Don’t be terrified, just keep pushing. That’s what separates those who finish from those who don’t. I say this as someone who nearly did not finish a PhD and h

Don’t be terrified, just keep pushing. That’s what separates those who finish from those who don’t. I say this as someone who nearly did not finish a PhD and had terrible mismatch with my advisor. If you have a mismatch with your advisor, I have three pieces of unsolicited advice. 1. Find the community of your research topic early and get involved. Partially due to covid there are now many ~weekly seminars that meet online and post recordings on YouTube. They tend to be welcoming, and getting to know the people drives home the idea of “if they can do it so can I” 2. Pick a problem with extremely clear benchmarks. If you exceed the benchmarks, then congrats on your state of the art work! If not, write about the good parts and explain why the bad parts exist. 3. Write about your topic early and often. You don’t have to publish it necessarily, but writing has a clarifying effect acknowledged by every PhD student I know. Stay positive and remember to take care of yourself! Good luck!