phdwithadhd

[phdwithadhd]

Just want to take a moment to appreciate the beautiful view that I have while sipping a cup of coffee and figuring out how to navigate this complicated journey that I have rather undertaken so impulsively.

[phdwithadhd]

As expected, the PhD journey has hit a slippery slope - my relationship with my supervisor has deteriorated because he seems to be exasperated by my lack of consistent effort.

He accused me of not knowing the data enough after dumping me with his research data without any explanation at all. Nevertheless I taught my self how to analyse the data and shared my analysis. But for some reason this was not enough. It was excruciating to go through data conceptualized and collected by someone else who never shared any knowledge whatsoever with me. When I had reached out to my predecessor, he quipped that this is PhD and not an IT handover project. I found this attitude quite shocking.

In my defense, I have been frustrated by lack of availability of the supervisor and he also expected me to be fully focused on research at hand. The high level of distractability for me would mean that I would often pitch different research ideas to him and he would take this as my lack of interest in current research. In light of no specific ask, I struggled to work on the dataset at hand. He even threatened that he would initiate the expulsion process. Fortunately he was able to respond to my request for changing in supervisor as an alternative arrangement. Now I am in middle of another soul crushing process of changing supervisor but fortunately my engagement at the uni with other prof means that I do have a plan B. Let’s see where this goes.

[phdwithadhd]

Typical funny story of Phd with ADHD that I want to share with the community. Turns out that I had signed up for a presentation as a part of my PhD course work, but I was supposed to inform my supervisor that I would be presenting indeed. My supervisor expects his Students to check in with him before representing his research work to the outside community. As I work full-time, and I’m also not interacting with my peers as much because I do not have an office in the premises of the University, I end up, living in quite an isolation from the rest of the colleagues. Thanks to this reason, I ended up, not informing my supervisor on time, and the news of my presentation came across as a shock to my supervisor.

He explained to me about his reasons for disappointment, and also gave me an example of how my other colleague went through several iterations of revision before being able to present on her own. I also saw her presentation, which was much more fluid and well structured as compared to mine. Of course, I am great at presentation (thanks for ADHD mind ), and I was able to represent my professors research work decent enough, and it was not a disaster. Perhaps that was the reason why I was still okay with my prof. Lesson learnt. 

[phdwithadhd]

I’m working on something and I would like to get feedback from you all. Have you ever noticed that whenever we have any interaction with a service or product we are often asked about how satisfied we are with their services or products?

Its this the concept that I am testing as a part of my PhD thesis: to understand what extent customer satisfaction is predicting the future customer outcomes such as re-purchase or willingness to pay premium - compared to customers perception of product quality.

My professor had collected data from customers of five durable products, such as cars, washing machines, smart phones, laptops, and TV. Over the period of one year, we collected information from these consumers on various perceptions of the quality of the products that they have experienced. This also gave us an opportunity to collect additional information, such as Lay rationalism, risk, reduction, function, long-term orientation, as well as other product quality metrics from the academic literature. 

Turns out that in marketing literature. Most of the emphasis is on maximizing the customer satisfaction score for the Brands/companies, but somehow they don’t care to capture how the quality of their products are experienced by the customers.  we hope that this research would convince the firms to start evaluating the perception of customer experience among their customers. 

[phdwithadhd]

I have barely met my professor this year, and I ended up applying for a presentation on PhD day. I was hoping that this act of valor would impress my supervisor, but turns out that I have had zero engagement or communication with him so far. I hope that I’ll end up presenting Content and research in the manner that my supervisor expects. 

[phdwithadhd]

You might wonder how is it linked with Phd. The answer to this question is that this photo was taken on day four of the winter school organized by the Swiss universities. The entire day was dedicated to snowboarding or skiing. That’s quite some luxury according to the Swiss PhD students. 

[phdwithadhd]

I’m not sure what my previous streak must have been. ADHD ensures that I never achieve the consistency required unless there is a strong motivation or urgency around it. When I was in Mexico, and at the mercy of my partner for translations, I started furiously using Duolingo to make up for lack in the linguistic skills in such a short time.. However, it’s been weeks since I came back from Mexico, but the habit developed there has been preserved somehow. The fear of losing the streak almost creates a sense of panic and urgency required for my brain to function. I know, however, that sometime down the line, this streak is going to be disrupted, and I would probably be quite disheartened by that. 

[phdwithadhd]

Another life hack that I have recently done, which I am really proud of : is that I have placed some of the books that I have been reading over the past many many months next to my bedside. In addition, I have also removed the sitting place in front of my TV, because that forces me to be on my bed when I am at home. Sitting on an uncomfortable chair watching TV is not a very attractive option, so I end up retiring to the bed earlier than what my ADHD brain would allow me which is to stay awake till dropping dead. What I still cannot manage to decide is to figure out what book to read amid the choice paralysis. 

[phdwithadhd]

Super excited to finally organize a snowboarding trip on my own. Unfortunately I could not convince the same friend who I had snowboarded with the first time, to come with me; but at least I’m glad that I had the motivation to follow through with the complex task of planning and organizing, which, obviously for people who know about ADHD, know how difficult it can be. 

[phdwithadhd]

Another’s aspect that draws me closer to people that I meet now are the ones who remind me of my own struggles. Sometimes I find it frustrating to be the only person working full-time and pursuing PhD. I was invited to speak at a panel discussion, ironically, at the same university where I’m pursuing PhD. I met a person there speaking alongside me. I remember talking to him back in October last year when we spoke at the same panel about his decision and had said some encouraging words. He asked me for drinks tonight, and we caught up. Yesterday, he started his PhD program at the same university as me. We instantly hit it off just because of the similar situation and experiences.

[phdwithadhd]

What is the challenges that I have faced while pressing my PhD, despite my ADHD brain, is that I get fascinated by different topics, which are nowhere near my field, or the expertise of my supervisor. I have a hard time, stopping myself song from going up to my supervisor and telling him about the latest subject or news or topic that a stumble across, and expect him to get fascinated and passionate with the same intensity. Clearly, he is not an ADHD brain, so I find it very difficult to connect with him in conveying my fascination and admiration for the newly found topic.