Hello! I'd love some advice...I'm a student working ALONE and abroad, long distance from both my Uni. and my supervisor. I am finding it VERY tough though.. I am lacking motivation and wish I had an office space and a closer library. When I got home I get pepped up and start to get motivated again, then I come back and it's back in the doldrums. I miss academic discussions and no one here I know is interested in academics at all! Although I got upgraded my work is not that good, and I've been told to work a lot harder and also that I need to give up my part-time job which I LOVE and is the only thing keeping me going! Any advice please??

Hi plumshower,

must be hard to be on your own. I agree it is not easy to stay motivated if you have not got other students with whom you can reflect regarding topics or to discuss issues.

Are there no other students in your environment at all? May be it is possible to set up a local "Quality circle" to discuss issues?
Could you travel to university to use the library? At least you there surrounded by other students.

Regarding your job, obviously you have to make the decision yourself. Do you need the money? Does the job mean essential social contacts? etc.

Good that you bring your issues forward at this forum

I can understand where you are coming from. I have been doing my PhD abroad ( and alone) for two years, and it can be hard! Friends, family and colleagues seem to forget that I am doing a lot of study, just because the university is not physically "here." I have been doing it combined with my full time professional job ( a 40+ week job) and yes, it CAN be hard. Its great there are boards like this to get some cameraderie.
I would get a boost from my trips overseas that would last about 6 weeks and then I would hit such a low...

For a variety of reasons, I have taken the decision to move overseas for the next several months to finish my PhD work. I I joke to people that having nothing to do but work on a PhD and not a PhD plus a job that I will be done in about 3 weeks!

Balancing work with a PhD has been challenging, yes, but it has made me VERY efficient at time management and sticking to deadlines. I have had times when I wondering WHY AM I DOING THIS??!!! but those pass.

I think its quite possible to balance work and PhD. Look at it this way, at some point, there are diminishing returns in the number of hours a day you put into your study...you get tired, you have no more to give to it. I think there are advantages to working and doing a PhD, in that, you keep one foot in "real life" and again, there are the pressures of having to get work done, so you figure out how to maximize the time and energy you DO have.