Anonymous
May 20, 2026 · 5 min read · Learning
I spent four years in a PhD program I had already outgrown by year two.
I started the PhD because I was good at research and my supervisor believed in me. For the first eighteen months I was engaged. By year two I was spending half my time on industry side projects that felt more alive than my thesis.
I kept enrolling because I had already put in the time. I told myself I was close to finishing. Finishing took two more years. The degree opened fewer doors than I expected in the field I had moved toward. The four years of near-below-market stipend had a real opportunity cost I had not calculated.
I confused finishing with winning. Finishing a thing that no longer serves you is not discipline. It is inertia with a more respectable name.
Sunk cost is not a reason to continue. Ask yourself, if you were starting today with no prior investment, would you choose this path. If the answer is no, the honest next question is what is actually keeping you here.
Do not stay in a long-form commitment — a degree, a job, a relationship — primarily because of the time you have already spent. That time is gone either way. The only variable is what you do with the time that remains.
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