On Having Good and Bad Research Days

Hey Neurons,

Over the last few weeks, I have been talking with a few of you, and a topic that often came up is "how to motivate yourself on 'bad' days?" I have been thinking a lot about the concept of good vs. bad research days and what it actually means. Do we actually have these bad days, or is it more our perception of our progress during those days that convinces us they are bad?

During my PhD, I struggled with days where my focus was really low, or the motivation was nowhere to be found. On some of these days, from the moment I woke up, I kind of knew it was not going to be my day. I would struggle to sit behind my laptop for long hours, get through deep reading, or get into the flow with my coding assignments. These days were not common, but they marked certain periods of my PhD, and looking back, I think I could have avoided them if I had structured my days a little differently.

One detrimental habit I started to develop was that, on those days, I would often stay at home and try to rectify the feeling of not being into it by pushing myself even harder. This often resulted in me crashing the next day or falling into a general cycle of procrastination. This cycle of procrastination is particularly destructive because, once you enter it, it can be difficult to get out, and over time you can lose even a couple of weeks to an unproductive habit.

In general, one of the most important things as a master's or PhD student is to stay consistent. Instead of trying to push yourself to work extensive hours one day and then crashing the next, it is much more important to maintain a relatively consistent routine across all days. To help with this, I have set a simple day-to-day framework for myself that ensures that, even on these "bad" days, I still show up and take at least one small step forward. I wanted to share this framework with you because it has made a real difference for me.

It is partly inspired by the book How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport, which I read at the end of my bachelor's degree and which really helped me at the time. If you are currently a master's or even a PhD student, I would definitely recommend giving it a read.

Within my "bad day" framework, there are three principles I try to follow:

1. Work around your peak hours

Identify your personal peak hours and protect them for deep work. I personally find that even on my bad days, I still have one moment in the day, usually quite early in the morning, where, if I sit down and focus for a little while, I can actually get quite a lot done. Over time, I noticed that if I used these hours to tackle some of the harder tasks that I had been procrastinating on, it would slowly build momentum and help me regain my drive and motivation.

I would recommend trying to discover what your peak hours are and protecting them as much as possible. Even if you only manage to get a little reading or coding done, you keep making progress little by little, and that consistency really adds up over time.

2. Avoid "crash days"

A pattern of one intense day followed by several days of disengagement is, in my opinion, one of the biggest risks during a PhD. It is also a pattern that is extremely common. I think many of us learn during our undergraduate studies that all-nighters can save our grades. The problem is that a PhD is a multi-year undertaking, so we simply cannot keep relying on that strategy. After a period of long hours, poor sleep, and often neglecting other areas of our lives, a rebound is almost inevitable. What I have personally noticed is that whenever I overwork for a period of time, the recovery often takes almost twice as long.

Instead of trying to squeeze in a 12-hour study session during busy periods, I found it much more effective to wake up one hour earlier or stay one hour longer for a month and get one extra hour of focused work done each day. This allowed me to increase my output without falling into the whole crash-and-burn cycle. Once the busy period was over, I also tried to plan a longer holiday or simply take a few days off. One thing I have learned is that you cannot skip out on rest forever. Eventually, your body and mind will demand it.

3. Define a "worst day" protocol

This is probably the most important piece of advice I have. During a PhD, and in life in general, there will be days when you simply do not want to work. You do not feel like reading another paper, writing another paragraph, or even thinking about your research. You just want to book your next holiday as soon as possible.

The good news is that you can prepare for these days in advance by creating what I call a worst day protocol. For me, the rule is very simple: on my worst days, I only ask myself to go to the university, clock in, and stay for about four hours. I remove almost all outcome pressure. If possible, I keep my schedule flexible and simply try to do a little bit.

What I often find is that once I show up and am surrounded by other PhD students who are working, my motivation slowly starts to come back. About halfway through the day, I sometimes even end up getting some really good work done. Other times, it truly is just a lousy day, and I never quite get into the flow. But even then, I am still proud that I showed up. Looking back, I have noticed that even these mediocre days leave a mark on the research. Maybe I only read one paper, fix one figure, or write a few paragraphs, but that is still progress. Those small steps compound over weeks and months.

For that reason, I would recommend not working from home on your worst days, even if it suits you on your best days. Instead, find a third place where you can show up with minimal effort: your office, a quiet coffee shop, or a library. Stay there for at least an hour and see how you feel afterwards. Over time, I have found that my brain often tries to convince me that I cannot do any meaningful work that day. More often than not, it is wrong. Simply showing up is usually enough to get things moving again.

I hope this week you only have good research days, but if not, remember that big ideas are built on small steps and even today you can take one tiny step forward.

“Identifying and exploring our play personalities helps us reclaim some of the adventure that defined our childhoods – a time when feeling good was the norm, not the exception. It’s a spirit that still lies within us. As Stuart Brown says: ‘Remembering what play is all about and making it part of our daily lives are probably the most important factors in being a fulfilled human being.” Excerpt From Feel-good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You Abdaal, Ali