======= Date Modified 25 May 2009 11:34:37 =======
Brilliant reply Rosy, thanks so much.



I read your reply last night and today I got up at 8 am and have been working hard, with no internet browsing :-) Apart from now, obviously! But this is a 5 min break and I had to say thanks for your post...oh dear, the excuses are starting already lol.



Seriously though, it seems like for all of us the internet is the no.1 distraction, so I will be doing my damndest to stay off it. Its funny, I often think about how hard research must have been before the internet (and google books!) but clearly it has a massive down side too! I can't come off completely as I read and write together and read tons, more than I could check out from the library, but I think with some will power I might be able to stop myself checking pointless bits and pieces.



I do have deadlines with my supervisor but they are very loose- my current one is 3 chapters, in any sort of state, by September- quite a long way to go! So I will ask if we can narrow those down a bit; say, hand in one in July and one in September. In between that I think I will send my work to him more. Even though he's quite laid-back I am terrified of disappointing him so if I say I will send something for him to read, even if its not important, I do try hard to get it to him on time (although, as I mentioned in my last post this didn't work last time!).



I'm hoping that this isn't another flash in the pan and that I've realised that, if I want to finish this thing and not go crazy in the mean time, I am going to have to stick to the rules.

(up)

Thanks to everyone who has replied,

Lara I'm relieved to hear there are others like me, and you're right- together we can do it! The problem I have is that if I set my alarm early I will often half-wake up, switch it off and go back to sleep. I'll then wake up a couple of hours later with no memory of having switched it off!
I got up at 10 today but only because, as I mentioned, I told my supervisor I would send him some work today and it was nowhere near ready. I've spent all day on it and it's still not ready- by which I mean there are half-finished sentences, notes to myself and no references :-s I've had to e-mail and ask if he will look at it next week. It wasn't a formal deadline or anything but I'm so annoyed at myself for not managing to get it done. Part of the problem was that I over-estimated how much I could do in a couple of weeks but if I'd worked solidly and planned I would have realised this before today. :-(

Sylvester you're right and I think I've realised I need to take my work habits more seriously. Which will mean no browsing and, Supergenius like you say, no tv or computer late at night as it just keeps me awake. I do already make plans, and your Excel idea sounds great, but I'm very bad at working out what is actually feasible, which means I don't get through my tasks and just feel rubbish again. I'm hoping that slowly, slowly I will learn!

God I sound like the worst PhD student ever!

Lara working from my bed has helped in the past lol. For a while I took Jean Bolker's advice and made sure I started writing first thing in the morning. I would wake up, then get back into bed with my laptop and spend a couple of solid hours writing. That worked well so when and why did I stop?!

Ok, so 10 am tomorrow we will both be up :-)

I'm not working tomorrow though- thanks to my habits I've not had a day off in two weeks, which is not helping my stress levels!

Thanks again.

Hi all,

Have hit a really low patch tonight. Feel so frustrated at myself for my self-destructive behaviour and wondering if it will eventually stop me getting my PhD. Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
I did very well in my undergrad but never had normal working patterns...this is embarrassing, but I've never broken the teenage habit of getting out of bed late! Its a constant struggle to maintain early waking times. Towards the end I also worked in a bar which didn't shut until 3 am so my body clock was thrown completely off balance.
I managed to get a studentship for my PhD and because I did so well in my degree and was always very pro-active about my work I think I convinced the department that I was motivated enough to do this PhD straight away (I stayed at the same university).
I find myself now, however, with the same habits I had through university- erratic working hours, putting things off until the very last minute, etc. I have still managed to produce a fair amount of work but I can NEVER relax- although I can put off working all day I'm constantly thinking about it and feeling frustrated with myself. Tonight it all came to a head, I'm sending a chapter to my supervisor tomorrow morning-it doesn't have to be perfect but I really wanted it to be of a standard where I can say 'I'm happy for him to read this.' I know exactly what I have to do, its mainly organizational, but deep down I am still so scared of the work. I'm scared of getting it wrong so I put it off and put it off until I end up in this situation.
I have tried all kinds of different things. We have a postgraduate research office at uni and I used to work in there but I found myself just staring at the computer all day and then having to work at night anyway. I've read a few books- Jean Bolker's was extremely useful for a while. But I've hit a point when I realise that I either change my ways or I might not complete this, sheerly because I make myself so unhappy.
Is it possible to change in the long-run and maintain those changes? Has anyone managed it?

Thanks for making it through my essay.

Another thing I've just remembered. My dad told me that when he told my step-mum's dad that I was doing a PhD he said 'oh, another one not producing then.' :-s

Ha ha Sim YES! That's the worst.

I can totally empathise with you Florence. I don't expect people to bow down at my feet when I say I'm doing a PhD but the dismissiveness (if that's a word!) and general rudeness of some people is so annoying. I think the problem is that people see it as just an extension of a degree- if they know what it is at all! My flatmate's boyfriend was once asking me about it, and then said 'God, I though students just went out on the piss all the time'. Maybe they do, but I'm NOT an undergrad student anymore! I also get a lot of people asking how my degree is going, or my Masters. Obviously I'm not knocking people who are doing those things, but I'm not and I've been through all that (well, apart from the masters lol).

A friend who I used to live with left uni and now works as a secretary. I would never dream of making a dig about that, even though its not what she wants to do and she doesn't enjoy it. But she seems to be constantly trying to prove how busy she is now she has a 'real job'. I remember meeting her for lunch one day and she was talking about how she thought she was going to be late because her flatmate was still in the shower at 11.30. She then hurriedly said 'I mean, not that I didn't get up until 11 or anything, no I get up so early now.' I just thought, AND?! Am I meant to be impressed that you have to get up early to go to a job you hate?!

You know what, I think we SHOULD just start saying something. When he comes home, say 'Home already? You're so lucky. I've been working all day and still have so much to do. It must be so easy having a regular job.' :p

Threads like this make me realise how lucky I am to have the supervisor I do. Mines a long way off so I might yet change my mind but he has always been great at reassuring me and I would love to have him there.

I've never understood how people can work with metal/dance music playing...I must have very low levels of concentration but I can only really listen to classical or similiar or my mind wanders all over the place! I am enjoying Bat for Lashes and Florence and the Machine at the minute though, they're just about quiet enough.

======= Date Modified 01 May 2009 22:30:27 =======
======= Date Modified 01 May 2009 22:30:00 =======
[/quote]Woooo! Clearly Emmaki has had the most productive year here! :-)[/quote]

Why did I want to join this thread again?:p:-)

Well PhD_Bug it sounds like you've done an awful lot yourself! I couldn't even understand half the stuff you listed! :$ And 3,000 word essays every fortnight...yes that is a whole lot of writing there! When I talk about chapters god knows whether theyll be any use in the long run and the one I have has been revised to buggery so I wouldn't be too impressed :-)
Sounds like people are generally keeping their heads above water. I do worry when I read some of the other threads about people who are further on, and I think about the probable dark times ahead.

Can I join in please? :$

Hello all,

I started in October like most others from the sounds of it. I don't think I have an end of year review though...or I do and I'm being extremely stupid! We have a mid point progression, but nobody has mentioned anything before that. I think my supervisor would be the type to tell me, but maybe I'd better check to be sure! Anybody else not have one?
Its scary to 'put out there' how much work I've done in case in others are way ahead, but here goes! I've written an introduction (which now needs major revision) and one chapter and am busy putting together another one which should be done in a month or two. I'm quite happy with that, really, apart from the odd panic that I should have done more. My supervisor seems happy with my pace and I feel like I've learnt a lot, although I'm aware that there's a lot more essential reading I need to do, both primary and secondary.
I will be presenting at two conferences in the summer and one early next year. Looking forward to all of them, but I know I will be extremely nervous when it comes to it. One thing I want to do is stock up on lots of confidence-improving books etc, no matter how cheesy! Does anybody have any suggestions?
I think I had unrealistic expectations about what I could achieve in a year when I started and although I don't want to start taking things for granted I think I've settled into a pace which, at the minute, works for me.
Looking foward to hearing your stories :-)

Thanks for that Sleepyhead.

It's reassuring to hear your experiences. I went into this having ridiculous expectations about how long a chapter would take- I think I expected to be able to knock something out in a couple of weeks :$ I've since learned that's not the case, and now I'm realising that all chapters might not take the same ammount of time either.
I'm not sure whether I could split it up yet, basically its about Robin Hood literature and I don't want to have a number of chapters looking at different texts. The ideas behind it though might well form the basis of other chapters.
Going O/T a bit now, but I think whats also frightened me about this chapter is that I've ended up meandering into a subject which I know very little about, i.e. medieval law, and I'm desperately trying to construct an argument when really I probably don't know enough about the subject to do that yet. I really wanted to get some written work out this year though, even if it wasn't perfect.
Not sure what to do; sorry if this isnt making much sense!

Hi all,

At the start of the year I wrote a very tentative chapter, and then I moved on to what I thought would be a good idea for another. The problem is that I've been working on it for what seems like an eternity and the ideas will just not take shape. I feel like I have about a billion things to say, but no 'argument' and so no way to begin actually writing the thing, even in a fuzzy kind of way.
I know this is probably to be expected, but its frustrating as hell and I just wanted to see if anyone can offer a sympathetic word/ advice. My PhD is in English literature and thus tends to be very theoretical, so I'm used to working with abstract ideas and things which are difficult to pin down. But I've never known anything to be this hard to get my head around!

Thanks in advance :-)

Thanks guys :-)
I was a bit worried when I posted this that somebody was going to pop up and tell me I obviously shouldn't be doing a PhD if I'm not brimming over with enthusiasm and passion everyday. Smoobles your 'motivation graph' made me laugh! It's strange because I'd imagine that most people who enjoy their jobs don't feel so sceptical about this enjoyment every day. Yet I would never say that I don't enjoy my PhD and there's nothing else I can imagine wanting to do.
Megara, I think you're right in that working less hours might actually help. Like you say, picking a set number of jobs and getting on with it is likely to work better than waiting around hoping for my motivation to come back. It just means being honest with myself in that I might not work for eight hours a day. I might do four or five and more when needed. At the minute I can afford to do this and it might help set me up for when the real slog begins.
I too am inherently lazy Smoobles! Its a strange thing isnt it? I'm probably one of the most determined people I know, and when I actually had the chance to hang around for a year or two after my degree and take things easy the thought terrified me!
And so, I plod on...And hope!

Hi guys,

I realise this has probably been covered a million times before, so please bear with me. I just need to hear some reassuring voices, or alternately get a sharp kick back into reality : )
I've been doing my PhD since October and basically in the past few weeks my motivation has disappeared down a rabbit hole. I'm struggling to concentrate for more than a couple of hours a day, even though I have lots of work I could be getting on with (I've written a very tentative 'chapter'- I know I probably won't end up keeping it- and am in the process of editing it and also preparing a paper for a conference in June, aswell as general reading).
I still love my subject and want to do well but I just cannot summon up any enthusiasm at the minute. I read books on my subject and my eyes glaze over, my mind wanders and I realise time has passed and I've done nothing, again. I've tried keeping a diary of my schedule to reflect on what's going wrong and keeping my schedule varied so I don't get stuck doing one thing for hours but I've still ended up in the same position.
I'm wondering if working in the office every day for the same hours might be de-motivating me. I sit down at my desk and its like my brain says 'right, time to switch off now.'
Reading the thread about people's daily work routines depressed me. I wish I could 'work through' from 9 to 5, but my ideas and my motivation seem so sporadic.
I was just wondering how people cope if and when they find themselves stuck like this : (
Thanks for reading.