How to Manage Multiple PhD Projects at Once

In May 2024, four years into my postgraduate studies, I set myself a clear goal: to complete my PhD by the end of 2025. At the time, however, I had not published a paper based on my doctoral research. My schedule was packed, I was working most weekends and I was generating plenty of data, but I was making very little meaningful progress. I was busy without actually finishing anything.

Conversations with other graduate students suggested that this was a widespread problem. Academic culture often rewards laboratory researchers for staying busy, accepting every opportunity and moving quickly from one task to the next. I recognized the pattern in myself and in my colleagues: taking on too many projects, working at a frantic pace and giving none of them enough attention. Although this can feel productive, it often prevents important work from being completed. Starting a new project is usually more exciting than finishing a difficult experiment or working through the final, challenging stages of a manuscript.

At the time, I was a PhD student in human genetics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, studying the genetic causes of chronic kidney disease. One afternoon, I left the laboratory and sat in a café to plan the year ahead. The change of environment helped me think more clearly about my long-term goals. When I reviewed my plans, I realized they were unrealistic: I had committed to too many papers, ambitious research ideas and collaborations for the time available.

I wrote down every project, responsibility and commitment on my plate, along with everything I hoped to complete. Seeing the full list made the problem clear.

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The list included unfinished case reports, which describe unusual clinical cases; a review article that I had agreed to write but had not started; several collaborations; side analyses that I had volunteered to conduct; responsibilities on student committees; a clinical cohort analysis; and a major gene-discovery project that was intended to form a substantial part of my PhD. In total, there were 20 separate commitments.

It was obvious that I had taken on more than I could realistically complete. By treating every project as equally important, I had gradually begun choosing the easiest tasks instead of prioritizing the work that mattered most. I was repeatedly taking the path of least resistance.

Looking at the list, I accepted that completing all 20 projects was impossible. I then asked myself a more useful question: which projects did I actually need to finish my PhD and graduate on time?

I selected three: a clinical case report that was already being revised; a manuscript describing a previously unknown genetic cause of kidney disease, which I hoped to publish by the end of 2024; and a clinical cohort study that I planned to use as the basis for one of my thesis chapters.

Letting go of low-priority PhD projects

The most difficult project to abandon was the gene-discovery study. I found it intellectually stimulating and had already invested months of work in it, but it was still far from completion. Continuing with it would have required experiments long after a reasonable PhD completion date. More importantly, it was not essential to my thesis.

Putting the project on hold required difficult conversations with my supervisor and collaborators. I had agreed to do the work, so withdrawing felt uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I needed to be honest about what was achievable within my timeline.

My supervisor supported the decision and encouraged me to concentrate on completing the research that was most important. Before discussing my workload or goals with colleagues, I usually prepared a clear rationale, practical options and a timeline, particularly when asking to pause a project. I learned that meetings were more productive when I brought possible solutions rather than simply describing problems.

My supervisor and I did not always agree immediately, but honest discussions helped us find a way forward. I was fortunate to work with someone who trusted me to manage my time and make realistic decisions about my PhD priorities.

How narrowing my focus improved PhD productivity

Once I had chosen the three projects that mattered most, I asked a second question: which one deserves my attention right now? I identified the highest-value task and made it my immediate priority. Instead of dividing my time among multiple projects, I focused on one critical objective at a time. In practice, I became more productive by doing less.

This became a weekly planning routine. Every Monday morning, before checking my e-mail, I identified my three most important goals and the next essential step for each one. Then I asked the question that had the greatest impact on my work: what is the one thing I can do this week to make everything else easier?

This question changed how I approached my PhD. The answer was often not a new task to start, but an activity to stop. Could I skip an unnecessary experiment? Could I avoid launching an exploratory analysis that was not essential? Could I postpone a collaboration that did not contribute to my thesis timeline?

Most weeks, this approach led me to reserve my mornings for manuscript writing and figure preparation. I continued working on those tasks until the specific priority I had identified was complete. By limiting distractions, reducing competing commitments and focusing on the research needed for graduation, I made steady progress towards finishing my PhD.

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