The Nitty-Gritty of Successfully Completed Doctoral Studies: A Personal Review and Lessons for Prospective, New and Final Year Doctoral Students

Finding the direction for a doctoral research can be problematic. Also, keeping in touch with friends and relatives, and managing one’s time effectively can be challenging for doctoral students. Other challenges bedeviling doctoral students are lack of motivation, inability to manage the student-supervisor relationship, etc. This paper seeks to explore different skills and knowledge which can be useful in overcoming challenges which confront doctoral students. Specifically, using autoethnography, this paper explores the author’s successful doctoral experience and presents recommendations that can be tapped into by doctoral students to prevent an abrupt end or a late completion of their studies.