I don't recognise this. No one ever told me to cut my outside activities down, indeed I used the flexibility of the PhD hours compared to a job to go to all sor

I don't recognise this. No one ever told me to cut my outside activities down, indeed I used the flexibility of the PhD hours compared to a job to go to all sorts of distracting things in the first year (you know, the type of political meetings which are technically "open" but at 3:30pm on a Wednesday?) Of course, of my own accord I have cut down on all my "other" activities during weekdays (except perhaps meeting someone for lunch or a drink in the evening) in order to make sure I actually get enough done. Time management skills, acquired (maybe). But seriously, no one ever said this to me, in UK universities. My entire department does loads of sport, debating, and random things with their spare time.