I am 27, part time PhD Student and in a full time job. My hours are a little crazy. According to the code of practice I need to invest 12 hours a week as the base minimum into my PhD. So far I have been doing two hours each day religiously after work from 6pm – 8pm and do 8 hours on a Saturday and 8 hours on a Sunday which totals to 26 hours a week part time on my PhD.
I tend to work better in short bursts as I don’t lose momentum. I am panicking because I haven’t done much since June and I am already 6 months into the PhD..!! My annual review is in April 2017 and I am just panicking because I don’t think I have made much progress! I am exhausted, tired, have pretty much no social life and working my guts out. I worry constantly that I am not working hard enough. Any advice?
What did you guys complete in the first 6 months of your PhD?? Please help!

Hi Maria212, I've been in a similar situation however in the very end of my PhD. I found that it works better for me to take a week of leave at least to do solely PhD research. For the first 6 month however it's more on exploring your subject, doing lit review, doing some initial investigations. I suggest if you could try to apply to all possible scholarships available to have some time off work for study leave. My employer was understanding and provided me with unpaid study leave while I had short-time scholarship.

Hi Infinitycat - Many thanks for your email. Were you also a part time student? How many hours did you do each week...? I do like your idea of taking off a week leave. I just feel I havent done enough in the first 6 months and it's really bugging me...

I did my PhD part time, while working Ful time in another country. On top of these, my thesis is written in English which isnot my native language.
You need to have a programme in your life and you need to be strickt with it.
I used to work for 6 hours every day, then 1 hour break for lunch, then 3 hours of PhD work, 1 hour at the gym, 1 hour break, and then 2-3 hours PhD work again. I almost never worked on the weekends.
I did it! So can you!

@enmaki - Wow..!!!!! I'm really impressed! I work 8 hours a day so wouldn't be able to fit 6 hours of phd everyday, maximum is 3 hours hence why I work on the weekends. Do you have any tips.?

So you invest 30 hours a week, howe did you approach your literature review.? How many books did you read every week.?

@infinitycat
Any advice?