#161 - 9 Habits of PhD Candidates Who Finish on Time

Aug 12, 2026

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Today, I am going to tell you what actually separates the candidates who finish from the ones who do not, because after twenty years of supervising and examining, I am certain it is not what you think.

12 August 2026

Read time: 3 minutes

I have supervised more than twenty-five doctoral researchers to the finish line and examined over forty-five theses on top of that.

I have been wrong about plenty of things over the years. Not about this.

Some of the cleverest people I have worked with took the longest, or never got there at all.

And some of the most straightforward researchers I have mentored sailed through with minor corrections and finished ahead of schedule.

The difference has never been intelligence.

It was how they worked, day to day, week to week.

Here are the nine habits I see in the ones who finish on time.

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#161 - 9 Habits of PhD Candidates Who Finish on Time

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