PhD candidates often sabotage themselves by comparing their progress to peers without knowing what feedback or obstacles those peers face. The doctoral journey isn't linear: it cycles between slow research phases and sudden bursts of writing. Join a free dissertation help group to stay grounded in your own work.
Comparison, which I've mentioned, is gonna be one of your worst enemies. Comparing to other people in the program—we don't know what they're going through. We don't know what their committee has said. We don't even know if what they're saying is true. But we do know what we are doing. So yes, you can get support from others, but understand that this process—even though the catalog and the marketing material shows it to be a straight line—a doctoral journey is not a straight line. There's going to be times when you're not making a lot of progress, when you're gathering a lot of information, and there's going to be other times when you're just going to take off and Chapter 4 gets written very quickly. So, try not to compare. Just be aware of where you are and what you can do, and then move forward. If you're looking for a community, join our free dissertation help group.
