Well I'm about a month into my psychology PhD and have taken a while to get into the swing of things. My supervisors are great (especially compared to some of the horror stories on here!) but they only seem to give me very small tasks to complete by the next meeting, despite me assuring them I can get more done - I suggested I started data collection last week but I was told not to for another 2-3. I guess it seems slightly bizarre that I'm complaining about this, but everyone else in the psychology department are having to work 9-5 and I can probably get all my week's tasks done in a day (not that I do of course!). I've been finding adjusting to PhD life pretty difficult and only just have an office as of today, so I haven't really done any extra work beyond that suggested by my supervisors and am I'm worried that I could be getting really behind! I guess my bottom-line question is: is it possible to be irreversibly behind at this stage, considering how little I've achieved compared to others that might even be presenting next month (and all i have is a questionnaire draft!)? I'm planning on getting my head down and working proper office hours next week to try to catch up but I'm not sure if trying to make up for a month while keeping up-to-date with what I'm meant to be doing now is really reasonable?

What does everyone think? Is it OK that I spent the last month faffing around slightly or should I have a proper routine and schedule of work by now?

Thanks!!

give it time! you are not behind at all! you have only just started... soon you will wish you could go back in time and have all this spare time, believe me! do some reading or organising if you are stuck for something to do - e.g. set up your referencing on your computer e.g .learn Endnote and start filling your refs in, sort out all your papers etc stuff like this is important and is best done now at the beginning while you have the time...

Maybe your supervisors are just trying to ease you into the subject rather than overwhelm you at such an early stage. What about reading a few papers and start on your literature review? You will most probably have to write a report at the end of your first year, alot of which will be a review on the literature you have read as well as the work you have done. It took me a while to settle into my PhD, so I understand your concerns!

Good Luck:-)

I think you're fine- it takes a while to settle into the new routine of a PhD and finding what works for you. A lot of people spend their whole first year 'faffing around' and don't really have a clear idea of what they're doing until second year, although I wouldn't recommend faffing around for that long! I would start with a literature search so you can get to know the literature, because you will have to write a literature review at some point. Keep your supervisors up to date with what you're doing and where you're up to so they know what pace you are able to work at, you'll soon be at the stage where you have so many things to do that you could go for 6 months without needing a supervision session and another list of things to do! All the best! KB

I know what you mean about feeling like you're falling behind in your work, because I am in a similar situation. For the first couple of weeks I felt like I was just waiting around for something to happen, or for someone to guide me in the right direction, but I have realised now that this is quite normal to begin with.
What I have been doing instead is using this opportunity to fill in the gaps in my subject knowledge, and going to various lectures that are organised by the department. Some of the lectures have been to do with polishing up on certain skills that might be useful for my future research, writing, networking, etc.
My advice is to go to as many lectures and conferences as you can while you have all this free time. It will help you so much in the future, as later you might be wishing you had gone to these at the start of your course. Also, you will get to meet loads more people which might be quite useful later on.
If that fails, you could always try going to the pub to polish up on those drinking skills.
;-)