To be perfectly honest I don’t know where I see myself in five years’ time. All I am focusing on is the next year and a half (when I finish), as we are in a precarious and tumultuous time where any long-term prediction is likely to be skewed to such an extent that it will be rendered obsolete. However, in a broad sense I want to go wherever my research and expertise will have the largest impact, if that's in academia then great, if it's working for the government or a city’s municipality then that's fine too. Either way I want to keep on researching and finding ways to bring expert insight into our communities.
The biggest piece of advice I can give to anyone considering a PhD is, if you are struggling to do work, or it isn’t flowing as well as you’d like, do not force it, otherwise you will make yourself ill! Personally, if I’m having a bad day, I stop working. Invariably the next day is much better because I haven’t fretted over not completing my intended task from the day before. Remember three years is a long time.
That being said, I have found that breaking down my project into week-by-week goals has been incredibly useful. Each week I have a meeting on Microsoft Teams with my supervisors and I present my work from the previous week in the form of a slideshow. This is great for three reasons:
1. You break the big scary project down to size
2. You get great practice in presenting your ideas and can build up confidence in your presentation skills
3. You end up with a lovely record of your work which is easily accessible.
Finally, don’t decide to do a PhD in a subject which isn’t utterly fascinating to you. Love what you do. I do, and it has been a brilliant year and a half; even if Covid has closed all the pubs!