Many thanks Lara for you encouraging words and good advices . I really appreciate the understanding side of you. Most people can't realise the complex mental state a PhD student is going through.

I liked the idea about setting some time aside for "worry/panic". I think it might work with me, I am postponing many things in my life for the PhD. So why not postponed the worrying as well?

I heard about mind maps before but never used any, after trying a couple today I found www.mindmeister.com, it is web based(there is also an offline option). Mindmeister has a free basic version and the first month you join you get all the full features for free. I like it because it is simple, no learning curve.

I have created a main map with all my chapters, and map for each unrevised chapter. I found mindmaps much better than To-do lists in organizing ideas.

you're very welcome K - that's right mentally and psychologically writing a thesis is challenging!!

hope your worry schedule went okay.

i did mine at 9pm - 9.30pm. lol i kept having worry thoughts throughout the day but had to forcibly remind myself to stop. at one point it got bad, so i took a few minutes and wrote what was worrying me.
and that helped because i told myself to write a solution to it.

my biggest fear, that time will run out and i wont have completed my thesis by the deadline. the way to circumvent that. i just need to clock in more hours and work harder on my thesis everyday.

Hi Lara, Don't worry about long term plans such as finishing your thesis on time, just focus at 1 week at a time. I found short terms plans (1 week max) more achievable than long plans. Tiny plans (daily) never worked for me, it needed lots of efforts and usually left me frustrated at the end of the day. Perhaps, you can worry once a week instead of once a day, write down your plan for the week. And after the week finishes you can worry and check if you have achieved the targets or not. If you didn't achieve them you can write down the reasons so you will not face the same problems next week.

I started thinking in a more positive way today, instead of thinking I "need" to do this, I am thinking I "want" to do this. No one is forcing me to do a PhD, I want to do and I want to finish, the world will not end if I was a bit late, or will it :)

I ended up re-writting big parts of Chapter 2, I had an internal struggle between wanting to finish quickly and producing good quality, finally fussy me, won. The chapter still need better discussion section which I am working on now.

Hi K, thanks for your advice! that is really good thinking! thinking on a weekly plan basis. you're right my daily targets are not working, and then i feel bad on a daily basis. i like this new concept, of making a weekly plan. i will try it this week thanks so much.

and that is a very brilliant way of looking at it, instead of i need to, i want to! i read that in a book recently. that's great

Hi Lara, How are things going with u?

The last few days I had some personnel issues which kept me away from the PhD, but I managed to deal with them and clear my mind a bit.

I finished the revision of Chapter 2, it is good quality now, and I am so relived and happy. Chapter 3 and 4 need much less revising work. I will start revising Chapter 3 now, wish me luck.

Hi Mr K!

sorry again for misjudging what gender you are! i don't know why i thought you were a girl. lol my bad!

I am glad to hear you sorted out your personal issues, i know what that's like, when it can really affect your concentration, so it's good to deal with it.

well done on completely chapter 2! that's really great progress.

good luck! you're ploughing through very well.

things okay with me, i have to do "more" analysis so just been working on that, will be glad when i get it done.

Hi Miss/MRS Lara!

Don't worry about the mixup, I found it funny and it made me smile

I am revising Chapter 3 now, and things are starting to look right. I am going to work late tonight, and try to finish as much as I can.

Hello all,

I managed to finish revising Chapter 3, which is a big relief :-):-):-)

I will be working on chapter 4 now, it needs much less work, since my supervisor has already checked it before. I will try to focus mainly on the introduction and summary sections, to finish it ASAP.

Wish me luck

good luck K !! you are doing so well. you're nearly there. well done (up)

Miss Lara

Many thanks Miss Lara,

I have good news, I managed to finish revising the thesis, it was harder and took longer than I expected. But it is revised now and in good quality. I had a short meeting with my supervisor today and I gave him the whole thesis. He wants to have a final look at it before the binding and submission.

I started this diary 39 days ago, and I had to write 1 appendix and revise 3 chapter, one of them was in a poor shape. Overall, I am happy, relieved and ofcourse tired. I will try to relax for a while (if I can still remeber how) until I hear from my supervisor.

Good luck to everyone doing a PhD.

Hi Lara,

Did you submit your PhD in the end?

Cheers.