Relearning how to work (becoming much more efficient). Is it even possible?

Question

I’ve been considering a career in academia ever since I was an undergrad. I’m turning 30 this year. I think I should either get to it (PhD and beyond) or give it up once and for all.

The key source of anxiety for me is the hyper-productive nature of contemporary academia (cultural anthropology in my case). Everything I learned over the years from books, blogs, mentors, and peers leads me to believe that academia is a place where only the most efficient knowledge workers can hope to thrive.

My issue: while I love anthropology, I am a SLOW knowledge worker. I read slowly, I take reading notes slowly, and I write unusually slowly. Then there is memory; everything I want to commit to long-term memory takes a conscious effort and planning (which again, is rather time consuming).

As a HS/university student I often got on simply by throwing in as many hours as it took. However, during the MA (and especially BA/MA dissertation writing) my slow pace became a severe hindrance. I finished the BA with a 3.7 GPA (4.0 within major) from a decent R1 university. However, I was leading an increasingly unhealthy life, definitely not sustainable in the long term.

My understanding is that serious PhD candidates and junior faculty in my field are estimated to work 65h/week, and are expected to be high performers in terms of their output/teaching/service. This leads me to believe that at this level I can’t expect to succeed by throwing in some extra hours. I’d run out of hours to “throw” fairly quickly.

When I feel optimistic I think that perhaps I can relearn how I work – how I read, take notes, memorize and most importantly, how I write. I can learn to work faster/smarter/better. I assure myself, PhD programs are also about figuring THAT part out. They are also about learning how to cope with the workload.

At my lowest, I recollect late paper submissions, or the debilitating anxiety associated with being months behind schedule on dissertation work. Then I think: someone who wants to do this for a living should have breezed through BA/MA. If I haven’t figured out how to handle it better back then, perhaps it’s delusional to think that it will all magically come together now.

A part of me is afraid of investing many years only to discover that I can’t handle this type of work. To learn at 35 or 40 that I can’t do this job well. Please tell me what you think. For those who might have dealt with a similar problem, how did you overcome your SLOWNESS and become more effective?

TL;DR ---- I want to be a professor. Love the field. Had good GPA/feedback on past work. But I’m a hopelessly SLOW reader/writer. Is there hope?

EDIT: Regarding the question "How should I deal with discouragement as a graduate student?" This recommended thread is similar, but does not focus on the main issue important to me: the question of efficiency.

Answer 1

It is not possible to give you a satisfying answer. The best I can offer is two anecdotes a friend of mine told me today (and they are first hand and 100% legit).

First, he goes to the supervisor, for the second time, with a bunch of paper, asking whether he should study them. The supervisor takes the papers, throws them to the ground and walks over them. Then says: "Studying is useless."

Second, the supervisors asks him to do a computation by the next day. Friend comes back and shows the calculation. The advisor writes a line of code on the computer and presses enter. The computer shows the same answer of the computation which took several hours.

Bottom line: there is ample room for improvement in terms of speed. Achieving it might require, surprisingly, to understand less and to study less and to give up on many preconceived notions about the subject and about how research work as well as about how yourself.

If you feel like the subject is important and close to your heart, give it a try. Many people start a PhD in their 30ies. But don't be silly, do:

1. Ask for advice before making choices.
2. Think carefully when picking your advisor.
3. Lay out many plans B and be ready to execute them.

Answer 2

"Is there hope?"

The simple answer is yes, there is always hope.

The reality, of course, is not so simple. The physical volume of work is only one component of a PhD; other factors to consider are how well you work independently, how creative are you when problem solving, how determined are you to persevere and find solutions? (The list goes on...)

In your question and comments you mention you have a lot of anxiety, and speak of being afraid of the work and in particular your ability to complete it, especially before deadlines. You say

"Then I think: someone who wants to do this for a living should have breezed through BA/MA."

Do not listen to the imposter syndrome.

I strongly recommend that you seek professional help for the anxiety (either through medication, counselling or both), especially if it is preventing you from working to your full potential. It sounds like you've struggled in this way for a long time, and while yes, academia is a demanding environment to work in, it should not be making you ill.

Your main concern seems to be the speed of your work, in particular reading and writing. While I am not well positioned to give advice about specific techniques, I will say that I don't think any beginning PhD student is expected to be as quick at reading and writing as a fully-fledged professor.

A PhD is essentially training you to become an academic, and part of that is developing your academic reading and writing skills. As with any skill, the key is to practice as much as possible, so you could start now by finding some short papers in the field you're most interested in, to get a feel for the writing style. This will also help you to figure out if you really will be able to cope with the work (i.e. reading and writing at that level).

Finally, I want to emphasise something mentioned in the other answers: take your time in finding the right supervisor for you- someone you gel well with and whose working style and expectations match with yours. This will hopefully make your PhD and its difficulties that little bit more manageable.

Answer 3

A point that I always keep in mind:

If you are not good at something you wish to achieve, work 100 times harder at it

Though this cannot always be theoretically true, it really is a mental boost to think nothing is impossible with hard work. It goes without saying but practice makes perfect.

I too was a slow reader and (still am) a slow writer and personally don't like reading much either. That didn't stop me from going over 400 papers for literature survey. With enough practice, I was able to pick up speed at reading papers, recognizing good papers from bad ones and so on. I strongly believe my writing speed would improve as well.

Most of my colleagues who are doing PhD are 30+ and some in their 40s. The final point is that if you are really passionate about academia, go for it. Do not be hurdled by your weaknesses, overcome them. Also bear in mind the last three points of @ThreeDiag's answer; getting the 'right' advisor is crucial for your career.

Answer 4

Something not directly addressed here is that your colleagues are probably not reading every word. You should not, either. Indeed, in fields that tend to publish books (rather than concise, pithy articles or proofs), it is a key skill to learn how to evaluate a book and skim for the content you currently need.

A great resource I recently found was Paul Edwards' advice on How to Read a Book. Also, finding systematic ways to take notes can really help you. (E.g., this set of questions may or may not fit the kinds of literature you read. You'll need to memorize less, and you'll have to reread less.

Finally, the time and effort you have spent so far demonstrates your commitment, and your slower reading might also be deeper or more effective than others'. There is research that when reading is physically harder to do ("disfluency" based on fonts, for instance), this leads to greater understanding, apparently through the pathway of disfluency-> lower confidence -> nervousness -> increased attention to material.