The Biggest Mistake I Made After Finishing My PhD

I finished my PhD in April 2020, and I could finally work on the plethora of projects I had lined-up. I was going to make a name for myself with a blog series, start a vlog, write a book and--of course--publish study after study after study.

Instead...

I played with the blog from time to time

I never vlogged

I started the book with little direction

I had grandiose ideas for the "world-changing" journal articles

I even resigned from my job because I knew I would be able to devote the time and energy to these endeavors and make a great name for myself.

**Note: I am not complaining about the job. This was actually a good thing for me.**

Reflecting on this notion, I recall a story from Genesis 11 many call The Tower of Babel. They, too, wanted to make a name for themselves...until God confused their language and scattered them all over the world. This is my takeaway from that notion:

When our sole purpose is to make a name for ourselves, we often end up dazed and confused.

And friends, I have been dazed and confused for a while!

This confusion caused me to do quite a bit of reflection lately. Through that reflection, I realized three mistakes I made post-PhD. The first two may be relatively common amongst PhD completers. What I am calling the biggest mistake, however, was the result of arrogance and pride.

Mistake 1: No Rest

The day after I submitted my corrected draft, I instantly launched into writing 3 different journal articles, the blog series and the book.

What I should have done instead was rest for a bit.

Admittedly, resting is difficult for me. If you were to ask any of my former students what I thought about rest, they would all tell you that, "...there is a time to rest, but it isn't now. The time to rest is when you're dead."

I've since recanted that "sage" advice...

One of the best examples I see of the importance of "rest" is when God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day. I would always preach (pun intended) to people that, "if rest is good enough for God, it's good enough for you." Notice the pronoun, you, I never directed this toward myself.

While I used to think that God just kicked back and Netflix binged, I've come to realize that the notion of God "resting" is not one of Him "doing nothing", but that He ceased to work. This gave Him the opportunity to look back on the work He did in creation and admire it. While He may not have created on the 7th day, He did take time to admire His handiwork.

When you finish your PhD, take some time to rest. Admire the hard work and dedication you put into your project.

Celebrate, and thank your family for putting up with you for 3-5-ish years. They deserve it!

Don't think about tomorrow--it has enough trouble of its own. Think about the job you did and what you accomplished. Cease to work on academic stuff for just a little while. It will rejuvenate you, and help you appreciate the journey you just completed.

Mistake 2: Executing without Planning

While working on my PhD, I was a proficient planner. I didn't multitask, and I expertly executed every entry of my task list.

Since I didn't take the time to rest after my PhD, all of the ideas I had during the process began to call my name. Instead of dealing with them one at a time in a planning phase, I just started working on all of them. The cliché, "when you fail to plan, you plan to fail" was vibrant and alive in my life and I didn't even realize it.

One of the reasons I failed to notice my lack of planning was that I appeared to be productive. Soon, however, my priorities shifted and became so spread-out that I couldn't focus on anything. I was executing tasks that had no plan or purpose and, ultimately, wasting time.

When you finish your PhD and you want to work on various projects--and you will--be sure to take the time to plan for them. The process of completing a PhD is supposed to train you to do independent research. You have the skills and the experience. When you begin to work on academic projects post PhD, implement the lessons learned throughout your WHOLE program so you will be efficient and successful.

Mistake "Biggest": Not Reading

I'm sure you were thinking it was going to be something more profound or scandalous like not securing the right publisher for the book, overeating, or walking around Costco without a mask.

No. It was my failure to keep reading; to keep learning. I finished the PhD and thought I knew everything. In reality, I knew that I didn't actually know everything, but I felt as if I didn't need to do anything more to learn and grow.

During the whole PhD process, we spend countless hours researching and reading. In fact, I would argue that the ratio of reading to writing in a PhD is easily 3:1. In essence, I did so much reading that I didn't want to read anymore.

Because I didn't continue reading...

I had no backing for the content of my blog

I could not defend an argument or a position

well enough to vlog

I stalled on book chapters that I thought were important,

but had no information to log

Don't even ask about the journal articles... 🤦‍♂️

Without reading books, novels and research, we will never fully understand our disciplines beyond the work we did for our dissertations. We will never open our minds to ideas that may help us solve the problems we notice. We will never grow beyond our own thoughts.

That last notion startles me a bit...

No matter what our profession is, if we are not reading, we are not learning, and if we are not learning, we are not growing.

Reading allows us to make sense of our experiences. Reading allows us to expand our understanding of x, y, and z. Reading bridges the gap between our own thoughts and reality. Reading allows us to grow in many facets of our lives.

Don't follow in my footsteps post PhD. Take a break, make plans, and keep reading.

Keep learning!

Keep growing!

Keep inspiring!