PhD work balance

Hi,
I was wondering if their are any other PhDs could weigh in with their opinion.

So im currently a first year engineering PhD (that involves lab & desk research) and I work hard but I have a very good work life balance, before covid-19 I did anywhere from 35-45 hours a week on my PhD and ive always found spare time for my hobbies.

Im currently a committee member of a large uni club, and i love the role but I need decide weather to re-run or not asap. The role takes 6ish hours a week and one or two weeks of term requires a bit more commitment, so far balancing the two has not been a problem.

Id love to continue the committee position but im worried it will be too difficult to manage both to a high standard if my PhD work load ramps up next year.

Anyone got any experience or advice?

I would be inclined to gently ramp down things like club committee member, but still stay active in the club as one of the "old guard" available for occasional wise words of advice for the new guys, and use that time for things like paid lab supervision etc. Dual use, it brings in some useful £££ if its available, and adds something new and important to your CV in a teaching role. It depends on your project and the work ethic of the research team, but later on in the PhD you might easily find yourself ramping up to 50-60 hrs per week or more if you get scheduled time on specific lab kit etc. In the end game of a lab based PhD things can evolve into "we work until it breaks" once a complex experiment finally gets up and running and you are taking golden data, or have a conference deadline to get slides for.

Thesis writing following on from that is often 24/7 .....

Hi,
I was wondering if their are any other PhDs could weigh in with their opinion.

So im currently a first year engineering PhD (that involves lab & desk research) and I work hard but I have a very good work life balance, before covid-19 I did anywhere from 35-45 hours a week on my PhD and ive always found spare time for my hobbies.

Im currently a committee member of a large uni club, and i love the role but I need decide weather to re-run or not asap. The role takes 6ish hours a week and one or two weeks of term requires a bit more commitment, so far balancing the two has not been a problem.

Id love to continue the committee position but im worried it will be too difficult to manage both to a high standard if my PhD work load ramps up next year.

Anyone got any experience or advice?

I second Mr Wednesday. The last thing you want to do is carry on with the club committee stuff for too long, and start to resent something you used to love. As you're in your first year, a gradual faze-out is a good way to go.

Thanks for the advice, I think you are both correct.

Ive decided to do a compromise, where ill run for club treasurer (this is quite a minor role less than an hour a week and only during the undergrad term times). Hence I can have involvement but also make sure it wont effect my PhD.

Ok, sounds like its a good plan and its important to keep a social life going, though a bit of a warning, at somepoint you are going to look at the next batch of freshers and think, wow, they are really getting young now .