Hey all,

I just joined the forums and I have questions about research (sorry if this is a duplicate thread, I could not find an answer). I just finished the first semester of my PhD program in computer science. I did well in my classes, but I am not sure how I am doing in my research. I already have a research adviser and they have been introducing me to their work and giving me papers to read. My concern is that I am now on break for the holidays and I have very little motivation to do much work. During the semester, I have no problem studying all day for classes, but I do not feel the same urgency for my research. The topic is interesting, but I have no deadlines or consequences -- other than failing to get a PhD, but that is too far off to seem real. Obviously, I need to transition from my undergraduate mindset of exams and assignment deadlines to pacing myself with my research. My questions are: has anyone else struggled with this and how do you overcome it?

Thanks!

Bump since the post was pending approval.

Don't kid yourself that you have time. You don't, you need to have a review done by yr1, experiments carried out and result to present yr2, further direction yr3, publish, publish, publish

I am working in the theory realm, so I do not have experiments to perform. I have papers to read and open problems to work on. I am still in the learning all of the background step. My current plan is to work on research for 2 hours in the morning and night whenever possible. Does that sound reasonable?

It's not about how many hours you work but what you accomplish within those hours.