The PhD process is inhabited by desire. In this chapter, I look closely at desire, using the work of Lacan, arguing that desire is the pursuit of knowledge about who one is in relation to the desire of the Other. Undertaking a PhD can be an opportunity to explore our desire. This means to consider why we act in the way that we do. We do this by looking at what we may have previously ignored, the gaps in our knowledge, the lack of a so-called reason for doing something that may have placed us in a more unattractive position. Why do we act the way we do? In this chapter, I take my PhD experience in this manner. I look at when I may have acted in a way that could be thought of as contrary to my desire, for example, when I leave a Master of Education at a prestigious research university to instead wander the world for several years only to return to a very similar degree. Did I waste my time? What was I doing? This chapter explores these questions as I explore what helped me to succeed in a PhD. I argue that desire can be co-opted both by ourselves and by the institution of the university towards instrumentalist ends and look at how we might avoid this as students and as supervisors.