Eight Stages of Doing a PhD Visualized by Food

1. Anticipation

• Experience: Excited to start; dreaming of being the next big scientist.
• Food Visualization: Exotic new chocolates.
• Metaphor: Just like trying new chocolate flavors, the beginning of a PhD is full of possibilities and anticipation of success.

2. Relaxation

• Experience: Initial enjoyment and leisure, time feels abundant.
• Food Visualization: Mango sorbet ice cream.
• Metaphor: Relaxation with ice cream mirrors initial stages where everything seems easy and enjoyable.

3. Worry

• Experience: Challenges arise; doubts about supervisor or project choice.
• Food Visualization: Ginger Bears.
• Metaphor: Unexpected intensity and unpleasantness, like ginger's strong flavor can simulate impostor syndrome and creeping self-doubt in a PhD.

4. Boredom

• Experience: Monotony sets in with routine lab work and meetings.
• Food Visualization: Dry oats or porridge.
• Metaphor: Necessary but unexciting tasks, akin to eating bland oats, sustaining yet lacking flavor.

5. Burnout

• Experience: Overwork without visible progress; feeling overwhelmed.
• Food Visualization: Chili.
• Metaphor: Initial delight that becomes painful with overconsumption, representing burnout from repetitive efforts.

6. Realization

• Experience: Acceptance that perfection is unattainable; determination to press on.
• Food Visualization: Coffee.
• Metaphor: Caffeine-driven perseverance, reflecting the need for sustained focus and effort to overcome obstacles.

7. Just Right

• Experience: The realization to finish despite challenges; efforts must not go to waste.
• Food Visualization: Old hummus from the fridge.
• Metaphor: Suboptimal yet necessary completion, akin to consuming questionable hummus rather than wasting it.

8. Relief

• Experience: Completion and transformative calm post-PhD.
• Food Visualization: Peppermint tea.
• Metaphor: Comfort and soothing relief akin to sipping warm tea, marking the end of a trying journey with quiet satisfaction.

Conclusion

• Interactive Element: Invites audience to share their experiences and food metaphors in the comments.
• Additional Resource: Suggests another video with research hacks for PhD students.

Feel free to comment on your current stage or suggest your own food metaphor for each phase of PhD life!