want to share your research and even ask a question or leave a thought about this topic, you can send me an email at luigephdlaunch@gmail.com or on my social media, as mentioned above. Thank you all for tuning in. It has been a pleasure.

Listen to these three episodes I heard on Mics to Millions Podcast hosted by Sam Guia: 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-seo-valuable-tips-to-improve-your-podcasts/id1725636457?i=1000674116133
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-money-making-strategies-used-by-top-p

Students and Graduates!

This is a mid-roll from my late-night talk with Ilana Horwitz, PhD, about her book The Entrepreneurial Scholar. A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond. Use the code IMH20 when buying her book at Princeton Univ Press

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Students and graduates,

Have a break from this session by hearing a late-night talk I had with Michael Gerharz, PhD, about the impact of communication in your PhD and in public.

Thank you all for tuning in, it has been a pleasure!

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Chapters

• 3:36 PhD Lounge
• 22:10 PhD Productivity Tools and Hacks
• 40:01 Maximizing PhD Performance and Productivity

Transcript

Speaker 1: 3:36

Hello students and graduates. Welcome to PhD Lounge, the podcast in which PhDs have a drink and talk about their research topics. I'm your host, luís, and happy new year everyone. I hope you've entered into 2025 with enthusiasm and happiness for all your plans that you've established to be successful. First of all, congratulations to you who made it through the first term of university. I hope you aced your exams during January after spending Christmas and New Year with your family and friends. The exam period is always tough and can be mentally draining, and I've been through that myself too. I had to retake some exams for a few modules during my undergraduate, and now that you've passed, you might as well take some time to relax and do whatever you enjoy, like going to the cinema, meeting friends, hitting the gym or maybe even picking up a new hobby. Here's a quick recap of my 2024.

Speaker 1: 4:44

I had some great moments with my family in Portugal, not just my mother and brother, aunt and cousins, but my grandfather too, who is the last elder of my family from my mother's side and granddad's in general, mother's side and granddad's in general. He is 91 and I can tell you that he survived the Second World War and the dictatorship in Portugal, meaning the Salazar and the Estado Novo period, ranging from his birth in 1933 until 1974, precisely on the 25th of April 1974, precisely on the 25th of April 1974, when the dictator Salazar's period of tyranny fell. I feel so lucky to get to visit my home country each year and catch up with my granddad. It's so interesting to hear about his time in the military, the village where he's lived his whole life and his pastimes when he was growing up taking care of my mom, aunts and uncles. As my granddad is almost reaching 100 years I hope he lives long enough to get there. I'd love to meet up and have a long chat with him to see his positive energy and to find out how he lived such a great life despite the challenges he faced.

Speaker 1: 6:06

2024 was also the year where I got the chance to expand my network for my PhD and wow, I'm still impressed with what I've been doing to overcome the challenges. They're tough at times, but they're so fulfilling to learn and grow from, making me the best version of myself, both personally and professionally. I got to showcase my theories about hybridity and third space at two conferences last year's March and April. These were at Warwick and Liverpool universities. I presented my ideas on why these can be vanguardist terminologies to apply in ancient history and archaeology. It was also a great chance to have fun with my research and meet other PhDs who are interested in the same things as me. This will help me to get more job opportunities when I graduate. I'm hoping to submit it in June 2025, as I'm starting to restructure out my research and putting together a solid text to demonstrate my main argument and provide archaeological evidence featuring Homi Bhabha and his post-colonial concepts of hybridity and third space. I'm planning to apply these not only to my research, but also in debates about cultural contacts and the art and architecture of the Greco-Roman world.

Speaker 1: 7:35

I've also had some success with my PhD Lounge podcast, even though I only really get to work on it on the weekends. At the moment, I'm sponsoring a few brands after spending some time looking for affiliate programs that fit with the idea behind my podcast, which is all about doctoral education. I've tried also to focus on what's more relevant for PhD candidates and graduates when they're facing bigger challenges during and after they graduate, and I have had more guests to share their doctoral experience as well. I can only say a big thank you to all of you who have contributed to the success of the PhD launch by playing, downloading, rating and reviewing the podcast. By the time you hear this, I just wanted to say a massive thank you for your contributions. You're all awesome.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Phd Lounge will continue to grow and cover new topics, and I'm working on it to get more guests to feature and promote the podcast on social media. Get more guests to feature and promote the podcast on social media. And, regarding social media, I now share promo content on LinkedIn and Instagram, as the pages on X and Facebook were shut down. I think it was a smart move from a marketing and networking perspective, because it taught me that having too many social media pages isn't always beneficial, that having too many social media pages isn't always beneficial, especially when you've got other projects on the go, like my full-time PhD, my part-time job and my teaching placement, which I've already started. It might be working out for those who are putting more time into their projects, which I respect, but for me, with the main focus on finishing my PhD, linkedin and Instagram are the ones I use more often to promote PhD launch.

Speaker 1: 9:28

In addition to this, I was listening to two episodes of a podcast I follow, called Mike's 2 Millions, about SEO, engagement seeking and strategies to get monetized. The two episodes I listened to were good for thinking about different approaches to social media engagement. Linkedin and Instagram are where most people in the podcast industry academics, industry leaders and PhD candidates and graduates engage with the world by posting interesting and engaging content, whether that's on video or typing texts with images. For me, both LinkedIn and Instagram are great for finding PhDs who'd like to become guests on the podcast and for coming up with ideas for individual sessions. I also got a few PhDs to reach out to me when I posted a promo video for an open invitation to all PhDs and graduates. If you're interested, I'll attach the episodes I listened to on Mike's 2 Millions, but obviously I'll have to ask the host if I can.

Speaker 1: 10:36

So what are my goals for 2025? The first one is obviously to hand in my dissertation on the 30th of June. I've started already structuring my research to fit within the 100,000 word limit, the list of biographical references, acknowledgements, table of contents, abstract illustrations and keywords I use in my dissertation. I'm also resuming my teaching placement, this time at St Richard Gwynn High School in Bari, which is near Cardiff, the capital of Wales. I'll be teaching history of art, focusing on portraits and portraiture. I'm hoping to get as much as possible out of it by learning from the pupils and my lead teacher, who will be supervising and giving feedback on my teaching skills during the class. It'll be a great challenge and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. Podcast-wise, I've got an announcement for you For the end of February and to be released in March. I'll have a guest from Toulon University in New Orleans who will be sharing the PhD experience and the launch of a new book that person will release soon. I can't say much about this guest and the work that person has been doing for now, but you'll know soon when I post content about it, when I release the full late night talk in March, and for not saying much about my future guest.

Speaker 1: 12:05

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Speaker 1: 13:45

So now to introduce you to this late night solo session and the first one of 2025,. I dive into a topic that is known to all of us students from undergrads to postdocs. It's about productivity tools and hacks we often use to improve our student experience and performance. However, I made a twist about these tools and hacks, attempting to argue something about them and how they can influence you almost on the south side, and what you can do to fit those tools and hacks around yourself and your working schedule. And this session is part of the Iceberg Explained series of the PhD Lounge. So, students and graduates, have some drinks, grab your seats and let's introduce the following late night talk the overwhelming downside of PhD productivity tools and hacks. I'm going to ask you a question to kick off this late night session. Do you feel overwhelmed with all the productivity tools and hacks out there for getting ahead in your phd and not sure which ones actually work for you and your research?

Speaker 1: 15:29

We all want to feel productive during our phds, looking out for ways to up our research and writing game, and we're always on the hunt for resources that'll give us that extra edge and make us feel like proper researchers. Luckily, we've got some great tech to help us out, with loads of apps and hacks being released all the time. We reckon that this will help us to get more tasks done quickly. Furthermore, there are PhDs who are influencers and work with brands, and they might also get us to download their free stuff and buy their upgrades or premium programs. Buying an app or trying out a hack from someone who's tried and can tell us how to use it might make us think that productivity tools and hacks are the answer to our problems and get us fired up to research and write our PhDs positively. We've got plenty of tools and hacks that might just give our productivity an increment. There are even PhDs who've nailed their research by using these tools and hacks and they've shared their finds on their YouTube channels, blogs and podcasts. Here are a few examples of PhDs who are putting these tools and hacks to work.

Speaker 1: 16:56

Dr Amina Yonis has loads of videos and shorts where she talks about popular tools, ai softwares and hacks to get things done on your research, and she gives advice on how to use them. She talks about some of the more popular tools, as well as the ones you might not have heard of yet. You might not have heard of yet. She mentions Notion Zotero, mendeley, paperpal, endnote, scholacy, paperdigest, rightful Canva, academic Phrase Bank, piorenda, connected Papers, chatgpt, semantic, scholar Cite and many more. Dr Yonish also does a deep dive analysis of all these tools for PhDs, talking about the pros and cons, how they work for PhDs-called eat the frog method 30 to 60 minute research, working with a few minutes of break or creation of deadlines.

Speaker 1: 18:10

Another popular YouTube channel about PhD research tools and hacks, dr Andy Stapleton, does a similar analysis. He's got a bunch of videos on AI tools, productivity hacks and how to stay motivated through your PhD. He talks about programs he tried after he finished his postdoc. For reference, he's got videos where he talks about free AI softwares that aren't popular, besides the popular ones like ChatGPT, zotero and Google Gemini. Some of these lesser-known softwares and tools include Tavoli, nextnet, openread, paraphraser and AuthorArranger. He also talks about hacks in lots of his videos, like writing a list of priorities for PhD, setting momentum goals a term that he coined creation of time traps and writing notes to research for another day.

Speaker 1: 19:06

As well as Dr Yonis and Stapleton, there are other YouTubers with PhDs who also have their own take on using hacks and productivity tools to help PhD students and candidates. Dr Ali Abdaal creates content about hacks, tools and routines to improve our lives and performance during PhD research and writing. Jordan Harrod, a PhD candidate at MIT, who makes in-depth videos on different AI softwares and how they can help PhDs, as well as reading doctoral theses from other scholars and giving honest opinions about them. Dr Sierra Philly, a PhD graduate in computer science who runs the channel PhD and Productivity, where she shares awesome tips and tricks to become a top PhD student. She also talks about using productivity tools and hacks to be successful during and after the PhD, including morning routines, staying productive when you feel burned out, having multiple businesses and overcoming challenges, while providing strategies that get tasks done quickly. For example, dr Philly uses Notion for her regular activities to keep herself productive, sharing her tasks and goals for different periods of the year. She even sells Notion templates to her subscribers, which are organized and planned for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks and goals. The creation of templates on Notion is basically a virtual journal where you keep on track of your tasks and goals on a regular basis, ticking them off as you go, and they align with your core values and realistic projects that you can complete within your own time schedule.

Speaker 1: 25:20

This could be anything from your PhD to your personal life, like finances, working out, traveling, mental health and so on. However, as previously stated above, have you ever thought about whether all these productivity tools and hacks for your PhD and yourself might seem a bit much and whether they fit with the way you work and your personality? No, I'm not criticizing personally these YouTubers, bloggers and podcasters who share this type of excellent content, since I also follow their work to get ideas for my own podcast scripts and my PhD research topic. Otherwise I would be rude to them, but it's important to understand the potential downsides of these tools and hacks, which might actually harm you more in the mental state instead of increasing your productivity throughout your PhD. It's crucial to figure out which approach works best for your PhD goals, your lifestyle and your personality goals, your lifestyle and your personality.

Speaker 1: 26:34

So I want to share some points and thoughts on how this whole marketing of PhD productivity tools and hacks might have a negative impact on your research and give some nuances on what hacks and software tools might work better with you, whether you're a classic PhD researcher who uses pen and paper to take notes, a tech-savvy person who puts everything on your laptop and desktop, or a bit of both. First off, when it comes to all these PhD productivity tools and hacks, I think it's fair to say that the people behind them are mainly in it for revenue, using influencers and social media marketing to sell their brand and products. A lot of these software programs that store bibliographies, help to search sources that are difficult to search on Google, scholar or ResearchGate, and help to proofread and structure your texts like Grammarly, and help you to proofread and structure your texts, like Grammarly have a free trial option, which gives you the chance to try them out with limited resources and see if they work for you. If you're satisfied and feel that you need to consume more to boost your productivity, you then upgrade to get more tools provided by these software programs for organizing and planning your schedule. The problem with these productivity tools, though, is that it's all about the paid upgrades, which might help you reach 5 or 10% of your PhD productivity. After seeing content about these tools on social media and from influencers, when you buy an upgrade, you might not know how it works, as those upgraded plans have specific tools and add-ons that are usually aimed at businesses and people working as computer scientists, engineers, data analysts or those studying a PhD in scientific fields like cell anatomy, biology or chemistry, who need specific productivity tools.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Let's compare two popular productivity tools that PhDs usually use and have paid plans for students and scholars Notion and Mendeley. For students and scholars, notion and Mendeley Notion has paid plans and add-ons like the Notion AI at an extra $8.74 per month for students, scholars, small and big businesses and enterprises. Prices vary depending on whether you pay monthly or annually. Students and scholars can get the plus option for $10 a month or $96 a year, which works out at $8 a month. With this plan you get productivity tools like templates for your daily tasks, data automations, analytics, more storage and other updates, automations, analytics, more storage and other updates.

Speaker 1: 29:33

If you're a PhD candidate, the total you'd spend on the Notion plus annual paid plan would be $200.88. This price would be without the AI add-on the price per month. With the AI, however, you'd pay $19.35 monthly with an annual price of $232.20. Mendeley has a free trial month before you commit to one of their free plans plus for students, pro and max. Each one gives you storage space for references, papers, articles, dissertations or posters. The Plus plan gives you 5GB of storage for $4.99 a month or $55 a year, which is $4.58 monthly, depending on the internet bill. Let's say $35 per month or $420 per year, plus either Notion or Mendeley, the total sum of both internet bill and either one of those softwares. You'd pay $652.20 annually regarding Notion, which is $53 per month with the AI included, or $475 per year with Mendeley, which is $39.58 per month respectively. That's for a single person, but if you're sharing with roommates or partners, that'll probably cost a bit more.

Speaker 1: 31:07

I think For some PhD students these prices might seem like a good deal if they know how to work with the student plans and organize their productive tasks during their PhD, and also if they had good financial resources or even a side hustle, that pays well. On the other hand, some PhDs might have the cash but not be keen on spending a month or annual plan to buy those paid plans from Notion or Mendeley because they might not know how to use Notion's templates or Mendeley's data storage system. Instead, they'd rather spend their time and money on other things to boost their PhD productivity Plus. These productivity tools are just a way for companies to make money without thinking about whether they'll actually help PhDs in, for instance, pe, english, lit, art, history, chemistry, civil Engineering, nursing and so on.

Speaker 1: 32:12

For my own PhD, I don't pay for productivity tools, but I admit that in the past I did pay an annual plan on Grammarly to proofread and give suggestions on my writing school. I had to cancel the plan because I had to invest my money on other things like academiaedu, which I still pay an annual membership to keep on track my network and publication of my papers and articles, network with academic scholars and track your records of who's seen your uploaded papers, dissertations or articles and wants to network with you. Moreover, I use the free version of deeplcom, which has a limit of 2000 characters. I can copy and paste chunks of my drafts into it to structure my main argument and my case studies respectively. That is to say that I don't use a ton of tools, just the ones that are useful for my research topic. I mix and match them with my usual methods, like Scriber to copy and paste generated APA citations, internet Archive and Google Scholar to research older volumes and articles as well as recent ones, and Google Gemini to clarify some arguments I wrote in my thesis. Then I just write them, not copy and paste with my own words.

Speaker 1: 33:48

As for my usual working style, I use a pen and a notebook to take notes and a calendar to mark deadlines for conferences and meetings with my supervisor For PhD lounge. I use Excel spreadsheets to make a guest list and also set up dates for my talks with them. I find that all these free software tools and my usual working style really help my productivity, no matter what my research topic is. I've tried other tools like EndNote and Trello, but I didn't like them as they were too complex and I don't think it'll be worth paying for their paid upgrades if I'm not using them regularly without proper training and knowledge about their upgraded plans. If I were to graduate and get a job that needed these and other tools, they could be useful, but for now I don't think it's worth investing in tools I'm not familiar with. I'd just be wasting time to figure them out and a waste of my time and money for my research and buying other prioritizing resources.

Speaker 1: 34:59

Also, companies like Notion, elsevier and Zotero, who created those tools to help you to be more productive, mostly rely on influencers to get you to buy their products. The influencers tell you things like it's good and it worked for me, so it can work for you. Or the classic trust me bro line, which even became a parody, to get some extra income at no extra cost to you. However, influencers aren't the root cause. Here Again, I'm not criticizing them. I'm just criticizing the marketing behind them, as some of them seem to be honest when trying these products and give their nuances on whether they are helpful for your PhD. Some of them don't even sponsor them, and so they have the freedom to speak their own mind about those productivity tools and hacks with their constructive criticism.

Speaker 1: 35:58

Dr Stapleton, for example, has a video about this whole productivity tool issue, and he even says that he only tried them out after his postdoc. Stapleton mentions that PhD students think that they feel productive when they're playing around with tools like Notion Zotero or Canva, creating the illusion that they're being more productive and organized. But Dr Stapleton says that productivity tools won't help you during your PhD because the course itself isn't linear and you'll end up going off in all sorts of directions. Use them and you could spend a week or even a month getting to grips with them, which is time that you could be spending on your PhD research. Moreover, it's also tiring and frustrating to have too many tools running at the same time without having the right background knowledge, which ends up costing you time and money and loss of focus on your research. Most importantly, they'll impact your critical thinking about whether they're useful for your PhD work schedule and flow and whether it's worth paying for the upgraded versions of those tools to meet your research standards. As Dr Stapleton says in his video, your PhD is not linear and you'll have to take responsibility for making progress, focusing and overcoming challenges on your own, without the help of PhD productivity tools, which might hold you back.

Speaker 1: 37:49

The next point is about PhD hacks, where some of them can be outdated and sometimes unrealistic. There are plenty of PhD hacks that can lead you to success and may work well for you and for others may not. Hacks in your PhD are constant in terms of becoming adaptable to any situation as you progress during your dissertation, but also that aligns with your well-being and lifestyle. Not every PhD hack will work equally for every PhD, as each candidate has its own personality type and have tried several hacks or methods, successfully and unsuccessfully, to brainstorm ideas for their research topics. Dr Andrew Huberman, on his YouTube channel, states that doing work is a matter of being focused on something. According to Dr Huberman, it is about the dynamics of focusedness, where you sit down and begin doing your research slowly and your focus gradually increases as you research and write. You build your own momentum and a flow state without any distractions, with a conceived, established time set and methodologies that improve and increase concentration. Moreover, some of the hacks that are shared have become outdated, becoming doubtful in their results, and many have tried and failed because it just wouldn't work with them, up to the point that arguing that it works for everybody is unrealistic. Take the famous Pomodoro technique, for instance, where the basis of this hack is four timeframes of 25 minutes, where the first three are intervaled in a 5 to 10 minute break and then 15 to 30 minute break after the fourth 25 minute time slot without any distractions. Historically, the Pomodoro hack or technique was established in the 1980s by Italian global specialist and mentor of diverse software businesses and startups, francesco Cirillo.

Speaker 1: 40:02

Does the Pomodoro Hack work for everyone? On one hand, the Pomodoro Hack works well for many PhDs, including those who are diagnosed with ADHD, which has helped them to increase concentration during their studies. Nikki van der Zwan, a graduate in business and economics from Tilburg University in the Netherlands, who wrote her thesis about self-development practices to decrease procrastination, mentions that the Pomodoro technique reduced procrastination while increasing time management and focus, stress reduction, brain functionalities and academic performance. In contrast, I read an interesting article by Tamir Teijist, who is a PhD graduate and assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina. She says that being diagnosed with ADHD has helped her harness her skills to become a brilliant PhD scientist. She tried out different ways to cope with her condition, including the Pomodoro technique, working 25-minute chunks and having short breaks in between. She said that her techniques helped her understand herself better and seek support from mentors, mentees, working colleagues with ADHD and professional therapy, which also led to her success in becoming an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina in biochemistry and biophysics.

Speaker 1: 41:39

Some students have even developed the Pomodoro technique further with other products like phone apps, to avoid distractions and get more done by focusing on 30, 50 or 1 hour of research and writing, with 15 to 20 minute breaks before resuming research. Take the Forest app, for example. I used it myself to keep my phone in silence and not make any noise while I conduct research. It's a pretty cool app and it's a slightly different version of the Pomodoro technique for all kinds of research. You can set it to block access from a certain period of time while you're working on your research, and it'll even plant a tree in the background. It's a fun way to stay focused and cut down on phone distractions. On the other hand, the Pomodoro Technique might not work for everyone, as it depends on how much time you want to work, your personality and your working style. You might be a pen and paper classical type of student, a tech geek or a bit of both. As I mentioned before In a 2021 research article from Global's Journal of Progressive Education, several scholars of this article have found out that the Pomodoro technique can help to decrease levels of procrastination regarding academic work performance.

Speaker 1: 43:05

They also pointed out that the Pomodoro technique doesn't have a major impact on academic motivation. Putting this into detail and context, a number of 26 participants undertook a two-day research study centered on the effects of the Pomodoro technique, as well as flow time technique, through control and experimental groups to perform academic-related tasks, academic motivation and procrastination behavior, using the pre and post-test randomized experiment design as their quantitative data At the end of each experiment, each table corresponding to each category, ie academic tasks, academic motivation and procrastination behavior. Academic motivation and procrastination behavior was shown on the article provided by the percentage of completion, incompletion, increase and decrease and indifference on both experimental and control groups. The researchers, at the end of the two days, have concluded that students weren't able to complete their tasks, showing a 70 plus percent even with the use of the Pomodoro and flow time techniques. On the procrastination behavior, the Pomodoro technique was introduced in the post-test and there was least decrease of procrastination behavior, while it increased with the use of flow time technique. Regarding the control group, there was no difference On the academic motivation. The experimental group registered a higher result of academic motivation when using the Pomodoro technique and a decrease while using the flow time one. On the control group. However, it shows indifference Overall, while the study has shown highs and lows on both techniques. The conclusion from this research is about finding adjustments to the workflow and using strategies to increase academic motivation, reduce procrastination and better completion of academic tasks. Claiming that the Pomodoro technique in this case isn't enough, even though it can be a positive hack, as they argue, this is not to say that the Pomodoro technique isn't good, but there are ways to increase your PhD performance with this and other related hacks that could fit your working style and productivity.

Speaker 1: 45:32

My last point for this late night session is about productivity tools and hacks not working well with your personality type. You might be wondering what I mean by that. Your personality has a big impact on your PhD. So does the type of research topic you've got, your working style and the tools and hacks that fit within your research. Everyone's got their own unique personality and it's influenced by the environment they're in, including during a PhD. Some people are procrastinators, some are overachievers, some are obsessively focused, some are conflict avoiders and some are perfectionists. Your personality type during the PhD will lead to different emotions, like happiness, sadness, confusion or doubt when your ideas and actions are challenged by your supervisors and your peers, and which influences your research performance and your peers? And which influences your research performance.

Speaker 1: 46:36

As I said before, there are loads of productivity tools and hacks for PhDs because of all the marketing which attracts people to get their product and then get stuck with them through monthly or annual memberships. Having so much options can really influence your decision making, playing a big part in your personality and how you organize your research. So when you get Notion Zotero or any other tool or using hacks like the Pomodoro, it might motivate you at first, helping you to focus better on your research performance and productivity. But you'll probably move on from those tools and hacks eventually because they don't suit your personality. You might get overwhelmed and end up not using any of them. It's like having a wardrobe full of clothes and using five or six of them for casual, business and formal occasions.

Speaker 1: 47:30

So you need to find the productivity tool and hack that fits your personality type, work out your strengths and weaknesses and use that hack and tool for your PhD working style. For example, if you're a perfectionist, you're probably super organized, always fighting against procrastination and imposter syndrome and putting work first. You can structure your PhD work around your social life and hobbies, keeping your workflow on track to meet deadlines without feeling swamped. One useful technique is the Divergent Thinker method, which helps you solve problems by coming up with lots of different solutions to get things done quickly and effectively. If you're a procrastinator who gets distracted easily, you could try to talking to your partner or wife or a close friend to hold you accountable. Or you could try the eat the frog method, where you prioritize the hardest tasks and get them done first.

Speaker 1: 48:34

To conclude this late night session do productivity tools and hacks help you thrive during your PhD? They can help you succeed in your doctorate, but it depends on you. Nevertheless, it doesn't matter how many tech or classic productivity tools and hacks you use for your research, how many tech or classic productivity tools and hacks you use for your research. Your mindset is the key to setting goals and achieving them. You need to have a realistic view of how you want to reach your PhD and hold that degree aloft, shouting from the rooftops that you're now a doctor of philosophy. Remember I'm speaking from personal experience here, as I'm just six to five months away from submitting my own PhD on June, the 30th. Every moment of the day can influence your research performance and your personality. Try to find the balance in your productivity and use the tools and hacks that suit yourself and your working style and, most importantly, enjoy your PhD without getting bogged down by all the external noise of those productivity tools and hacks online that screams buy my product, which occupies your time. That is valuable for your dissertation.

Speaker 1: 49:54

And with that I wrap up this late night session. Thank you so much for having the time to tune into it, and I hope that this session made you think about using productivity tools and hacks for your PhD. If you enjoyed hearing this late night talk, thank you for leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and a five star rating on Spotify to help PhD Lounge to reach more listeners. For the next session, I'll have a late night talk with three PhD candidates to talk about their research in ancient and contemporary histories, which I'll publish soon, and so stay tuned to PhD Lounge by checking out my website, phdloungecouk, and also my social media, this time only Instagram at phdlmf and my LinkedIn website, which I'll add in the description as well. Last but not least, if you're a PhD candidate or graduate and want to share your research and even asking a question or leave a thought about this topic. You can send me an email at luigephdlaunch at gmailcom or on my social media, as mentioned above. Thank you all for tuning in. It has been a pleasure. Thank you.