Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • CAREER COLUMN

A person before a PhD: understanding and combatting an academic identity crisis

Robert Seaborne’s overcommitment to his PhD work led to a loss of identity. He explains three things that helped him to rediscover himself after graduate studies.
  1. Robert Seaborne

    1. Robert Seaborne is a postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary University of London. You can find him on Twitter @RobbySeaborne.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

During the final 18 months of my PhD programme, I became incredibly absorbed in my work. For months on end, I could be found toiling in the laboratory or writing in an office for 13–14 hours per day. Evenings and weekends that I once spent playing football, going to the gym or socializing were instead used to work on my experiments, read, write or analyse data. I became obsessed with my project. Every waking moment was spent furthering my studies. Every conversation I had revolved around my work. I had become the living embodiment of my PhD, and completely lost my sense of self. I had assumed a new identity: one that centred on my degree programme.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 578, 327-328 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00306-y

References

  1. Brewer, B. A., Van Raalte, J. L. & Linder, D. E. Int. J. Sport Psychol. 24, 23–7254 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wylleman, P., Alfermann, D. & Lavallee, D. Psychol. Sport Exercise 5, 7–20 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dweck, C. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Ballantine Books, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Peters, S. The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness (Ebury Digital, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Buffet, W. The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (Bantam Books, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Schmidt, E. & Rosenberg, J. How Google Works (Grand Central Publishing, 2017).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Walsh, B. The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership (Portfolio, 2009).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Syed, M. Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice (Fourth Estate, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • FACULTY POSITION IN PATHOLOGY RESEARCH

    Dallas, Texas (US)

    The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern Medical Center)

  • Postdoc Fellow / Senior Scientist

    The Yakoub and Sulzer labs at Harvard Medical School-Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Columbia University

    Boston, Massachusetts (US)

    Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital

  • Postdoc in Computational Genomics – Machine Learning for Multi-Omics Profiling of Cancer Evolution

    Computational Postdoc - Artificial Intelligence in Oncology and Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution at the DKFZ - limited to 2 years

    Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg (DE)

    German Cancer Research Center in the Helmholtz Association (DKFZ)

  • Computational Postdoc

    The German Cancer Research Center is the largest biomedical research institution in Germany.

    Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg (DE)

    German Cancer Research Center in the Helmholtz Association (DKFZ)

  • PhD / PostDoc Medical bioinformatics (m/f/d)

    The Institute of Medical Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine / University of Freiburg is looking for a PhD/PostDoc Medical bioinformatics (m/w/d)

    Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg (DE)

    University of Freiburg

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links