The Source of Disease.

During my PhD studies, I learned a lot: about neuroscience, about people, and about academia in general. I met great individuals and visited wonderful places.

I visited over 20 countries and had many clever students. My life was fast, and I had no boring days at all. 

But I also experienced the dark sides of academia: fear, stress, pressure, and anxiety. 

Why Is Academic Life So Stressful?

The point is: as a scientist, you are doomed to live in the shadow of deadlines, short contracts, and mutual dependencies. You are, by definition, bound to a dynamic web of people, some of whom might behave differently than expected. 

As opposed to industry, in academia, you need to prove yourself in multiple different roles every day. You must wear many hats: researcher, teacher, fund-raiser, philosopher, physical worker, salesman, graphic designer, writer, motivational speaker, negotiator, et cetera.

The collateral stress is inevitable whenever you are a good or a bad worker. According to Levecque et al. (2017), one in three PhD students is at risk of a common psychiatric disorder.

Namely, if you are bad at what you are doing, you will experience stress instantly. That’s simply because you know you don’t handle the duties. 

If you are a good worker, people around you will start throwing more and more responsibilities at you. Projects, grant proposals, students – one day, you will become overwhelmed no matter how good you are.

In my case, the PhD project was particularly challenging for two main reasons. Firstly, I was given a task to solve a research problem unsolved in fMRI research for the last fifteen years. 

Secondly, I started a PhD for the second time already. Therefore, I knew I must finish this one, no matter what, or otherwise I couldn’t do research in academia anymore. And my supervisor did not agree to any compromises. 

If you ask your family and friends what to do, they will all tell you the same things. Go for a walk, meditate, or visit the spa. Relax, try therapy, grow flowers, stare at the blue sky, or listen to your favourite music. 

Why Don’t These Coping Strategies Really Work?

And of course, all of this works to a certain extent. However, after a while, I realised that all these activities are superficial and do not solve the true problem.

It resembled trying to improve your looks by using cosmetics on your skin. Meanwhile, you were still filling your stomach with junk food. 

You just cannot overcome the fear of being broke and jobless by listening to music. That fear is rooted in a natural fear of death, and every organism in nature is vulnerable to it.

According to Mani, Mullainathan, Shafir and Zhao (2013), worrying about money measurably reduces cognitive performance in people under financial strain. This shows just how much of a toll that fear takes, even outside of moments of active crisis.

In a sense, relaxing means taking a step back. It means concentrating on licking your wounds rather than on development, and on solving the true problems.

How Did I Break the Cycle?

Therefore, I decided to take a risk. I stepped out of my comfort zone and started looking for active ways of reducing job-related stress.

I soon figured out that a private investor is able to trade on the stock exchange with great success. All it takes is playing according to very simple rules of sanity. 

I also figured out that an ex-pat is able to buy real estate properties in the Netherlands. It also pays off to sublet rooms in your house. The total amount you get per month is actually much higher than the mortgage rate. 

I started investing in the middle of my first year on the PhD, using only my free time. In less than three years, I managed to build a passive income of about 5,000EUR per month on average. That figure, though, differs a lot from month to month.

Today, my salary is a minority of my monthly income. Because of that, I am more motivated to pursue my research than ever before. Having a stable, monthly injection of cash didn’t make me any lazy, rather the opposite: 

I am more effective now as I stopped having sleepless nights, and stressing about my future in academia. I also developed investment strategies that take me 1-5 minutes per day. As a result, my research is not affected by my investment activities.

Does the Tension Ever Really Go Away?

But I still see a lot of tension among my colleagues and friends. These are the brightest and the best-educated people in society, yet they have to face this eternal stress.

According to Alberts, Kirschner, Tilghman and Varmus (2014), biomedical science’s assumption of endless growth has produced an unsustainable, hypercompetitive system. That system relies on short contracts and scarce permanent positions, discouraging the most talented researchers from staying in the field. 

Eternal competition, short contracts and a lack of positions cause a tension. According to Larson et al. (2014), only a small fraction of PhD graduates can ever obtain a permanent academic position.

This is a tension that cannot be overcome by licking wounds. The real solution is eliminating the source of the problem: taking your destiny into your own hands. That means creating your own passive income.