Good luck with it, Lindalou!

I'm determined to make some good progress today. I started by going swimming this morning - that always invigorates me, and I've been feeling quite sluggish lately. Goals for the first part of the day (and I want to get these out of the way, they've been hanging around on my to-do list for the last few days):
1.) Go swimming - DONE
2.) Select potential interviewees from list of volunteers
3.) Draft invitation email and send to potential interviewees
4.) Email people who might be willing to pilot my interview questions

Once I've done that lot I'll see whether I can continue with drafting interview questions or whether I need to switch to a different task to make best use of my time.

True, Lughna! It's sent now anyway, and it's no worse than it would have been if I had spent all week tinkering with it!

Back to work. For the rest of the day, I'm going to write up my notes from supervision meeting and then look at another conference abstract I need to write (as I'm on a roll with them now! Be good if I could get that one done today too!) That'll probably be it for the day. Tomorrow I'll get loads done.

Emmaki, time off is essential when you've been working hard at something like a review - enjoy it!

Lindalou, thanks, I'm really feeling the pressure now but it helps to know I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Had supervision meeting this morning, and it's becoming plain to me that I really genuinely am slipping behind where I need to be. I think it's still rescue-able, but only just. Pressure! But if I can make some serious progress this week I'll feel better.

My goals for the day were thrown off by one of my supervisors telling me about a conference that would be perfect for me to present at, with today being deadline for abstracts. So, mad panic to get one written! I've just cobbled together something from edits of two previous abstracts I've done so it'll be in by the deadline - probably good to not have much time to waste on it! I'm just waiting for supervisors to come back with the 'five minutes worth of comments' they said they'd give me this afternoon and then I can send it off. After that, it's back to my regular list of actions!

Morning everyone!

I'm really tired after accidentally drinking too much caffeine yesterday so ending up staying awake half the night :$

Lots to do today. I'm starting to feel that edge of pressure that time is passing too quickly and I'm progressing too slowly. I need to make some seroous progress this week.

Today's goals:
1.) Prepare for supervision meeting
2.) Attend meeting and write up notes afterwards
3.) Work on interview schedule
4.) Respond to several emails
5.) Identify and email potential interviewees from list of volunteers
6.) Chase up software with IT people

Tee hee, it was very funny. We need things like that to cheer us up occasionally!

Hope your work's still progressing well!

I've identified most of the themes I need to address in my interview questions, and the main characteristics I need to look for in my interviewees, but I've decided I want to think about them a bit more before I select and email my possible participants. I'll do that on Monday probably. For the rest of today I'm going to start designing my actual questions.

And yay, I just noticed the time and it's almost the weekend! I'm going to work tomorrow morning but take the rest of the weekend off - looking forward to it! Not much time left today before I pack up and head off to meet friends for drinks, but I can squeeze a little more work in I suppose...

Have a good weekend everyone!

Hah, that powerball video is hilarious (especially if you read the comments underneath).

My hand is a lot better today so I'm going to get back to what I'd originally planned for yesterday. But in the meantime I have managed to clear all the filing off my desk, which gives me loads of space to work on - amazing what a difference that makes to the thought processes!

Goals for today:
1.) Finish pulling out potential interview question topics from various written chapters etc
2.) Identify which dempgraphics/types are important to represent in interview sample
3.) Identify potential interview subjects from volunteer list
4.) Draft email to potential interviewees (and send, if I'm happy I'm ready)

Ha ha, thanks, have a (mince)

I've not heard of powerballs, will have to check those out. I'm usually not too bad - the arthritis doesn't often get in the way, but today it's quite painful and very distracting. Oh well.

Sounds like you've made good progress on the chapter! Finding you'd given up half way through a sentence made me smile - that's definitely the sort of thing I do!

Hope you get somewhere with the work!

My plan is failing a bit today - I've made some good progress on my interview schedule but the damp weather has got into my joints and my arthritis is flaring up in my right hand, so it's hurting to type or hold a pen. I'm going to do some other stuff for the rest of the day - I have filing to sort out, and some reading to do - and hope that it's not so painful tomorrow.

I can get that for you. PM me your email address and I'll send it.

Hi there.

I think a PhD is a great thing to do, but it is a commitment, and it's nothing like being an undergraduate, so do be aware that you won't be reliving your undergraduate days if you decide to do one!

My annual stipend is about £13,000 a year (tax free) - that's about £1100 a month. I originally applied for an EPSRC funded project, but at interview it became clear that the project wasn't quite right for me, so someone with more specific expertise got that funding and they offered me an additional place funded by the university (they loved the ideas I had for continuing research based on my Masters dissertation). In my first year I was teaching a couple of modules at another university (I'd been doing that for a couple of years before I started the PhD) but realised it was getting in the way of my PhD so I dropped that teaching at the end of my first year. There hasn't been an opportunity to do any other extra paid work since, and to be honest, I don't think I'd have had the time anyway.

I try to work 9 to 5, but some days I do less and some days I do a lot more. When I have a deadline I often work much longer hours, e.g. 14 hour days, and over weekends, but I think having time off and a life outside the PhD is important to recharge your batteries, be fresh and effective, and to maintain your sanity!

I see my supervisors for regular meetings, usually a couple of times a month for about an hour at a time, but more often if there's a particular need for it. I'm seeing them a little less often now than I did in the beginning (I'm in my third year now).

I'm not at all involved in the life of the university. I commute from another city to attend, so only go onto campus twice a week. PhD students in my department who live near campus do seem to spend more time mixing socially, but generally most people are not involved in societies or other uni things - they are much more for undergraduates, or for taught postgrads. Being a mature student makes things slightly different though. I was working for 15 years before I started my PhD. It's very different to work - took me ages to get used to the idea that I didn't need to justify what I was doing every day, or that I could attend or not attend, or take time off, as I saw fit. Otherwise, it's been sheer luxury - it feels like such freedom after being in proper employment!

I'm hoping to go on to a Post-doc in my department, but it all depends on funding bids being successful. If that doesn't come off I'm not sure what I'll do - look to other universities for work, hopefully nearby. I'd much rather stay in academia but I know it's very hard to find work, so if I have to I'll look at other kinds of jobs. Hopefully I'll find something where the PhD is beneficial but who knows! Overall, though, I love my PhD. There are times when it's frustrating, and hard work, and I'd rather be down the pub with my mates than working late into the night, of course, but overall this has been a stimulating and rewarding experience. My funding runs out in October and I'm really hoping to finish by then, possible submitting in the summer (and then spending the last few weeks writing journal articles while I prepare for viva) although things are taking slightly longer than I anticipated so that plan may have slipped slightly!

Hope these comments help you decide what you want to do!

Heh, Lughna, I'm glad our thread has had some effect beyond keeping ourselves motivated! I find it really useful to list my goals on here - it helps me focus my work for the day, and keeps me going when sometimes I'd rather just give up and watch telly instead!

I've spent the last two days running around doing lots of things that aren't related to my thesis - Tuesday doing stuff for the voluntary group I chair (luckily that all went really well, big relief), and yesterday at a training course. I was going to get up early today and be on campus early, but I was so tired last night I decided not to set my alarm and just see how long I naturally needed to sleep. So of course I woke up late and am now working from home instead! Oh well.

Goals for today:
1.) Go through all notes and analyses to pull out bits I want to ask about in interviews
2.) Decide who I want to interview
3.) Send invitation email to potential interviewees
4.) Start designing interview schedule

Ooh, a holiday sounds good, going somewhere nice?

Today I have to run around sorting some bits out for two events tomorrow that have been organised by the voluntary group I chair. Looking forward to tomorrow but there are so many things to sort out so it's not a complete disaster! But I also want to make progress on the PhD work, as I won;t be working tomorrow.

Goals for the day
1.) Run some cluster analyses on my three samples
2.) Read up on a new method in two books
3.) If time, start planning interview questions
4.) Do all the jobs to prepare for tomorrow's events

Just back from meeting, it was fine. My supervisors are very nice people (though I do think one of them thinks I'm an idiot - oh well!) They gave me lots of really useful feedback about how to restructure things, and said that what I'd done was good for the stage I was at with the analysis even if it wouldn't all be used in the final thesis. I'm happy with that. Still daunted by how much there is to do, but they were very encouraging and I think I will get there.

Hope everyone else's day is going well!

Glad your supervision was positive, Lindalou - I have mine at 2pm and am dreading it, I know there were major problems with the chapter I sent (mainly that it wasn't finished!!) and I'm very daunted by just how much work I still have left. I think my supervisors would be well within their rights to tell me to pull my finger out and work harder, but they're probably too nice to say that to me.

Oh well. I'm rushing to complete a few things before the meeting, and afterwards will have some emails and stuff to send. Busy day! Hope everyone else is getting through the work okay!